During a discussion with co-founder @melhagos on the causes of geopolitical tensions between different East African countries the construction of a dam in the nile by Ethiopian government came up, which would reduce water availability to sudan and Egypt. the source of the blue nile, tributary of THE nile, is in Ethiopia’s Lake Tana and their dam project is also within their territory so “legally” they can build the dam…
But should they?
As I researchd this i came across the wikipedia article for “fair river sharing” —— a concept where multiple countries and peoples must divide the waters of one transboundary water source, like the Nile.
Who owns the nile basin? the DRC, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, or Egypt? who owns the Euphrates? Turkey, Syria, Iraq, or Iran? who owns the Amazon? is it Peru, Brazil, or Colombia?
For me these are not streams to be divided or owned, we are kin to these waters and we must stop fighting to control them and switch our focus to learning about them so we can understand, love, and protect, our @shared_rivers this is my guiding star and im going downstream with full force this 2025 and beyond the sea. thank you all, happy new year.”
– Maya Godoy (12/28/24, NYC)
Shared Rivers 