Water-Energy-Food Nexus Sustainability in the Upper Blue Nile (UBN) Basin
Name
fenvs-07-00005.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.61 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
1e1575d7e67f071177a55921cd425c99
Author(s)
Eltahir, Elfatih A. B.
Date Issued
January 2019
Journal
Frontiers in environmental science
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Citation
Allam, Mariam M. and Elfatih A. B. Eltahir. “Water-Energy-Food Nexus Sustainability in the Upper Blue Nile (UBN) Basin.” Frontiers in environm 7ental science (2019): article 5 © 2019 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The Nile basin ecosystem is under stress due to rapid population growth, inefficient utilization of resources, climate change, and persistent conflicts among riparian countries. The Blue Nile is a major tributary of the Nile River and contributes about 60% of the total annual flow. This paper presents a framework for optimal allocation of land and water resources in the upper Blue Nile (UBN) basin. This framework consists of two optimization models that aim to: (a) allocate land and water resources optimally to rain-fed and irrigated agriculture, and (b) allocate water to agriculture and hydropower production while maximizing the total net benefits. The optimal agricultural expansion is expected to reduce the UBN flow by about 7.6 cubic kilometers, impacting the downstream countries Egypt and Sudan. Optimal operation rules for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam (GERD) are identified to maximize annual hydropower generation from the dam while achieving a relatively uniform monthly production rate. Trade-offs between agricultural expansion and hydropower generation are analyzed in an attempt to define scenarios for cooperation that would achieve win-win outcomes for the three riparian countries sharing the basin waters.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3389/FENVS.2019.00005
