Abstract:
One of the most critical challenges in international relations is the management of transboundary waterways. This is because transboundary waterways, by nature, challenge those whom are involuntary partners to cooperate jointly to manage a shared resource in which they very likely have perceived conflicting interest. Economic, environmental, cultural and security
issues introduce challenges for all countries involved as each user has different needs from the same source. One country, for example, may see a transboundary river as purely a source of
irrigation, while another may be dependent on the river for power and for industrial use, and still further down the river a country may depend on the river as their only source of drinking water
and irrigation. The nature of transboundary waterways can make it problematic for states to act unilaterally because each country's' actions effect each other's shared resource directly and
indirectly. Conversely, it can also make it difficult to act cooperatively, because it use of scarce resources such as water from a river are often perceived as a zero-sum. This is especially the case in the Eastern Nile Basin.
