ABSTRACT
The first part of the chapter briefly presents the methods used for the study and some of its conceptual underpinnings. The second part provides an estimate of the land deals carried out in the basin over the period 2008-2013 and examines the implication for water availability and access. Part two also provides a more detailed overview of Egypt’s land (water) investment efforts in upstream countries. Section three explores how the land deals and particularly the Egyptian land deals can be understood in relation to ongoing events in the Nile Basin, with contemporary negotiations of the Nile, large hydro-power developments, demographic engineering and the possible emergence of new alliances with actors from countries outside the basin. Section four discusses some of the processes that unfold when land deals are materialized and the implications for customary tenure, rural livelihoods and conflicts. The fifth and final part summarizes and discusses in what ways the land deals may influence conflicts in the transboundary water management context of the Nile River Basin.
