A Call for an Addis Ababa Action Plan By: Semu Ayalew Moges, PhD, P.E. Senior Hydrologist and Hydraulic Engineer Introduction: A Critical Agenda for COP 32 As the international community prepares for COP 32 in Addis Ababa in 2027, WaterLinesAfrica calls on delegates to confront a persistent but insufficiently addressed climate vulnerability: millions of rural Africans still lack access to timely, trusted and locally actionable weather and climate information. For generations,

More than 300 rivers cross international boundaries, supplying water, food, energy, and livelihoods to billions of people - and presenting some of the world's most complex governance challenges. My appreciation for this complexity began as a Research Associate at Texas A&M University, working on a hydrologic and hydraulic modeling assignment in the Rio Grande basin. What fascinated me most wasn't the engineering, but the governance system sustaining the river: a layered frame

By Essayas Kaba Ayana, PhD, P.E. The renewed interest by U.S. President Donald Trump in mediating the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has once again drawn global attention to one of the world's most complex transboundary water challenges. International engagement can be valuable when it encourages dialogue, reduces tensions, and supports peaceful negotiations. However, any mediation effort that is perceived as favoring one country over another risks un

Editor's Opinion In the margins of the G7 meeting in Paris, the world’s cameras captured US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in deep discussion. Predictably, the Nile took center stage. Following the talks, the US president reiterated Cairo’s longstanding anxieties, signaling a united front to "bring Ethiopia into a binding agreement" that would legally obligate Addis Ababa to release a specific volume of Nile water - even during crippling dr

By: Abebe Sine Gebregiorgis, PhD, PE, CFM For over two decades, satellite imagery has captured a quiet revolution in one of the most arid places on Earth. Starting around early 2001, the barren, yellow landscapes of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula began to speckle with green. Fast forward to today, and large circular fields - signatures of center-pivot irrigation - now bloom across the desert where nothing grew for millennia. At first glance, this is a triumph of engineering: Egypt t

By: Abebe Sine Gebregiorgis, PhD, PE, CFM For more than a decade, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has been a source of both hope and friction along the Nile. Yet Egypt and Sudan have consistently insisted that discussions surrounding the dam must remain confined to the three riparian countries - Ethiopia, Sudan, and themselves - while rejecting calls to broaden talks to include other Nile Basin nations such as Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democ

By: Abebe Sine Gebregiorgis, PhD, PE, CFM On January 19, 2026, Egypt Independent published an article titled “Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Must Pay Compensation to Egypt and Sudan.” While the headline is striking, the article itself fails to present any verifiable scientific or hydrological evidence to substantiate such a claim. On the contrary, a more compelling argument can be made that Ethiopia has long been denied the right to utilize its own natural resources, con