For two days experts of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) and Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) met at the NBI offices in Entebbe, to discuss joint use and development of the Nile Basin Decision Support System (NB DSS).
While the LVBC is to develop a Lake Victoria Basin Water Information System (LVB-WIS) to support its role as IWRM Centre of Excellence for the basin, the NB DSS already has much of the required functionalities. This is a follow-up of the bilateral discussions held on 23 October 2020 between the Executive Secretary of LVBC Dr. Ally Said Matano, and the Executive Director of the NBI, Professor Seifeldin Hamad Adballa, during which they agreed to deepen cooperation between the two basin organisations in the Nile Basin.
The main conclusion of the expert meeting was that collaboration on the use of the NB DSS is very beneficial to both NBI and LVBC. The preliminary findings show that most of the required and desired functionality of the LVB-WIS is already available or will soon become available in the NB DSS. For remaining issues technical solutions are available. The meeting was held in a very cordial and cooperative mood, where it was clear from the beginning that this was one team working together to address and resolve the issues that were tabled.
While there are still remaining issues that will require the decisions of the respective governing bodies of NBI and LVBC, the benefits of joining forces are clear and the issues at hand not insurmountable.
The implementation of the LVB-WIS is part of the Lake Victoria Basin Integrated Water Resources Management Programme, which is supported by the European Union and German Government.