NO WATER NO LIFE (NWNL):
This project, with 501c3 status from Wings WorldQuest1, combines photography, science and data to raise awareness of watershed degradation2, strategies for fresh water use and preservation, and the need for upstream-downstream partnerships. Since 2004 NWNL photographs have publicized the availability, usage and quality of African and North American watersheds with exhibits, lectures and publications. NWNL’s Science Advisor is a Columbia University forest ecologist; its Project Coordinator is a resource manager and restoration ecologist; and its Research and Expeditions Coordinator is a Columbia University graduate student. NWNL has carried expedition flags from The Explorers Club and Wings WorldQuest and been fiscally supported by The Scott Pearlman Field Award.
NO WATER NO LIFE EXPEDITIONS:
Project expeditions document critical watersheds, producing:
• Research on a watershed’s value, threats, and potential solutions
• Contacts and interviews will be used to support educational outreach and solution-based partnerships.
• Photographic documentation of a watershed’s value, its condition and any degradation consequences
• Comparisons of watersheds that can generate and inform wise use and sustainable management globally
• Dissemination of imagery and information illustrating today’s fresh water crisis in order to educate the public, change individual behaviors, and generate the political will to protect our vital fresh-water resources.
(NWNL’s 2007 expeditions will cover the Columbia, Raritan, Omo and Blue Nile River Basins.)
BLUE NILE RIVER BASIN:
The Nile, the world’s longest river, exemplifies international tensions over trans-boundary watersheds as its 4,160 miles span Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Congo, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Burundi, Sudan, and Egypt – one tenth of Africa. Half the estimated 160 million people in this arid basin depend on the Nile for survival.; yet the river’s overexploitation will cause further desertification, and climate change is predicted to shorten wet seasons, increase precipitation and intensify dry periods. The Blue Nile, supplying 86% of the Nile's water, runs from Ethiopia’s Lake Tana to Khartoum (Sudan) where it joins the White Nile descending from Lake Victoria. The Blue Nile Basin is threatened by chronic drought, infrastructure changes and deforestation. Dams impede fish and wildlife migration, threaten ecosystems and prevent field sedimentation. The river’s higher sediment loads, caused by increased agriculture and deforestation, have created dangerous health and environmental consequences.
A 1959 treaty gave Egypt 87% of the Nile’s fresh water resources and Sudan the remaining 13%. Forbidden to tap into the Blue Nile for irrigation even though its first 1,529 miles run through Ethiopia, 2.5 million Ethiopian farmers depend on food aid. Yet downstream, the Nile sustains crops in Egypt’s deserts for European export. Tensions are rising with increased demands for water from the basin’s exploding populations. President Anwar Sadat said in 1979, “The only matter that could take Egypt to war again is water.” In June 2007 a Cooperative Framework Agreement was approved which, if ratified, would provide a treaty by which all riparian states would benefit from the Nile.
BLUE NILE RIVER BASIN EXPEDITION:
This expedition will focus on an arid hotspot facing increasing water shortages with dangerous political consequences. The expedition will explore Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile, and a series of access spots to the lower canyon, producing photographs, videos, interviews and field notes on fresh water access and needs in the Blue Nile watershed. Expedition outputs will include written publications, exhibits, lectures, website postings, and educational outreach. NWNL’s Blue Nile Basin timeline is:
Ongoing: Research by project director, project coordinator, and two research assistants
Early Fall 2007: An Ethiopia expedition down the Blue Nile beginning at its source at Lake Tana
Late Fall 2007: Editing of expedition photographs, interviews and field journals
2007-2008: Images and findings will be disseminated and shared in various forums
2007-2008: Evaluation of the expedition and determination of future Nile Basin expeditions.
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