disadvantages of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam

Basically, Ethiopia should cooperate with the other riparian states in developing and adopting an effective drought mitigation protocol, one that includes the possibility that GERD managers may have to release water from the reservoir, when necessary, to mitigate droughts. This is because it is traditionally understood to refer to waterways that form intrinsic parts of international boundaries. Egypt had asked the UNSC to push the three countries to adhere to their obligations in accordance with the rules of international law in order to reach a fair and balanced solution to the issue of the GERD. Egypts repeated references to the rules of international law is part of an effort to maintain its so-called natural and historical rights that were established and reaffirmed by the 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and 1959 Agreement between Egypt and Sudan, respectivelytreaties many of the other involved parties reject as anachronistic and untenable. The researchers looked at the dynamic interactions between the Nile's hydrology and infrastructure and Egypt's economy. No water at all was allocated to Ethiopia. RANE (2015). The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will have negative impacts not only on Egypt but also on poor communities in Ethiopia as well as on its Nile Basin neighbours. The other riparian states can then be brought in, either through the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) or some other regional framework, to secure an agreement that is binding on all the states. Ethiopian general threatens military force to defend Nile dam as negotiations with Egypt falter. Both countries are concerned that without a clear and binding agreement with Ethiopia, the latter will have full control of the passage of water from the GERD during droughts, which would be devastating to the lives of millions in Egypt and Sudan. Location l Formerly called as project x then known as the Millennium Dam then it renamed to Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. In particular, the DoP takes a very strict approach to the no significant harm rule. The US has revived diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute sparked by Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project on the Nile. - Ethiopia's massive. The Blue Nile is Ethiopias largest river, with high potential for hydropower and irrigation. The GDP per capita in Ethiopia is only $475. They generate electricity, store water for crop irrigation and help to prevent floods. It signifies that Egypts de facto veto power on major upstream dams has been broken, and it clearly demonstrates the political will of Ethiopia to develop its water infrastructure even in the absence of a comprehensive basin agreement. Egypts Nile Water Policy under Sisi: Security Interests Promote Rapprochement with Ethiopia. Nevertheless, it is important to take stock of the human costs, social problems, and lasting environmental impacts of this strategy which have already drawn considerable criticism and concern. Although Ethiopia has argued that the hydroelectric GERD will not significantly affect the flow of water into the Nile, Egypt, which depends almost entirely on the Nile waters for household and commercial uses, sees the dam as a major threat to its water security. All three countries have a vested interest in a properly operated dam. The colonial powers have departed and so to continue to enforce treaties agreed based around their interests would be irrational. [18] DISADVANTAGES OF ASWAN DAM the agriculture output of Egypt. Moreover, it arguably prohibits any reduction of flow to Egypt by limiting Ethiopias use of the Dam to electricity generation alone. On the surface, the 558 ft tall dam Africa's biggest hydropower project belies Ethiopia's financial muscle. The Tendaho, Tekeze, and the Gibe series are only a few examples from that period. L'Europe en Formation, 365(3), 99-138. Egypt Forced to Negotiate on Nile Dam. Another important area of cooperation is research, especially in areas like climate change, the fight against terrorism and extremism, and human rights. The Gerd is expected to generate over 5,000 megawatts of electricity, doubling the nation's . Second, the upstream riparian states must recognize and accept Egypts near total dependence on the waters of the Nile River. Most recently, there have been suggestions that the African Union should resolve the disagreement. According to Baradei, hydropower dams create immense turbulence in the water, where chemical reactions such as dissolved oxygen can destroy fauna and flora. Indeed, Sudan had initially opposed the Dam but changed its position in 2012 after consultations with Ethiopia. The Tripartite National Council (TNC) was then established, consisting of members from each of the three countries with the aim of carrying through the IPoE's recommendations (Attia & Saleh, 2021). While the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is taking shape on . Article 7 provides that watercourse states must take all appropriate measures to prevent significant harm to other watercourse States and that, where harm does occur, there shall be consultations to discuss the question of compensation. Finally, Article 8 requires that watercourse states cooperate on the basis of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, mutual benefit and good faith.. These run from rising rivalry between Egypt and Ethiopia to a festering border war between Ethiopia and neighboring Sudan. l It is in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, about 15 km east of the border with Sudan. Afraid that a drought might appear during the filling period, Egypt wants the filling to take place over a much longer period. The Zenawi concept of a Strong Ethiopia envisions the country as a powerful hydroelectric energy hub exporting electricity to Djibouti and Somalia in the east, Kenya and Uganda to the south, and Sudan to the west. Before discussing the benefits, the article will brief the general technical overview of the GERDP. Indeed, Egypt has called the filling of the dam an existential threat, as it fears the dam will negatively impact the countrys water supplies. Von Lossow, T. & Roll, S. (2015). One senior advisor to former Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi alluded to it when he said that Ethiopia will supply the electricity, Sudan the food, and Egypt the money. To which we might add, and South Sudan will supply the oil.. The establishment of the Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, up 145 and a storage capacity of 74 . Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG, 79-110. The GERD and the Revival of the Egyptian-Sudanese Dispute over the Nile Waters. The dispute over the GERD is part of a long-standing feud between Egypt and Sudanthe downstream stateson the one hand, and Ethiopia and the upstream riparians on the other over access to the Niles waters, which are considered a lifeline for millions of people living in Egypt and Sudan. Egypt's 100 million people rely on the Nile for 90% of the country's water needs. Such a meaningful resource-sharing agreement should not only resolve the conflict over water-use rights among the riparian states, but it should help define concepts such as equitable and reasonable use and significant harm, which have been used by the downstream states in their criticisms of the GERD. Sudan, caught between the competing interests of both Egypt and Ethiopia, has been changing its stance on the issue. However, Sudans future water requirements will likely exceed its water quota as defined in the 1959 Agreement. But the Ethiopian elites show little interest in addressing such concerns, bent as they are on a nationalist revivalist project that claims an Ethiopian exceptionalism that places Addis Ababa above international law as it pursues a water-management strategy that has less to do with its development aims than with its ambitions to weaponise water in a bid for regional hegemony. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is a critical project that intends to provide hydroelectricity to support the livelihoods of millions of people in the region. In contrast, other watercourse states on the Nile have lent their support to the Dam. The failure of the latest talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has intensified tensions between Ethiopia and downstream states Egypt and Sudan. Although the case has been dropped, the organisations work focused international attention on the dams potential detrimental impacts on the lakes habitat. Such a mitigation program can make it much easier for Egyptian and Sudanese authorities to cooperate with Ethiopia and the other riparians in creating and adopting an agreement for management of the Nile. This dam, set to be the largest in Africa in terms of power capacity, continues to cause disagreement between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt on filling and operation strategies. In March 2015, a 'Declaration of Principles' was signed by the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, setting the foundations for an initial cooperation. Another impressive snippet of information is that the Government of Ethiopia is financing the entire project, along with loans mainly from China. Test. Search for jobs related to Disadvantages of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam or hire on the world's largest freelancing marketplace with 22m+ jobs. In the modern era, the US used water to blackmail Egypt. In that light, Egypt should minimize trips to Washington, D.C., New York, and Brussels, and instead use its diplomatic resources to improve its relations with the other riparian states. per year, that would constitute a drought and, according to Egypt and Sudan, Ethiopia would have to release some of the water in the dams reservoir to deal with the drought. Political instability in Egypt played an important role as the announcement of the project coincided with the resignation of President Mubarak during the Arab Spring. Feb 11th 2021 DAMS HAVE several uses. On March 4, 1982, Bertha Wilson became the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. For a decade, Egypt and Ethiopia have been at a diplomatic stalemate over the Nile's management. when did construction of the dam begin? Turning then to Ethiopia. The dispute escalated in 2011 when Ethiopia began construction of a major new dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), in the absence of any agreement with downstream Egypt. This agreement could pave the way for a more detailed cooperation framework, and represents a major step toward dispute resolution. There are suggestions that Egyptian officials in the World Bank managed to precipitate a policy that funds would only be awarded for non-contentious water projects, thus precluding funding for the Dam. It's very unpredictable and it can be very dangerous," says Pottinger. GIGA Focus No. What could have been strictly technical negotiations have turned into a political deadlock. Further, it means that this figure should be used to assess the impact of the Dam on the Egyptian economy for the purposes of calculating compensation resulting from loss of flow. In fact, about 85 % of the overall Nile flow originates on Ethiopian territory (Swain, 2011). The International Court of Justice (ICJ) takes an expansionist view towards decolonisation as seen in the Chagos Islands Advisory Opinion, in which it allowed the decolonisation agenda to trump the UKs lack of consent to any contentious proceedings. Since then, there has been a constant stream of complaints regarding the social and environmental impacts on downriver areas, including large displacements of local populations. Perhaps the most obvious argument that Ethiopia may want to make is a rebuttal to Egypts continued reliance on the Nile Water Treaties. Similarly, in 2018, the UNSC noted the water security risks in African nations such as Somalia, Sudan and Mali. The various warnings by experts about the dangers of the new Ethiopian dam have begun to cause panic among Egyptians, to the point of belief that the Aswan Dam will collapse once the Renaissance is completed. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) constitutes a real crisis for the Egyptian regime, where Ethiopia several times blamed Egypt for the failure of negotiations conducted between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia on the dam. Ethiopia has never 'consumed' significant shares of the Nile's water so far, as its previous political and economic fragility in combination with a lack of external financial support, due to persistent Egyptian opposition to projects upstream, prevented it from implementing large-scale projects. This paper discusses the challenges and benefits of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which is under construction and expected to be operational on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia in a few years. Even then, the initial studies did not extend beyond the borders with Kenya. A significant segment of local opinion is also aware of the well-known problems that come with mega-dams wherever they are built, among them population displacements and resettlement, reductions in the quality of life, the spread of waterborne diseases, salinisation and the loss of productive and profitable lands, more intense competition over the remaining available land, and losses of cultural and historic heritage. The Kenyan Lake is heavily dependent on the fresh water and vital nutrients supplied by the rivers annual floods, making it a paradise for fisheries. July 26, 2022. It can be demand-driven, typically caused by population growth, and supply-driven, typically caused by decreasing amounts of fresh water often resulting from climate change or a result of societal factors such as poverty. What are the disadvantages of the Aswan Dam? In 2019, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee warned that the Gibe III Dam had already disrupted the seasonal patterns of Lake Turkana and that this would reduce fish life and harm local communities dependent on the Lake. The Chinese donors who have agreed to fund it have performed no independent social or environmental impact reviews. Therefore, a negotiated position that favours Ethiopia is likely to be reached once it becomes politically palatable enough inside Egypt. The Eastern Nile Basin is of critical geopolitical importance to the Niles overall hydro-political regime. Sudan and Egypt, which rely most heavily on the . These parallel developments appear to be elements of a bigger hydro-political strategy wherein the riparian countries aim to increase their water utilisation to put facts on the ground (and underpin legal claims based on those uses) and increase their bargaining position for renegotiations of volumetric water allocations. The dam was named the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) because it was designed to bring about the economic and renewal of Ethiopia, a nation mentioned in Genesis 2:13 as the Land in which . As a result, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has recognised water security as a possible threat to international peace. Egypt has issued a public statement to that effect. This is a matter of acute concern given that Egypt depends on the Nile for about 97% of its irrigation and drinking water. casting the DoP as a treaty) has the potential to abrogate the Nile Waters Treaties that Egypt holds so dear. Third, Egypt should abandon continued references to its so-called natural historical rights (i.e., the water rights granted Egypt by the 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and the 1959 Agreement between Egypt and Sudan). Flashcards. Addis Ababa launched the construction of the GERD under Zenawi, and work on it has proceeded at full steam ahead ever since. After announcing the dam's construction, and with a view to the increasing tensions, the Ethiopian government invited both Egypt and Sudan to form an International Panel of Experts (IPoE) to solicit understanding of the benefits, costs and impacts of the GERD. However, as noted above, the trouble with relying on the DoP is that its legal status is not clearly defined. In my opinion, this should be negotiable, to fill the lake over a longer period, and only when the river is sufficiently full. There has long been a conflict over water rights among the riparian countries of the Eastern Nile Basin (Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia). Ethiopia says it will take a further four to six years to fill up the reservoir to its maximum flood season capacity of 74bcm. Subsequent impact studies were performed by the European Investment Bank and the African Development Bank, and in the light of the results, these banks cancelled their funding for Gibe III. As mentioned above, Ethiopias dam-construction strategy is intimately linked with large-scale foreign investment in the agrarian sector and specifically in areas near the artificial reservoirs created by the dams. for seepage and evaporation, but afforded no water to Ethiopia or other upstream riparian statesthe sources of most of the water that flows into the Nile. In short, the Nile Waters Treaties do little to constrain Ethiopias ability to construct the Dam. Still, if the exception was somehow activated, it would mean that Egypt remains entitled to 66% of the Nile River waters and that this figure should be used as the baseline for any future negotiations. Disadvantages Slow process Could be washed to the wrong direction Start up costs Lesson 4: Long term investment, It can't cope with he propagation rate of water hyacinth. It simultaneously expects that this role will change Ethiopias international status from a country perceived as poor and dependent on foreign aid to a regional power able to provide vital resources to its surrounding region. It will also give Ethiopia more control . Given the advancement of the dam construction - the GERD being, as of March 2015, 40% complete, according to Ethiopia - Egypt had good reason to reconsider its position (RANE, 2015). Ethiopias strategy for dam construction goes far beyond developmental goals. Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan reach 'major common understanding' on dam. Given the importance of water to Ethiopian agriculture, it resulted in the tragic irony that, as Thurow put it, the land than feeds the Nile is unable to feed itself. The status quo started to change when Ethiopia began construction of the Dam, just east of its border with Sudan, in 2011. According to this narrative, the Blue Nile, or Abay in Amharic, is a purely Ethiopian river. Whittington, D. et al. Four of these would potentially be located on the main river and one would eventually evolve into the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Flashcards. Under the Ethiopian constitution, the state is the proprietor of the countrys land and natural resources, which gives the government significant control over the allocation and use of land. However, an agreement was still far from reach. Egypt wants control and guarantees for its share of Nile waters. This exception was implemented to mitigate the risk of decolonisation leading to boundary wars. The GERD has the potential to act both as driver for conflict, but also for cooperation. Improved relations among Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Sudanese can go a long way in enhancing the ability of their leaders to negotiate and adopt agreements that reflect the interests of citizens, especially regarding economic development and poverty alleviation. The instrument was a success in terms of cooling tensions between the states which seemed increasingly likely to come to blows. It has led a diplomatic initiative to undermine support for the dam in the region; as well as in other countries supporting the project such as China and Italy. However, the DoP lacks these key traits, and these omissions suggest that it may simply be a non-binding declaration designed to ease political tensions and to illuminate a way forward. The filling time is estimated to take about 10 years, during which the Blue Nile water flows would be reduced. According to Article 16, former colonies do not inherit the treaty obligations of their former colonial rulers and instead receive a clean slate. However, Egypt could argue that the territorial treaty exception, under Articles 11 and 12, applies whereby colonial treaty provisions concerning boundaries must survive the impact of succession and bind successor states. At that point, the lake that . From this round of talks, it appears that negotiations are able to move forward and address other sticking points on the agenda, such as conflict resolution mechanisms and the dams operations in the event of multi-year droughts (Al Jazeera, 2020). Consequently, it suits Egypts interests in this context to argue that the DoP is binding, that it precludes any net loss of flow and therefore that the use of the Dam for irrigation purposes is prohibited. It states in Principle III that the parties shall take all appropriate measures to prevent the causing of significant harm. Ethiopia, whose highlands supply more than 85 percent of the water that flows into the Nile River, has long argued that it has the right to utilize its natural resources to address widespread poverty and improve the living standards of its people. Al Jazeera (2020). grand ethiopian renaissance dam. The Chinese-financed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), despite a recent breakdown in talks on Africa's largest development project, risks powering up a range of downstream tensions and rivalries. On the contrary, GERD has a positive impact in terms of reducing flood and silting and boost water conservation as well as generate energy for the region. It is clearly a philosophy that looks beyond the electricity and freshwater needs of local communities to a geo-strategic restructuring of the Horn of Africa. Egypt has also escalated its call to the international community to get involved. The announcement on Friday comes a day after Ethiopia said it had launched power production from the second turbine at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Ethiopias Blue Nile Dam is an opportunity for regional collaboration, Developing countries are key to climate action, Self-organizing Nigeria: The antifragile state, Managing the compounding debt and climate crises. Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the dam. Water scarcity is a growing problem. On March 4, 1909, the Copyright Act of 1909 became law, making infringement of a copyright a federal crime for the first time. This is on the basis of the principles of State succession as outlined in the Vienna Convention on the Succession of States (VCSS). Egypt, Ethiopia to form joint committee on Renaissance Dam. But the project has caused concern. It concludes that Ethiopias legal position is far stronger and that a negotiated agreement in its favour is the most likely outcome of the dispute. It will be the largest hydropower project in Africa. The significance of Gulf involvement was highlighted by the . The politicisation of the Niles water and the utilisation of development projects to achieve political ends are not new phenomena. (eds.). Although Khartoum initially opposed the construction of the GERD, it has since warmed up to it, citing its potential to improve prospects for domestic development. In my opinion, this should be negotiable, to fill the lake over a longer period, and only when the river is sufficiently full. Download PDF 1.40 MB. International rights organisations have reported that many cases of displacement were not voluntary and that entire communities were driven from their villages. If the relevant parties can agree to these goals, the agreement, in the end, will need to include technical language that ensures equitable sharing of the Nile. Ethiopian opinion is divided over the need for such huge investments in hydroelectric energy when the national network is still very underdeveloped and unable to cope. While such dams also come with long-term benefits to local populations, the chief beneficiary will always be the state, which reaps profits from the sale of surplus electricity. Since 2015, technical reports on the potential impacts of the dam have failed to reach a consensus within the TNC (Maguid, 2017). Another difficulty for Egypt is that making this argument (i.e. Even in 2023, there are only 46 state parties, with key actors such as the US, Canada and Brazil remaining outside the Conventions regime. Given the fact that the conflict between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan over the GERD seems to be among the most pressing issues in the region, it might be advisable for emphasis to be placed on securing a trilateral agreement that secures the peace between these three countries first. These hydraulic mega-projects underscore the ambitious local and regional political aims of the Ethiopian ruling elites. Mainly, for the downstream countries, the. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is a 6,450 MW hydropower project nearing completion on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia, located about 30 km upstream of the border with Sudan. Here, for the first time, Egypt recognised Ethiopias right to use the Nile for development purposes. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will have negative impacts not only on Egypt but also on poor communities in Ethiopia as well as on its Nile Basin neighbours Ethiopia's strategy for dam construction goes far beyond developmental goals. Negotiations resumed three weeks after Al-Sisi took office in June 2014, and an agreement was made to resume negotiations - an achievementhailed by both Egypt and Ethiopia as a new chapter in relations between Egypt and Ethiopia based on openness and mutual understanding and cooperation (Omar, 2014). Ultimately, however, Egypt did not sign the CFA (nor did Sudan) hence it does not resolve the dispute. India dispatch: Supreme Court limits DNA paternity testing in divorce proceedings, prioritizing childrens privacy rights, US dispatch: Texas case could limit access to abortion medication, Copyright infringement made federal crime.

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