Mark Mwandosya

THE ENVIRONMENT: A BASIS FOR ENERGY, FOOD AND WATER SECURITY IN THE NILE RIVER BASIN KEY NOTE SPEECH BY PROF. MARK MWANDOSYA NILE DAY 22 nd February 2017, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. Your Excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan, Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania; Honourable Sam Cheptoris, Minister for Water and Environment, Republic of Uganda, and Chairman of The Nile Council of Ministers; Honourable Gerson Lwenge, Minister of Water, United Republic of Tanzania; Honourable Ministers; Honourable Members of Parliament; Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners; Chairperson of the Nile Basin Discourse; Members of the Nile Technical Advisory Committee; Management and Staff of the Nile Basin Initiative; Fellow Participants; Ladies and Gentlemen. I start my discourse today by thanking Almighty God for the opportunity, a wonderful opportunity for that matter, availed to us to meet here in Dar es Salaam as we mark another Nile Day today. Let

                                                            KEYNOTE ADDRESS TO THE 4 TH NILE BASIN DEVELOPMENT FORUM      NAIROBI, KENYA, 6 OCTOBER 2014    PROF. MARK    MWANDOSYA Let me   at the very outset admit that you have done me honour, inviting me to give a Key Note address on the occasion of 4 th Nile Basin Development Forum, an august assembly of policy makers, scholars, researchers, and other stakeholders of the   Nile Basin. We are here because we are bound together by one river, the Nile, to emphasize the ‘benefits of cooperation’. I put emphasis on the word emphasize because we all believe, I hope, that the benefits of cooperation far outweigh the disadvantages, if any. As such you probably could have saved the taxpayers of riparian nations by fielding a question: ‘do you believe in cooperation among riparians of the Nile Basin?’ The answer to that referendum question would be a resounding ‘yes’. That is why I had some reservations when I was ini