Kenya-Ethiopia Dam Dispute Under Mediation
An environmental controversy surrounding the construction of Gilgel
Gibe III Dam in Ethiopia’s Highlands appears to be close to resolution.
Kenyan authorities have raised concerns about the dam because it is
being built along Ethiopia’s Omo River which is the major source of
water for Kenya’s Lake Turkana.
But mediation efforts by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) appear to be working. An agreement between the two water ministries is being negotiated and may be signed in November, said Desta Mebratu, regional director for UNEP in Nairobi. The draft agreement proposes joint management of all natural resources in Lake Turkana and its river basin which extends upstream into Ethiopia and includes the Gibe III construction site.
Turkana Lake, Gibe III Hydroelectric Project
At issue is the question of whether Ethiopia’s dam will drain upstream
waters to irrigate large plantations on the Ethiopia side of the border,
a move that Kenya fears will critically damage Lake Turkana, 675
kilometers downstream. More than 80 percent of the Kenyan lake’s waters
come from the Omo in Ethiopia and water levels in the lake could drop
by as much as 10 meters once the dam is operational. Lake Turkana is
also a World Heritage site where some of earliest evidence of man has
been found and is currently home to tens of thousands of pastorals and
fishermen.
“Our big concern is the water levels of Lake Turkana,” said Thomas Wildman, Horn of Africa director for Oxfam Great Britain. “The big question is whether Ethiopia is going to release all the water from the dam once they’ve drawn it for hydro or if they’re going to keep any of that water.”
Irrigation a major concern for Kenya
The Gibe III is the third of three dams to be built on the Omo River and its tributaries that run south and empty into Lake Turkana across the Kenyan border. Recent Ethiopian proposals to divert Omo waters for irrigation of a major sugar plantation in the basin have alarmed officials in the administration President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“For the first time this year, the president of Kenya actually accepted that the dam has an impact on Lake Turkana,” said Akil Angelei, president of The Friends of Lake Turkana. “After years of back and forth, UNEP is trying to convene meetings to look at a way forward on the issue.”
As part of its development strategy Ethiopia is seeking to become a major source of global sugar. It is building 10 new refineries and devoting another 5 million hectares to growing sugarcane. South Omo is to host six of those factories and half of the plantation lands.
Oxfam said the Omo River dam construction – originally identified as a hydroelectric project – is now viewed as “quite a large-scale irrigation project which could really reduce the levels and create an ecological impact on the fish populations which are a primary sources of livelihood for the people on the lake and on the floodplain for livestock.”
“We know that Ethiopia’s main drive had been not just hydro but irrigation,” said Angelei, “so we are trying highlight that we need them to look at what the entire basin needs.”
Thousands displaced by the dam
Another issue of concern surrounding construction of the Gibe III dam is the displacement of people. Claudia Carr at the University of California at Berkeley reported that large numbers of Mursi people in the north of the basin and Dasanech groups along the eastern shore have already been removed by the Ethiopia government. The Dasanech occupy the northern and eastern shores of the lake and straddle both countries. Gabbra and Turkana groups live to the south and west of the lake.
More than a dozen indigenous tribes have lived in the basin for centuries, raising cattle and goats and fishing the lake. Some estimates say that beyond the 20,000 who depend directly on the lake’s waters, more than 200,000 Kenyans and Ethiopians would be impacted by a drop in lake waters.
Cattle raids and tribal clashes are frequent among the tribes such as the Rendille. Many who study the region are concerned that reduced water flows will increase competition for water and lead to increased clashes. Rights groups have reported that in Ethiopia many villagers been removed to provide up to 300,000 hectares in South Oromo for proposed sugar and cotton plantations.
An early champion of Lake Turkana, Kenyan paleoanthropologist and conservationist Richard Leakey said four years ago that Gibe III was based on flawed studies and “the dam will produce a broad range of negative effects, some of which would be catastrophic to both the environment and the indigenous communities living downstream.”
The ongoing debate focuses on an under-populated desert region where the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan – and the disputed Ilema Triangle – meet. Recent news of the satellite-based discovery of a vast network of subterranean aquifers holding 250 billion cubic meters of fresh water could boost the fortunes of this drought-prone corner of Kenya but will not impact the future of Lake Turkana. Now the fate of the region depends on the ability of Kenya and Ethiopia to sign and implement the agreement to jointly manage the waters of the Omo River in the Turkana basin.
But mediation efforts by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) appear to be working. An agreement between the two water ministries is being negotiated and may be signed in November, said Desta Mebratu, regional director for UNEP in Nairobi. The draft agreement proposes joint management of all natural resources in Lake Turkana and its river basin which extends upstream into Ethiopia and includes the Gibe III construction site.
Turkana Lake, Gibe III Hydroelectric Project“Our big concern is the water levels of Lake Turkana,” said Thomas Wildman, Horn of Africa director for Oxfam Great Britain. “The big question is whether Ethiopia is going to release all the water from the dam once they’ve drawn it for hydro or if they’re going to keep any of that water.”
Irrigation a major concern for Kenya
The Gibe III is the third of three dams to be built on the Omo River and its tributaries that run south and empty into Lake Turkana across the Kenyan border. Recent Ethiopian proposals to divert Omo waters for irrigation of a major sugar plantation in the basin have alarmed officials in the administration President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“For the first time this year, the president of Kenya actually accepted that the dam has an impact on Lake Turkana,” said Akil Angelei, president of The Friends of Lake Turkana. “After years of back and forth, UNEP is trying to convene meetings to look at a way forward on the issue.”
As part of its development strategy Ethiopia is seeking to become a major source of global sugar. It is building 10 new refineries and devoting another 5 million hectares to growing sugarcane. South Omo is to host six of those factories and half of the plantation lands.
Oxfam said the Omo River dam construction – originally identified as a hydroelectric project – is now viewed as “quite a large-scale irrigation project which could really reduce the levels and create an ecological impact on the fish populations which are a primary sources of livelihood for the people on the lake and on the floodplain for livestock.”
“We know that Ethiopia’s main drive had been not just hydro but irrigation,” said Angelei, “so we are trying highlight that we need them to look at what the entire basin needs.”
Thousands displaced by the dam
Another issue of concern surrounding construction of the Gibe III dam is the displacement of people. Claudia Carr at the University of California at Berkeley reported that large numbers of Mursi people in the north of the basin and Dasanech groups along the eastern shore have already been removed by the Ethiopia government. The Dasanech occupy the northern and eastern shores of the lake and straddle both countries. Gabbra and Turkana groups live to the south and west of the lake.
More than a dozen indigenous tribes have lived in the basin for centuries, raising cattle and goats and fishing the lake. Some estimates say that beyond the 20,000 who depend directly on the lake’s waters, more than 200,000 Kenyans and Ethiopians would be impacted by a drop in lake waters.
Cattle raids and tribal clashes are frequent among the tribes such as the Rendille. Many who study the region are concerned that reduced water flows will increase competition for water and lead to increased clashes. Rights groups have reported that in Ethiopia many villagers been removed to provide up to 300,000 hectares in South Oromo for proposed sugar and cotton plantations.
An early champion of Lake Turkana, Kenyan paleoanthropologist and conservationist Richard Leakey said four years ago that Gibe III was based on flawed studies and “the dam will produce a broad range of negative effects, some of which would be catastrophic to both the environment and the indigenous communities living downstream.”
The ongoing debate focuses on an under-populated desert region where the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan – and the disputed Ilema Triangle – meet. Recent news of the satellite-based discovery of a vast network of subterranean aquifers holding 250 billion cubic meters of fresh water could boost the fortunes of this drought-prone corner of Kenya but will not impact the future of Lake Turkana. Now the fate of the region depends on the ability of Kenya and Ethiopia to sign and implement the agreement to jointly manage the waters of the Omo River in the Turkana basin.
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