KIGALI- Experts attending the third Nile Basin Development Forum have expressed concerns over lack of climate change statistics.

They noted that the shortage of the data has a great impact on financing since donors normally base on country data to release finances.

The Coordinator of Africa Water Facility, Dr. Akissa Bahri, said that regional approaches to food and water security are affected by climate change noting that the only way to address it was to know exactly how the region is affected.

"Most of the climate change financing initiatives are ending in 2012 and need to be extended, which is why there is need to have concrete data,” she said.

Dr. Bahri added that; "climate change adaptation must be rooted in a country’s development initiatives and aligned with climate change mitigation.”

Experts further observed that rapid population growth and natural resource degradation in the Nile River Basin pose the risk of intensified hunger and poverty in the region. They observed that these require better, more forward-looking development planning as a pre-emptive measure.

According to the manager of Nile Basin Capacity Building Network, Eng. Amel Azab, Nile Basin countries need to develop standard research proposals that would interest donors to release funds in case a country lacks statistical data.

Meanwhile, regional ministers charged with water affairs are today expected to come up with a position paper on climate change and make commitments on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

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