Are foreign investments in land leading to an imbalance in the hydrological cycle?

Over the past few years, large-scale acquisitions of farmland have taken place across the world. Although the land acquisitions are generally portrayed as a land grab in Africa, in almost all cases it is the extra water that is consumed by the crops that brings a new imbalance in the hydrological science. Understanding the imbalance is central to livelihoods and food security of the people downstream because almost all rivers in Africa with the exception of the Congo are being fully consumed before they enter the ocean. In this talk we will show what the effects on the water imbalance caused by foreign and national investments in the Blue Nile basin in the Ethiopian highlands has on the water availability in the downstream countries and whether the imbalance can be made up by increasing irrigation efficiency.