Land Grabbing: Hydropolitical Effects in the Nile River Basin

Land-grabbing is provoking an intense debate because of its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts . The literature on the correlated question of "water grabbing"is however still fragmentary. This article tries to provide an initial overview of the linkages between large-scale land acquisitions and water resources exploitation focusing on the Nile River Basin case-study. The relative abundance of strategic natural resources for agricultural production is attractinf foreign investors, leading to a proliferation of land-grabbing in several Nile-basin riparian countries. Given the new geopolitical context, polulation growth and water availability forecast due to climate change, the Nile waters have become a fundamental strategic resources for the hydropolitcal balance of the region. The issue is approached by considering the impacts both at country and basin level.