Exploring Water Allocation as a Strategy for Sustainable and Equitable Water Use in the Nile Basin

Featured Panelists:

• Dr. Abdulkarim H. SeidDr. Seid is the IWMI Country Representative for Ethiopia and Regional Representative for East Africa, currently leading the Digital Innovation for Water Secure Africa project. Before joining IWMI in March 2021, he spent 17 years at the Nile Basin Initiative, most recently as Deputy Executive Director and Head of the Basin/Wide Program. He led significant initiatives, including the Strategic Water Resources Assessment and the Nile Basin Water Resources Atlas. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor at Addis Ababa University. His research at IWMI focuses on climate-smart water management and utilizing Earth Observation for improved water management decisions.
• Dr. Tadesse Kassa Woldetsadik– Dr. Woldetsadik is an associate professor of Law at Addis Ababa University, Center for Human Rights. He is also a policy advisor at the Ministry of Justice and the Ethiopian Investment Commission. Dr. Tadesse’s academic engagement and research focuses on public international law (with a focus on the regime of transboundary rivers), human rights and humanitarian laws, and investment policies. He has extensively published on these subjects – approaching multifaceted issues from theoretical and practical perspectives and presenting insights that offer concrete recommendations that are relevant in national, regional and international contexts.
• Bradley H. Udall is a Senior Water and Climate Research Scientist / Scholar at Colorado State University’s Colorado Water Center. His expertise includes hydrology and related policy issues of the American West, focusing on the Colorado River.  Brad was a co-author of the 2009 and 2018 National Climate Assessments and a contributing author to the 2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 5^th Assessment. Brad has testified in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives on the impacts of climate change on water resources and provided input to multiple National Academy of Science panels. He has published multiple peer-reviewed journal articles on the causes of the declining Colorado River flows and the ongoing aridification of the Western US. Brad was formerly the Director of the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and Environment at the University of Colorado Law School and Director of the University of Colorado – NOAA Western Water Assessment. In 2024, he was awarded the David Getches Flowing Waters award from the Colorado Water Trust. Brad has an engineering degree from Stanford and an MBA from Colorado State University.

Moderated by: Mekdelawit M. Deribe– Water Science researcher focusing on transboundary waters, particularly the Nile River

The session will be a moderated panel discussion, with ample time for audience questions and engagement. We will delve into the multi-layered complexities of water allocation, exploring its legal, technical, and political dimensions, and critically examine its relevance to the Nile Basin.

Topics to be discussed include:

• What water allocation means and its various forms
• Benefits and drawbacks of allocation frameworks
• Legal, technical, and political feasibility in the Nile Basin
• Lessons from other international river basins
• Addressing commonly raised concerns like fairness, flexibility, and enforceability

This event is particularly relevant for stakeholders from the Nile Basin countries and anyone working in or interested in transboundary water management.

We warmly invite you to join us in this timely and nuanced dialogue.