Which ongoing resource boundary dispute involves tensions among Nile Basin countries with negotiations that remain unresolved?

• A. South China Sea dispute
• B. Kashmir region
• C. GERD on the Nile
• D. Arctic oil fields

Answer: (C)

Transboundary water resource disputes happen when a shared river or waterway spans multiple countries and one state’s plans or projects affect the others, leading to negotiations that can remain unresolved for years. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile is a prime example: Ethiopia’s dam and its plan to fill the reservoir are central to tensions with Egypt and Sudan. Negotiations among these countries have continued for a long time without a final, binding agreement on how quickly to fill the dam, how the water should be shared during droughts, and what operating rules should govern the dam and downstream flows. This unresolved stalemate reflects the struggle over how a critical, shared resource should be managed and allocated among multiple sovereign states. Other options involve different regions or kinds of disputes—marine boundary and resource claims in the South China Sea, land territorial issues in Kashmir between India and Pakistan, or Arctic resource claims—none of which revolve around ongoing Nile basin negotiations.