Crisis on the Nile: Global warming and overuse threaten Africa’s longest river

People sit and stand by boats on the bank of the Nile River in Sudan's Northern State, near the Kassinger Islands, on October 28, 2022. © Ashraf Shazly, AFP

Running from Uganda to Egypt, the Nile is essential to the survival of millions of people living in Africa. But a combination of climate change and human overuse is drying up the river, and worsening conditions for farmers who fear low harvests and loss of electricity. 

At more than 6,600 kilometres long, the Nile basin extends to 11 countries, including Tanzania, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt – where hundreds of heads of state gathered to attend the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh starting on Sunday.