The river Nile is the longest river in the world. It stretches from the tributaries of Lake Victoria in Tanzania to the Mediterranean in Egypt. The Nile is credited of having been the reason for the Egyptian’s ancient civilization. The ancient Egyptians depended on the yearly flood that caused the Nile to overflow it’s banks. The Nile’s water would nourish the land with the fertile silt dissolved in it. Because of this, the Egyptians enjoyed bountiful harvest that allowed for them to build such glorious monuments as the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.
-Enter European powers.
British imperialism was very present in Egypt. The British has annexed Egypt in order to control a strategic link to the Indian Ocean (via the Red Sea) and gain control of the fertile strip of land that borders the Egyptian Nile. What ensued in the last two centuries has completely stripped the Egyptians, as well as the other inhabitants of the Nile basin, of their primary resource- the Nile. The British constructed several dams in the 19th century around Cairo (located on the river’s delta) in order to provide additional water for Egyptian farmers to use during the long dry season. This project surmounted many expectations and caused a frenzy of dam building that gradually began involving larger and larger reservoirs/dams that were located ever further south.
Effects of river damming are tremendous in the long-term. Firstly, reservoirs begin to lose capacity as silt starts to settle in the reservoirs bed. Gradually, a dam’s reservoir will lose it’s ability to retain water, the very reason it was built. In the Nile’s case, the annual flooding lost it’s rejuvenating quality where it washed the soil clean of salts and returned nutrients brought from downstream. The increasing agricultural sector around the Nile is using more and more pesticides to counter the detrimental affects of salt-saturation (caused from salt build-up due to irrigation). This in turn adds to the pollution in the Nile.
Pollution in the Nile can be traced by looking at the population explosions taking place in these Saharan countries. After damming the Nile to form Lake Nassar, Egypt experienced a surge in it’s population from the profits made in the booming agricultural sector. Soon thereafter, Sudan and Ethiopia followed in Egypt’s lead and began damming their Nile tributaries in order to gain what Egypt had already. As each countries populations increased, so did the amount of strain on the river. Industrial waste, domestic sewage, and other untreated wastes are regularly released into the Nile. On top of this over-fishing and migratory route disruption (from damming) has proved disastrous for fish schools in the Nile.
Currently, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are learning to cope with their sole source of freshwater. Dam designs have been improved, but their environmental effects not eradicated. Pollution and over-fishing are slowly being dealt with but are in need of strong infrastructures to enforce legislation.
1- What justifies Egypt having the lion’s share of the water when little if none of it actually came from it’s land?
2- What are some ways that Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan can share the Nile?
3- Should a international organization help deal with geo-environmental issues that span several political borders?
5 responses so far ↓
1
globalspartan
// Oct 16, 2006 at 7:02 pm
Africa/ independent Blog
The children of Africa are the future of the continent. The key to economic group is led by their education. However there is a lack of funds, teachers, and textbooks. In Nigeria the population is 137 million, this makes it the largest continent in Africa. Along with, 394 different languages spoken throughout the continent (English as the official). This creates a major problem in Nigeria, because only English is used throughout the text books and teaching. Since none of the other 393 smaller languages are written, many children are left behind on an education.
Africa has come up with an initiative. Strengthening Basic Education in Africa, this new plan will provide training and materials to both teachers and students. Many Africans will receive textbooks written in their local language. The girls will receive scholarships covering tuition. And the teachers will receive the training that is needed to educate the children effectively. $200 million will be provided; to train 160,000 new teachers, and Universities will provide 4.5 million textbooks, along with other learning tools.
Currently in Africa the Primary school enrolments and literacy rates in are among the lowest in the World. 42 million school children are not enrolled in schooling. And many children cannot afford to stay in a primary school. Hopefully with the Strengthening Basic Education in Africa initiative this will all change for the better.
The formal education system: 6 years of primary school; 3 years of junior secondary school; 3 years of senior secondary school; and 4 years of university education, this leads to a bachelor’s degree in most fields.
Discussion Questions:
1.) After reading the first paragraph, what solution would you come up with?
2.) What are your thoughts about the Strengthening Basic Education in Africa initiative? Do you think this plan will be affective? Why or why not?
3.) Why do you think they only offer the scholarship money to girls? And do you think this is far?
4.) In your opinion do you think the children who do not speak English (the official langue in Africa) should be thought it in schooling? Why or why not?
5.) What seems to be the main problem with the education in Africa? Why?
Links:
Http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020620-18.html
Http://www.wes.org/ewenr/04sept/practical.htm
Http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/intiatives/aei.html
Shawna O
2
globalspartan
// Oct 17, 2006 at 8:03 am
3. An international organization should help with geo-enviormental issues that span across several borders so that countries do not fight over border control and someone will be there to tell them what to do.
-Dylan L.
3
Tamer Hosny
// Nov 2, 2006 at 2:12 pm
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Interesting post. I came across this blog by accident, but it was a good accident. I have now bookmarked your blog for future use. Best wishes. Tamer Hosny….
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