Integrated Management of the Nile Basin and Ecological Justice: Case Study of the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline Project

Document Type : Original Article

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Political Science Department, Faculty of Economics and Political Science - Cairo University

Abstract

The governance of international river basins relies on the principle of integrated water resources management, which ensures water sustainability for economic gains. However, in the Nile River Basin, oil extraction from Lake Elbert in Uganda and its transportation through pipelines along Lake Victoria under the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project contradict the concept of basin and integrated management. Therefore, the article aims to explain how this project affects the Nile Basin by linking the perspective of political ecology with the concept of the river basin. It is apparent that oil extraction and transport directly threaten the Nile Basin in terms of water pollution and biodiversity and indirectly by negatively affecting the livelihoods of local communities, which impedes ecological justice in the Nile Basin. Accordingly, the article argues that understanding and interpreting water resources management embed complexity, interconnectedness and competition between stakeholders and the dominance of market mechanisms. such complexities reproduce inequality between those who possess the components of power and control water resources and the most vulnerable communities who lack the capabilities of power.

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