FU Berlin
Improved Agricultural Water Management In the Nile Basin
Nile Basin Wetlands: An important natural resource
Lisa‐Maria Rebelo 1
1 International Water Management Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Wetlands occur extensively across the Nile Basin Wetlands offer many important ecosystem services
Should be considered a key component in IWRM They support a wide range of agricultural activities
Their sustainable management is thus critical
Water storage
Surface water holding
Groundwater recharge
Groundwater discharge
Flow regulation
Flood mitigation
Water quality control
Water purification
Retention of nutrients
Retention of sediments
Retention of pollutants
Ecosystem services provided by or derived from wetlands (adapted from MEA, 2005) Hydrological regulating functions of
wetlands (Ramsar, 1999)
Spatial distribution and areal extent of wetlands within the Nile Basin (Derived
from Lehner and Döll, 2004, and Di Gregorio, 2002)
The Sudd Wetland: Mapping inundation extent using ALOS PALSAR
June 2007 September 2007 December 2007
All images provided courtesy of JAXA, and acquired as part of the ALOS Kyoto and Carbon Initiative for
Science Team product development: Prototype area, the Upper Nile
Analyse opportunities and
constraints for optimal
benefits Analyse Sudd hydrology
Knowledge base of
socio‐economic system and implications to/from
Fisheries WR developments
Livelihoods and
socioeconomics Hydrology and
water resources
The Sudd
wetland
Knowledge base
of wetland Opportunities
biodiversity and Ecosystem and and constraints
biodiversity Livestock
conservation for optimal
needs benefits
Synthesize the 5 components to identify
management options, and conflicts and Principal Components Analysis showing temporal variance, i.e. how
tradeoffs for these and when the water moves through the system
For more information contact: l.rebelo@cgiar.org