Ethiopia rejects Arab League resolution on Renaissance Dam Learn. One question that keeps coming up is: Will Ethiopia be willing to release enough water from the reservoir to help mitigate a drought downstream? 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. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is estimated to cost close to 5 billion US dollars, about 7% of the 2016 Ethiopian gross national product. The results indicated that the negative impacts on Egyptian water resources are dominant. l Coordinates 111255N 3505 . In July of 2021, the second filling of the dam was completed. Match. It and several other large dams in Ethiopia could turn the country into Africa's hydropower hub.
Benefits from the Nile's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - Rural 21 The late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who laid the foundation stone in 2011, said the dam would be built without begging for money . The CFA was a political success for the eight upstream states such as Ethiopia as it favoured those states and isolated the downstream states of Egypt and Sudan and made them appear recalcitrant. A regional framework for the management of the Nile already existsthe Nile Basin Initiative mentioned abovewhich is a partnership among the Nile riparian states that was launched in 1999. Hence, the customary law argument might be too ambitious.
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - jpl.nasa.gov This article considers water security in the context of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (the Dam). Following the fall of Mengistu Haile-Mariams regime in Ethiopia in 1991, Ethiopia experienced a remarkable rise in the construction of dams and hydroelectric power stations. 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.
The controversy over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - Brookings In turn, Egypt water policy and management should be changes or modified to overcome the great challenges. Despite the fact that newly independent Sudan in the late 1950s was literally forced by a dominant Egypt into a highly asymmetrical water-sharing arrangement, Sudan has rarely challenged this arrangement. Misplaced Opposition to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD): Update. 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. Both Egypt and Ethiopia could make arguments in support of their positions. Egypts original goal was to have the project purely and simply cancelled.
Why was the aswan high dam built? Explained by Sharing Culture Moreover, after the completion of the GERD, Egypt could run short of water if the operation of the GERD was not carefully coordinated with that of the AHD. This includes Sudan, another downstream nation that one might assume would oppose its construction. His research indicates that rapid filling of the reservoir could lead to severe economic losses, though he notes that expanding groundwater extraction, adjusting the operation of Egypt's Aswan High Dam, and cultivating crops that require less water could help offset some of the impact. We shall begin with the former. Owned and operated by the Ethiopian Electric Power company, the 145-m-tall roller-compacted concrete gravity dam . The Political Deadlock on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. There are three key articles. On Feb. 26, Ethiopia temporarily suspended its . Attia, H. & Saleh, M. (2021). As early as 1957, Ethiopian officials said that the Somalian economy could not survive on its own given how heavily dependent it was on Ethiopia. In its 2013 report, the International Rivers Organisation predicted that the long-term effects of the Gibe III Dam would turn Lake Turkana into another Aral Sea. Ethiopia's determination to build a major new dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), for hydropower purposes has been the flashpoint of current conflicts in the Eastern Nile Basin (Gebreluel, 2014). According to some estimates, the Ethiopian government had to arrange for the resettlement of 1.5 million people in the four regions of Gambela, Somali, Afar, and Benishangul-Gumuz. Egypt wants control and guarantees for its share of Nile waters. Downstream countries Egypt and Sudan have expressed concerns over the impacts of the dam on their water supply. The Blue Nile is Ethiopias largest river, with high potential for hydropower and irrigation. EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images. Learn.
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Agreement within Reach, Under-Secretary Search for jobs related to Disadvantages of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam or hire on the world's largest freelancing marketplace with 20m+ jobs. In the absence of the application of the Watercourses Convention, various other legal arrangements and political declarations must be considered to gain an understanding of the regulation of the Dam and the Nile River more generally. 67K views 6 months ago ETIOPIA The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, on the Blue Nile, is located around 14 km upstream of the Ethiopian-Sudan Border, at around 700 km from the Capital. Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the Blue Nile dam, which Egypt fears will imperil its water supply. l located on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia . At that point, the lake that . The dispute resolution committee could be made up of the Nile Council of Ministers (Nile-COM), which includes the ministers in charge of water affairs in all member states of the Nile River Basin. 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. An optimistic trend among todays African commentators focuses primarily on economic growth rates and pays little attention to human tolls, questions of transparency and accountability, and the sustainability of growth. 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. According to Baradei, hydropower dams create immense turbulence in the water, where chemical reactions such as dissolved oxygen can destroy fauna and flora. This antipathy is not new, with Munzinger noting even in the nineteenth century that Ethiopia is a danger for Egypt [which] must either take over Ethiopia and Islamize it or, retain it in anarchy and misery. Still, the Dam brings the old enmity into sharp focus.
Water Politics and the Gulf States: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam 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.
What are the disadvantages of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Such an understanding and appreciation of Egypts water vulnerability would help the riparians develop a water management protocol that can significantly enhance equitable and reasonable use while minimizing significant harm to downstream riparians. In terms of the current status of talks, in 2019, US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin began facilitating negotiations between Egypt and Ethiopia which led to some tentative progress.
While this means new opportunities to develop extended irrigation-based agriculture for the Sudanese, it represents also a new threat for Egypts current Nile water utilisation (Whittington et al., 2014). Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the dam. 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. It has also expressed concerns about the potential impact the initial filling of the dam will have on areas downstream. You can revoke your consent to the site operator at any time by unsubscribing from the newsletter. Another argument Egypt might adduce concerns the DoP. Neither the Egyptian nor the Ethiopian governments received positive domestic feedback on their agreement. However, the Convention took almost twenty years to enter into force (from 1997 to 2014) due to the lack of necessary ratifications by states. l It is in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, about 15 km east of the border with Sudan. The Nile-COM is the highest political and decisionmaking body of the NBI. The so-called Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) is Africa's biggest hydroelectric project to date. 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. 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. It is therefore intrinsically connected with the question of land ownership. Addis Ababa expects to sell no less than 4,000 Megawatts (MW) of electricity to its regional partners in the coming decade.
Ethiopia - Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) - Hydropower Similarly, in 2018, the UNSC noted the water security risks in African nations such as Somalia, Sudan and Mali. 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. Yet, Ethiopia is fully aware of Somalias economic dependence on the rivers originating from Ethiopias highlands. Afraid that a drought might appear during the filling period, Egypt wants the filling to take place over a much longer period. Second, the upstream riparian states must recognize and accept Egypts near total dependence on the waters of the Nile River.
Ethiopia: The Untold Story of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Zegabi East Africa News (2015). February 14, 2022 JPEG For example, Ethiopians and Egyptians are more likely to understand and appreciate the challenges that they face, particularly in the areas of water security, climate change, food production, and poverty alleviation, if they regularly interact with each other and engage in more bottom-up, participatory and inclusive approaches to the resolution of their conflicts.
Factbox: Key facts about Ethiopia's giant Nile dam | Reuters First came the 1999 Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA). This crisis has raised great concerns among large sectors of the Egyptian society, especially in light of recalling such statements as "water war," "water militarization," "military management of the GERD crisis," "water terrorism," and "Ethiopian hydro-hegemony over the Nile Basin" [ 1, 2 ].
Ethiopia's dam dispute: five key reads about how it started and how it The filling regime and operational methods of GERD will affect Egypt, in particular through its impact on the operation of its Aswan High Dam (AHD) which aims at mitigating the high variability of the Nile River flow. Hence, it is hard to see how Egypt could make a compelling argument that it has been harmed by the Dam. A more recent trilateral meeting mediated by the African Union in mid-July, however, appeared to diffuse the situation with all three countries reaching a major common understanding towards achieving an agreement (Al Jazeera, 2020).
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Limited Options for a Resolution Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam. The treaties also purported to give Egypt veto power over upstream projects. The current global energy crisis may help in this regard in the sense that Egyptians may find the allure of discounted hydroelectric energy stronger than ever before. This exception was implemented to mitigate the risk of decolonisation leading to boundary wars. Sudan, caught between the competing interests of both Egypt and Ethiopia, has been changing its stance on the issue. 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.. According to present plans, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) now under construction across the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia will be the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, and one of the 12 largest in the world. The situation seemed to improve in the beginning of 2015 when tripartite negotiations were held in order to determine principles of cooperation. Second, as also noted above, the Dam is to be used for electricity generation, not irrigation. There has long been a conflict over water rights among the riparian countries of the Eastern Nile Basin (Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia). The disadvantages for Egypt and Sudan are the possibility of reduced river flow, although this is only really a problem during the years of filling the dam. 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. The current filling which is ongoing since early July 2021 has presented no issues as well. This was an attempt at a wholesale replacement for the Nile Waters Treaties. Still, Egypt may be playing with fire if it were to press the legal significance of the DoP.
Gebreluel, G. (2014). Despite several tripartite meetings between November 2013 and January 2014, no agreement was reached on the implementation of the IPoE recommendations and controversies were evolving around the constitution of a trilateral committee. Because Ethiopia has been so cavalier with regard to the technical aspects of its dams, portions of them have also caved in soon after they began operation. The GERD has the potential to act both as driver for conflict, but also for cooperation. Chinese banks provided financing for the purchase of the turbines and electrical equipment for the hydroelectric plants. In the imperialist age, Ethiopian emperors threatened to alter the course of the Nile and stop its flow to Egypt. The final touches to these plans were added in 2005 and 2007, and one involves nine hydroelectric dams along the Gebale Dawa to produce some 1,300 MW of electricity for export. AFRICANGLOBE. Even then, the initial studies did not extend beyond the borders with Kenya. At stake, too, is . Many historical grievances and distrust remain on the Ethiopian side regarding Egypt (Gebreluel, 2014), with some Ethiopian journalists assessing the 'Declaration of Principles' as being more in favour of Egypt than Ethiopia (Zegabi East Africa News, 2015). The former was initially funded by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, but these later withdrew for legal and other reasons. They generate electricity, store water for crop irrigation and help to prevent floods. Today, however, Ethiopia is building the Grand Renaissance Dam and, with it, Ethiopia will physically control the Blue Nile Gorgethe primary source of most of the Nile waters. Recently, the tensions among Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile have escalated, particularly after Ethiopia announced that it had started filling the GERDs reservoir, an action contrary to Egypts mandate that the dam not be filled without a legally binding agreement over the equitable allocation of the Niles waters. Egypt Forced to Negotiate on Nile Dam. Attempts to resolve the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute over the past decade have reached a deadlock. Copyright 2023, JURIST Legal News & Research Services, Inc. Elliot Winter | New Castle University (UK), Egyptian Water Security and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Why Ethiopia has the Upper Hand, Vienna Convention on the Succession of States, history of copyright in the United States.
Ethiopia starts generating power from River Nile dam - BBC News However, Ethiopia ultimately refused to sign the draft agreement. All three countries have a vested interest in a properly operated dam. Both citizens and governments should be made part of the solution to the water-related conflicts that now threaten peace and security in the Nile Basin. The strategy and its surrounding narrative have attracted large influxes of foreign investment in the Ethiopian agrarian sector, with multi-million dollar leases of agricultural land to foreigners generally linked to irrigation projects planned in tandem with the construction of the dam. Egypt has issued a public statement to that effect. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and hydroelectric project is located 700 km northeast of the capital city Addis Abeba, in the Benishangul--Gumaz region of Ethiopia, along the Blue Nile River.
Disputes over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) In March 2015, a 'Declaration of Principles' was signed by the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, setting the foundations for an initial cooperation.
Environmental Impacts Of Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam On The These hydraulic mega-projects underscore the ambitious local and regional political aims of the Ethiopian ruling elites. This is an intergovernmental partnership to provide a forum for consultation and coordination for the sustainable management and development of shared water. Elliot Winter is a lecturer (assistant professor) in international law at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. Trilateral talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to finalise an agreement on a cooperation framework for the GERD have been mediated by the African Union, World Bank and United States. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam located in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, about 45 km east of the border with Sudan. The IPoE report recommended two studies to assess the environmental and socio-economic impacts of GERD and was interpreted by both the Egyptian and the Ethiopian government as a vindication of their respective positions. 4. In: Yihdego, Z. et al. As noted above, the instrument concedes for the first time that Ethiopia has legitimate interests over the Nile. First, as noted above, Ethiopia contributes 86% of the water in the Nile and so it seems only natural that it has an equitable claim to using Nile waters to aid growth in its impoverished economy. The decisions that this group renders must be binding on all riparian states. Second came the 2015 Declaration of Principles (DoP) which concerned the Dam specifically (rather than the Nile more broadly). Crucially, however, despite being signed by Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, the legal status of the DoP was left (deliberately) vague. Ethiopia has the basins most suitable locations for hydropower production, and its damming of the Blue Nile would significantly increase Sudan's potential for irrigated agriculture. Download PDF 1.40 MB. The colonial powers have departed and so to continue to enforce treaties agreed based around their interests would be irrational.
River Nile dam: Why Ethiopia can't stop it being filled Ethiopias strategy for dam construction goes far beyond developmental goals.
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam | International Rivers grand ethiopian renaissance dam Flashcards | Quizlet 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. Von Lossow, T. & Roll, S. (2015). 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. The Eastern Nile Basin comprises Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in Africa, has the second largest population in the continent. March 14, 2020, 6:57 AM. 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).
Why is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam contentious? Ethiopia, however, prefers to have the flexibility to make decisions on how to deal with droughts. 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. In general, the Ethiopian development philosophy rests on two pillars: mega-dams and mega-agricultural projects. On the surface, the 558 ft tall dam Africa's biggest hydropower project belies Ethiopia's financial muscle. Water scarcity is a growing problem. The US has revived diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute sparked by Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project on the Nile. What could have been strictly technical negotiations have turned into a political deadlock. It is perhaps the most glaring demonstration of environmental or climate injustice that the youngest continent (60 percent of the population is below the age of twenty-five) is also the one that has historically least contributed to the industrial emissions of greenhouse gases yet is likely the one that will be hardest affected by meteorological European countries including Italy, Belgium and especially the UK controlled the Nile as part of colonisation and the broader Scramble for Africa. These colonising states used the tactic of concluding treaties (often at gunpoint) to secure their interests and, in this case, essentially prohibit upstream states from using their own waters. Review a brief history of copyright in the United States. To African commentators in recent decades, massive investments in mega-energy and irrigation projects were emblematic of the African economic emergence, and Ethiopia at that time vaunted itself as one of the fastest-growing economies in the region. We do know that Ethiopia is already seeing longer droughts and worse floods. Governing the Nile River Basin: The Search for a New Legal Regime. When it is completed, with its concrete volume of 10.2 million m3, GERD will feature the largest dam in Africa. The Friends of Lake Turkana, an NGO representing indigenous groups whose livelihoods are dependent on the Lake, filed a suit to halt the construction of the dam. 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.
On March 4, 1834, the town of York in the British colony of Canada was incorporated as the City of Toronto. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. Hence, it seems that such an argument would receive a warm welcome from the current bench were the matter ever to be adjudicated there. The three fillings hitherto, with the most recent in August 2022, imposed no discernible harm on downstream states.
Egypt faces another dam challenge - Al-Monitor: Independent, trusted Indeed, Egypt has called the filling of the dam an. Sima Aldardari. Nevertheless, Egypt must not use sympathy for its water vulnerability as a weapon to frustrate the efforts of the other riparians to secure an agreement that is balanced, fair, and equitable. No water at all was allocated to Ethiopia. Maguid, M.A.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Its Effect on Egypt Impacts of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Downstream Countries While the water will return to its normal state before reaching Egypt, the damage to these populations will be permanent. However, an agreement was still far from reach. But this did not rule out eruptions of tension, not just between local communities and the central government, but also between Ethiopia and its neighbours. Water scarcity is a growing problem. To date, no significant harm has been caused to Egypt or Sudan as a result of the ongoing construction of the GERD.
Ethiopia and Egypt Are Fighting Over the Nile River. The United States On 5 July 2021, Ethiopia informed Egypt and Sudan that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia is undergoing its second filling.