North Africa is one of the driest regions in the world. Consequently, all countries in the region depend mainly on agricultural imports to achieve the food security. The present study endeavor to estimate: firstly, the national and the global water saving achieved through the North African international cereal trade by using the concept of virtual water trade. Secondly, the relation between the imports of cereal trade, as endogenous variable, and the available water resources availability with other important factors as exogenous variables. The results showed that, at the national level, all North African countries achieved water saves to the extent that exceed the endowment total fresh water resources in Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia. Importing of maize and wheat is the most important player of the saving national water imports of among the cereal crops. All countries in the North Africa region achieved water saving except Egypt. The model results has shown statistically significant coefficients of factors affecting the total imports of cereal crops such as, per-capita fresh water resources, the area of irrigated water, the area of Arable land . the negative sing of per-capita fresh water resources indicates that the importing cereals using intensive water is not optional decision but due to the shortage of the available of water resources . Negative signs of irrigated area and of arable land are consistent indicating that the increasing of the irrigated area and the arable land will intuitively reduce the importing of cereals.

In the coming decades, the World will be facing severe challenges in terms of water, energy and food through increased water use, increased energy demand and increased food demand and shifting diets. Those challenges are foreseen to be amplified due to climate change effects. Egypt is a country struggling to achieve water, energy and food security, which are key issues in achieving national security. Egypt is facing another major challenge regarding its main water resource Nile River. Ethiopia is currently undergoing the construction of a huge dam on the Blue Nile which is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The purpose of the research is to attempt to mitigate the effect of the GERD on Egypt through cooperation with the Nile Basin countries on their Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEF Nexus). The grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam (GERD) is a mega hydro-electric project currently under construction on the Blue Nile. It is planned to have a 74 BCM capacity reservoir and a power generation capacity of 6,000 MW. If not agreed appropriately, the filling of the GERD reservoir might have significant impacts on the Aswan High Dam. A policy framework was developed for the water-energy-food nexus for Egypt and the Nile Basin. In Egypt, it is suggested to create a Supreme Council for Water, Energy and Food which includes all the relevant ministries. For the Nile Basin, a Nile Basin WEF is suggested, whose decisions should be legally binding for Nile Basin countries. Examples were provided on the project/programme level that could have benefited from the WEF synergy, like the reclamation of 1.5 million feddans and the expansion of the electricity generation sector. An institutional arrangement was developed, which is applicable for Egypt and the Nile Basin countries. The arrangement is done through a methodology which encourages the prioritization of projects that take into consideration the WEF nexus. On the Nile Basin level, examples were given for potential projects that could benefit from the WEF synergy if the basin is thought of as one unit. Examples provided included the expansion of green water utilization and integration of electricity grids. The policy framework showed that the GERD itself can be viewed as an opportunity for cooperation if the right policy framework is developed among the basin countries.

This research investigates the application of Fertilizer Drawn Forward Osmosis FDFO technique and its potential use in Egypt under the Framework of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. Fertilizers Drawn Forward Osmosis Desalination Technique has been proven to be a great exhibition of tackling one of the sustainability challenges from Water –Energy-Food Nexus perspective. Being an energy efficient technology, it offers a technical solution to provide alternative water supply without compromising energy consumption, moreover the product water quality is adequate for agriculture and crop production. In this work, feed solution used is real brackish groundwater extracted from a well in Sinai, Egypt. Two sets of experiments have been conducted in order to assess in selecting the proper scenario for the crop producer. The first set examined three commonly used single fertilizers in Egypt: Potassium Nitrate, Di-Ammonium Phosphate and Urea to compare between their performances. The second set examined standard hydroponic recipe, which is a mixture of nutrients, as a draw solution to fertilize crops in hydroponics systems. The nutrients mixture performance has been tested and compared to that of the individual components at the same concentrations in order to assess how mixing nutrients influence their performance. Regarding the first set, Di- Ammonium Phosphate resulted in the best performance as draw solute among the three tested draw solutes, where it has exhibited a significant water flux equivalent to 13.8 (Liter per membrane unit area per hour lm-2h-1 and always referred to as LMH, a feed ions rejection reaching 98% and acceptable concentrations of draw solute ions in the final product water. For the Second set, The Hydroponics nutrients mixture have exhibited better performance as draw solution compared to their individual macro-components. The use of the nutrient mixture as draw solute resulted in a flux of 11.7 LMH, 95% feed ions rejection compared to 9.2 LMH, 91%, and 10.03 LMH, 93% for its individual components. Mixing nutrients boosted the osmotic pressure and enhanced the driving force for fresh water permeation. Hence, it can be concluded that mixed nutrients have better performance than single fertilizers, not only for the enhanced desalination features and for water extraction performance, but also because they provide a complete set of nutrients necessary for growing crops.