Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG, 79-110. Downstream countries Egypt and Sudan have expressed concerns over the impacts of the dam on their water supply. In June 2020, tensions escalated when Ethiopia declared its intent to fill the dam in July without an agreement, which again led to Egypt and Sudan requesting UNSC intervention on the matter (Kandeel, 2020). (2011). Who Is Financing Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam? 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. 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 . Sudan, caught between the competing interests of both Egypt and Ethiopia, has been changing its stance on the issue. 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. Ethiopias interests in developing its water resources are driven by its growing population and high demand for socio-economic development (Gebreluel, 2014). 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. Egypts original goal was to have the project purely and simply cancelled. It is therefore intrinsically connected with the question of land ownership. First came the 1999 Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA). The Nile is not a boundary-delimiting river, hence Ethiopia would almost certainly argue that the exception should not be applied here. Learn. (DOC) Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - Academia.edu 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. In order to sustain this benefit in the long run, Ethiopias neighbouring countries will have to continue to purchase hydroelectric energy, and rainfall will have to fall at the same rate on the Ethiopian Plateau. Egypt accuses. The Watercourses Convention aims to regulate the uses, as well as the conservation, of all transboundary waters above and below the surface. However, another trend stresses the need to approach the question from a broader and more holistic perspective. RANE (2015). 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. If it were to take place during a sequence of years in which the Blue Nile flow and the AHD reservoir itself was low, Egypt might not be able to withdraw sufficient water supplies to meet all of its agricultural needs. While the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is taking shape on . The decisions that this group renders must be binding on all riparian states. 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. The Ethiopian government is spending $4.7 billion to construct the 1,780-meter dam across the Blue Nile. In the end, all 11 riparian states must understand that the way forward calls for the establishment of a meaningful resource-sharing agreement, one that sees and recognizes the Nile River as a regional watercourse. 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. Ethiopia, however, prefers to have the flexibility to make decisions on how to deal with droughts. Impacts of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Downstream Countries Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam: Ending Africa's Oldest Geopolitical Rivalry? It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. Match. For nearly a century, as a legacy of colonialism, Egypt enjoyed what Tekuya referred to as a hydro-hegemony over the Nile; despite Ethiopia contributing 86% to its waters. While the water will return to its normal state before reaching Egypt, the damage to these populations will be permanent. Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - ArcGIS StoryMaps It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. Egypt has taken various efforts in a bid to secure its water security in the context of the Nile River. Egypts main argument might be that, despite being unsatisfactory and anachronistic, the Nile Waters Treaties remain good law and are enforceable against the respective parties. Elliot Winter is a lecturer (assistant professor) in international law at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. The Eastern Nile Basin is of critical geopolitical importance to the Niles overall hydro-political regime. The late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who laid the foundation stone in 2011, said the dam would be built without begging for money . 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 politicisation of the Niles water and the utilisation of development projects to achieve political ends are not new phenomena. 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. Another impressive snippet of information is that the Government of Ethiopia is financing the entire project, along with loans mainly from China. Filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) along the Blue Nile River is well under way near the Ethiopia-Sudan border. Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - Wikipedia The largest permanent desert lake in the world, Turkana has three national parks that are now listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Cairo . Ethiopia and Egypt Are Fighting Over the Nile River. The United States To date, no significant harm has been caused to Egypt or Sudan as a result of the ongoing construction of the GERD. However, it also makes useful concessions to Egypt which it may wish to press. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Fact Sheet Egypt, which lies 1,600 miles downstream of the Dam, believes its operation will reduce the amount of fresh water available to it from the Nile. Hence, it is hard to see how Egypt could make a compelling argument that it has been harmed by the Dam. Egypt, fearing major disruptions to its access to the Niles waters, originally intended to prevent even the start of the GERDs construction. Here, for the first time, Egypt recognised Ethiopias right to use the Nile for development purposes. The US has revived diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute sparked by Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project on the Nile. 74 cubic metres. casting the DoP as a treaty) has the potential to abrogate the Nile Waters Treaties that Egypt holds so dear. 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. Addis Ababa expects to sell no less than 4,000 Megawatts (MW) of electricity to its regional partners in the coming decade. "I came to Cairo on my first official trip to the region to hear . Four of these would potentially be located on the main river and one would eventually evolve into the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Ethiopia argues that developing this resource is crucial to its economic development, and to overcoming poverty and famine, that have plagued the country in the past. 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. There has long been a conflict over water rights among the riparian countries of the Eastern Nile Basin (Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia). UN ready to promote 'win-win solution' for Blue Nile dam project Sudan is caught between the competing interests of Egypt and Ethiopia. If it is allowed to reach dangerous levels, water scarcity has the potential to trigger conflicts. Already, on June 19, 2020, Egyptian authorities called upon the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to intervene after tripartite talks had failed to secure an agreement on the filling schedule for the GERD. Egypt relies on the river for as much as 90 percent of its freshwater and sees the new dam as an existential . 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. 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. The instrument was a success in terms of cooling tensions between the states which seemed increasingly likely to come to blows. This was an attempt at a wholesale replacement for the Nile Waters Treaties. These run from rising rivalry between Egypt and Ethiopia to a festering border war between Ethiopia and neighboring Sudan. 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. PDF Negative Impact of Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Population on - AJER The Eastern Nile Basin comprises Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. For Ethiopia, GERD is considered an economic game-changer. 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). (2014). 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. It also codified the principles of equitable and reasonable utilisation and no significant harm (essentially importing from the Watercourses Convention). DISADVANTAGES OF ASWAN DAM the agriculture output of Egypt. River Nile dam: Why Ethiopia can't stop it being filled Could the Nile dispute be an opportunity to boost freshwater technology? Indeed, the ICJ confirmed in Gabikovo-Nagymaros Project that all riparian states have a basic right to an equitable and reasonable sharing of the resources of the watercourse. Moreover, these principles were pulled through into the DoP agreed by both Egypt and Ethiopia. Indeed, Sudan had initially opposed the Dam but changed its position in 2012 after consultations with Ethiopia. The 1959 agreement allocated all the Nile Rivers waters to Egypt and Sudan, leaving 10 billion cubic meters (b.c.m.) In response, Ethiopia threatened military force to defend the dam and protect its interests (The New Arab, 2020a). The Grand Renaissance Dam and prospects for cooperation on the Eastern Nile. The toll on the local communities affected by the dams has been enormous. Search for jobs related to Disadvantages of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam or hire on the world's largest freelancing marketplace with 20m+ jobs. 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. But with a generation capacity of 6.45GW, the Ethiopian government quoted the project as vital to the country's economic growth. As noted above, the instrument concedes for the first time that Ethiopia has legitimate interests over the Nile. Even in 2023, there are only 46 state parties, with key actors such as the US, Canada and Brazil remaining outside the Conventions regime. Ethiopias dam-construction strategy threatens not only Kenyas water-resource development efforts but also Somalias water security, as is evidenced by Ethiopias development plans for the Jubba and Shebelle Rivers. 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. When it is completed, with its concrete volume of 10.2 million m3, GERD will feature the largest dam in Africa. Review a brief history of copyright in the United States. The drying up of this in Central Asia has been called the worlds worst environmental catastrophe. In March 2015, a 'Declaration of Principles' was signed by the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, setting the foundations for an initial cooperation. The withdrawal from the project by Deltares has been met by a wave of objections in Egypt for fear . Alaa al-Zawahiri, a member of the Egyptian National Panel of Experts studying the effects of the Renaissance Dam, believes as much. It can help the riparian states outline principles, rights, and obligations for cooperative management of the resources of the Nile.
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