The War
Of Water
Solutions
Although the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Nile are three different rivers, all three of them have very similar conflicts happening over them. Therefore, the solutions for these magnificent rivers are going to be quite similar. In this page, I will discuss 2 general solutions that might work for all three rivers, then I will discuss one solution for the Nile and one solution for the Tigris-Euphrates rivers. Finally, I will discuss one farfetched idea that can solve the problem but would be extremely unideal.
General
As I mentioned multiple times on this website, dams are a major issue for nearly every major river on this planet. This is because while dams have benefits for the country they're built in, they also have negative consequences on both the country they are built in and other countries downstream. This is because dams cause floods due to all the water that is piled up behind their walls, and they decrease the amount of water that flows downstream. Therefore, my first solution is that countries can start looking for alternative ways to generate electricity. In Africa, the Nile countries can look into harnessing more solar energy, as Africa is a really hot country with a lot of sun. There are also quite a lot of volcanoes in some Nile countries, like Ethiopia and Uganda, so the countries can also look more to geothermal energy. Syria and Iraq can use more oil and natural gas, as it is common in their region, and finally, Turkey is already looking into starting to use nuclear energy, which will probably help increase the energy output of Turkey by a lot.
Alternative Energy Sources
Geothermal Power Plant
Solar Energy
United Nations
One of the best methods of coming up with a solution is to call for arbitration; a third party that comes up with a solution. One of the most common arbitrators for a lot of problems worldwide is the united nations, or the UN for short. The way that the UN would solve the problem of the Nile and the Tigris-Euphrates system is by getting the representatives of each country in the UN to take a vote for a solution. For example, if they were deciding on "who should own the Nile", then all nations will get to vote on which Nile country should own the Nile. However, one problem with this solution is that some nations might either have a strong relationship with one of the countries their voting for or a bitter rivalship for it, which might affect the nation's vote and make it biased. Another thing to keep in mind is that once the decision is made, the countries who are fighting for the river can't reject the solution; they have to use the solution that the UN came up with.
United Nations
Nile
African Union
As mentioned before, arbitrations, or third parties, are one of the easiest methods of solving problems. The problem with the Nile conflicts, however, is that the Nile countries would not want a foreign organization to decide their lifestyle for them. So, they might use another arbitrator for this issue. A great arbitrator would be the African Union, an organization with representatives from every African nation. Unfortunately, like every solution to every conflict, there are pros and cons. The positives are that the representatives are all from Africa, probably meaning that they have a lot of knowledge on the Nile and the issue happening with it. The main negative consequence of this solution is that the current chairperson of the African Union, Paul Kagame, is from Rwanda. Rwanda is a Nile country, so it might have an upper edge over its competitors if the vote was up to the African Union.
African Union
Tigris-Euprates
Fighting Terrorism
As mentioned in the conflicts page, terrorist groups, particularly ISIS, are causing a lot of trouble in the region. Unfortunately, the three countries' armies are getting prepared to fight each other for control over the rivers instead of fighting terrorism. A solution can be that the three countries' armies can fight together to weaken or maybe even defeat ISIS. They can also ask for help from outside forces such as the US army or other armies. This is because a lot of countries see ISIS as a threat to their own well-being, so they might be willing to help the Syria, Iraq and Turkey in a war against ISIS.
Iraq's army
Last Resort Solution
Warfare
No sensible man wants warfare, but sometimes governments will use it as a last resort solution to their problem. Nothing good ever comes out of warfare, just bloodshed and destruction, but sometimes people see it as the only way. The tension between both the Nile countries and the Tigris-Euphrates countries has been really high in the past few years. Below I will talk about how the wars can turn out and the positives and negatives of a war between the countries.
The Nile
Following recent events, I believe that a war between the Nile countries is inevitable. Egypt believes that they own the Nile, and they do not want the Grand Renaissance Dam as it reduces the amount of water that reaches Egypt. According to www.globalfirepower.com, Egypt has the 12th strongest army in the world, while Ethiopia has the 51st strongest army in the world and Sudan has the 70th. This means that in a war between the three main Nile countries, Egypt would be most likely to win the war if it was FFA. However, Sudan does seem to support Ethiopia's viewpoint on the conflict, meaning that they might team up to defeat Egypt. At the end of a war between the 3 countries, the Nile would probably end up extremely polluted, which would be a negative consequence of a war.
Tigris Euphrates
Tensions have recently been rising quickly between the Tigris-Euphrates countries, especially Turkey and Iraq. with the amount of water flowing into Iraq reduced by 80% over the last 30 years, Iraq is losing a lot of farming land. If none of the above solutions works, then Iraq might have to turn to warfare. Unfortunately, the odds will not be in favour of Iraq. According to www.globalfirepower.com, Turkey has the 9th strongest army in the world, while Iraq and Syria are ranked 47th and 49th respectively. This means that warfare is not the best option for Iraq to get Turkey to remove their dams, so they will have to manage to find a way to negotiate a deal instead.