Basins’ High Council Establishment Proclamation No. 1375/2025.

The Basins’ High Council for the Implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management Establishment Proclamation No. 1375/2025 establishes a national institutional framework to ensure the coordinated, equitable, and sustainable management of Ethiopia’s water resources at basin level. The proclamation formally establishes the Basins’ High Council as a federal body accountable to the Prime Minister and mandates it to provide strategic leadership for integrated water resources management. It defines the scope of integrated water resources management, including basin planning, water allocation and use, basin information systems, and stakeholder coordination. It enumerates Ethiopia’s major river basins and mandates that basin plans serve as the principal instruments guiding water development, allocation, conservation, and protection. The Council is vested with powers to approve basin plans, ensure alignment of major development projects with approved plans, decide on major water‑related works and inter‑basin transfers, resolve interregional disputes on water use, approve water use charges, and establish advisory and technical committees as required. The proclamation sets out institutional arrangements concerning membership, decision‑making procedures, quorum, voting rules, and the role of the Ministry of Water and Energy as the Council’s secretariat.