Going Forward...

In 2013, progress was made in addressing the issues surrounding the NAS. All four countries lying on top of the NAS committed to ensuring the equitable use of the water (UN News Service Section, 2013). Interestingly, experts believe that with proper management of this TBA, it will last for centuries to come, which will relieve a lot of pressure on these African countries and their people (Maxwell, 2011).

Whilst this agreement goes some way to addressing the issues concerning usage of the NAS, I believe that without strict regulation and consequences for breaking the agreement, trouble will undoubtedly lie ahead. If countries such as Libya can continue to extract high amounts of water without being penalised, then of course they will continue to do so.

Furthermore, with social, economic and political stress that has occurred in the region in recent years making things even more unpredictable, there is the possibility that the valuable resource of water from the NAS will be affected. I believe that to truly ensure successful management and equitable use of this TBA, it is imperative that, however tough it may be, these detrimental tensions must be mediated first.

References:

Maxwell, N. (2011). The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System: Thoughts on a Multilateral   Treaty in Light of the 2008 UN Resolution on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers.

UN News Service Section, (2013). UN News - Four African nations agree to improve use of         key water resource under UN-backed plan. [online] Available at:   http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45877#.VpFDapOLSRs [Accessed      4 Dec. 2015].

In the News...

I came across an interesting article today regarding ISIS and Libya’s economic resources, including their water.

As ISIS expand through the Middle East and Northern Africa, one of the things they have targeted is Libya’s water supply as a way of increasing their power and influence in the region (Small Wars Journal, 2016).

This is just another spanner in the works for management of the NAS. From what we’ve seen, ISIS will not be abiding by any laws or treaties in their quest for power and as such, it is unpredictable what may happen to resources in this water-vulnerable region.

References:

Smallwarsjournal.com, (2016). IS Foothold in Libya Threatens Europe, West Africa | Small       Wars Journal. [online] Available at: http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/is-foothold-       in-libya-threatens-europe-west-africa [Accessed 9 Jan. 2016].

The Non-renewable Transboundary: The Nubian Aquifer System

Relating back to my 3^rd and 4^th posts addressing problems and solutions for the usage of transboundary aquifers, I have decided to focus on The Nubian Aquifer System (NAS) for analysis. This non-renewable TBA in Northern Africa is one of the largest globally (area of 2.6million+ km² and volume of 375,000km³ and lies beneath 4 countries – Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan, who are all reliant upon it as a water resource (Voss and Solimon, 2013).

Figure 1 below illustrates the NAS (Voss and Solimon, 2013):

In 1993, Libya went as far as building The Great Man-made River Project (GMRP), which transported 6 million m³ of water every day from the NAS. Egypt and Libya are currently the primary users of this water resource and interestingly, despite it’s significance, there is no binding legal framework over it’s sustainable and equitable usage (Maxwell, 2011).

I personally think it’s preposterous that in this day and age, knowing how important the NAS is, that there are still no binding legal treaties. I believe that with this attitude, rich countries can easily help themselves to as much water from this resource as they’d like without caring for the consequences of their neighbours. Furthermore, as Maxwell (2011) points out, as the water depletes, it will become more expensive to extract as the water level lowers. This will have adverse effects on poor countries who will find it economically unsustainable to continue extraction from this resource.

References:

Maxwell, N. (2011). The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System: Thoughts on a Multilateral   Treaty in Light of the 2008 UN Resolution on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers.

UN News Service Section, (2013). UN News - Four African nations agree to improve use of         key water resource under UN-backed plan. [online] Available at:   http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45877#.VpFDapOLSRs [Accessed      4 Dec. 2015].

Voss, C. and Soliman, S. (2013). The transboundary non-renewable Nubian Aquifer System of     Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan: classical groundwater questions and parsimonious    hydrogeologic analysis and modeling. Hydrogeol J, 22(2), pp.441-468.