disadvantages of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam

Filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) along the Blue Nile River is well under way near the Ethiopia-Sudan border. Practically from the outset, the World Bank and international donors withdrew funding due to a lack of transparency, driven home when it was learned that the construction had begun without a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency in Ethiopia. Concern has focused in particular on Lake Turkana, which derives 90 per cent of its water from the Omo River on which the Gilgel Gibe III Dam was built. In contrast, other watercourse states on the Nile have lent their support to the Dam. Typically, treaties contain provisions on the identification and function of the depositary, entry into force, adoption and so on (Article 24(4) Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT)). International rights organisations have reported that many cases of displacement were not voluntary and that entire communities were driven from their villages. In my opinion, this should be negotiable, to fill the lake over a longer period, and only when the river is sufficiently full. However, by far the largest of these projects is the GERD, which was announced in 2010 and work on which was launched in 2011 by means of a nationwide fundraiser in which Ethiopian civil servants were reportedly obliged to volunteer a months salary to invest in GERD bonds. 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). Egypt has also escalated its call to the international community to get involved. The Political Deadlock on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. 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. Nile negotiations break down as Egypt, Sudan accuse Ethiopia of rejecting legally binding agreement. Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in Africa, has the second largest population in the continent. the study highlights the importance of weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of counter-hegemonic tactics in general, and of large dam projects in particular, and . (eds.). Maguid, M.A. Why the Nile could see a 'water war'. Learn. Ethiopia, with a population of more than 115 million people and Projected to be 230 million by 2050. Thus, it is only through cooperation that Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, and the other riparians can peacefully resolve conflicts over the Nile and achieve the type of water use that will contribute significantly to regional economic and human development. Article 5 requires that watercourse states utilise an international watercourse in an equitable and reasonable manner and creates the duty to cooperate in the protection and development of the watercourse. Ethiopian general threatens military force to defend Nile dam as negotiations with Egypt falter. Given agricultures importance to pro-poor economic growth, Egypt, which has significant experience and expertise in irrigation agriculture, can share some of that expertise with other countries in exchange for increased trade with them. His successor, Mohamed Morsi, said that Egypt was prepared to defend each drop of Nile water with blood. An armed conflict has not emerged, but there are suggestions that Egyptian intelligence services undermined Ethiopia internally by assisting the Oromo Liberation Front in its campaign of civil unrest in Ethiopia in 2016. 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. 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. Even in 2023, there are only 46 state parties, with key actors such as the US, Canada and Brazil remaining outside the Conventions regime. The latter, in Article 2(4), allocated acquired rights of 66% of Nile water to Egypt and 22% to Sudan (with the remaining 12% attributed to leakage). However, Ethiopia ultimately refused to sign the draft agreement. 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. The colonial powers have departed and so to continue to enforce treaties agreed based around their interests would be irrational. Attempts to resolve the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute over the past decade have reached a deadlock. While the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is taking shape on . 4. We shall begin with the former. Crucially, however, despite being signed by Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, the legal status of the DoP was left (deliberately) vague. This is an intergovernmental partnership to provide a forum for consultation and coordination for the sustainable management and development of shared water. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG, 79-110. But the project has caused concern. 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. 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. On Feb. 26, Ethiopia temporarily suspended its . It could be a treaty or merely a political declaration as the name implies. "The Blue Nile is the lifeblood of Egypt and its people and critics fear the dam could significantly reduce water flow to the country." "Climate change is such a big unknown. Ethiopia needs regional customers for its hydropower to ensure the economic feasibility of the GERD. Flashcards. Another impressive snippet of information is that the Government of Ethiopia is financing the entire project, along with loans mainly from China. Indeed, Sudan had initially opposed the Dam but changed its position in 2012 after consultations with Ethiopia. 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). . Neither the Egyptian nor the Ethiopian governments received positive domestic feedback on their agreement. Terms in this set (10) how long and high is the dam? Nile Basins GERD dispute creates risks for Egypt, Sudan, and beyond. This includes Sudan, another downstream nation that one might assume would oppose its construction. March 14, 2020, 6:57 AM. 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. 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. The Watercourses Convention aims to regulate the uses, as well as the conservation, of all transboundary waters above and below the surface. Ethiopia announced in April 2011 that it intends to build four large dams on the Nile, including one of the largest in the world, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (formerly known as Project X or the Grand Millennium Dam).This huge dam will flood 1,680 square kilometers of forest in northwest Ethiopia, near the Sudan border, and create a reservoir that is nearly twice as large as Lake Tana . EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images. 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. Although Egypt has persistently argued that the 1959 agreement between Egypt and Sudan is the legal framework for the allocation of the waters of the Nile, Ethiopia and other upstream riparian states reject that argument. The Grand Renaissance Dam and prospects for cooperation on the Eastern Nile. Downstream countries Egypt and Sudan have expressed concerns over the impacts of the dam on their water supply. The Tendaho, Tekeze, and the Gibe series are only a few examples from that period. In general, the Ethiopian development philosophy rests on two pillars: mega-dams and mega-agricultural projects. However, Sudans future water requirements will likely exceed its water quota as defined in the 1959 Agreement. 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. Perhaps the most significant project in the 2003 plan was the Chemoga-Yeda Hydroelectric Project, a series of five small dams on Blue Nile tributaries and two dams on the Genale River with a couple more envisioned for a later phase. They generate electricity, store water for crop irrigation and help to prevent floods. It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. 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. Test. Even then, the initial studies did not extend beyond the borders with Kenya. What could have been strictly technical negotiations have turned into a political deadlock. Ethiopia and Sudan are currently developing and implementing water infrastructure developments unilaterally - as Egypt has done in the past and continues to do. 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. 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. 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). Ethiopias strategy for dam construction goes far beyond developmental goals. What are the disadvantages of the Aswan Dam? As they consider this controversial issue, all 11 riparian countries should seek to improve relations among themselves beyond their relationship with the Nile, especially in mutually beneficial areas such as trade; educational and cultural exchanges; the management of natural resources, including water; dealing with threats to peace and security, including the suppression and prevention of terrorism and extremism; and confronting major challenges to economic growth and poverty alleviation, such as climate change, widespread illiteracy, and poor infrastructure. 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.. Governing the Nile River Basin: The Search for a New Legal Regime. 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 6,000 MW, the dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa when completed at 2017(IPoE, 2013). According to Baradei, hydropower dams create immense turbulence in the water, where chemical reactions such as dissolved oxygen can destroy fauna and flora. 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. As a result, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has recognised water security as a possible threat to international peace. Ultimately, all the water is allowed to pass downstream such that there is no net loss of flow (with the exception of water lost to evaporation). More alarmingly, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak allegedly even considered bombing the Dam. The GERD has become a new reality challenging the traditional dynamics in the Nile River Basin. Ultimately, however, Egypt did not sign the CFA (nor did Sudan) hence it does not resolve the dispute. In terms of putative new law, namely the Watercourses Convention and the DoP, the key principles of equitable utilisation and no significant harm seem to leave ample room to accommodate the construction of a dam for hydroelectric generation purposes. Disputes over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), hailed by both Egypt and Ethiopia as a new chapter in relations between Egypt and Ethiopia based on openness and mutual understanding and cooperation (. 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. In response, Ethiopia threatened military force to defend the dam and protect its interests (The New Arab, 2020a). In turn, Egypt water policy and management should be changes or modified to overcome the great challenges. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will increase energy generation and development in Ethiopia, but it may have unwanted consequences for other Nile River users. The establishment of the Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, up 145 and a storage capacity of 74 . This is because the VCLT allows an older treaty to be rescinded by a new one if the new one concerns the same topic (Article 59). Search for jobs related to Disadvantages of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam or hire on the world's largest freelancing marketplace with 22m+ jobs. Consequently, under the principle of pacta tertiis nec nocent nec prosunt, it could demonstrate that those treaties cannot bind it as it was a third party and did not give its consent. Although the case has been dropped, the organisations work focused international attention on the dams potential detrimental impacts on the lakes habitat. 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. To date, no significant harm has been caused to Egypt or Sudan as a result of the ongoing construction of the GERD. Amazingly, the normally required social and environmental impact studies were only conducted three years after construction of the dam had began. 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. The Nile riparians must understand that the river is a common resource whose effective management must be approached from a basin-wide perspective. Security implications of growing water scarcity in Egypt. In short, the Nile Waters Treaties do little to constrain Ethiopias ability to construct the Dam. Egypt relies on the river for as much as 90 percent of its freshwater and sees the new dam as an existential . Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law 2017. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. (2012). First came the 1999 Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA). Hydrological Sciences Journal, 56(4), 687-702. 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. GIGA Focus No. Another argument Egypt might adduce concerns the DoP. Recently, however, Sudan has been more cautious with the project, citing concerns that the GERDs operation and safety could jeopardise its own dams (The New Arab, 2020b). A series of talks since then have largely failed to produce a consensus among the concerned countries, with tensions rising again after Ethiopia announced its intention to begin filling the dam in July 2020. This article considers water security in the context of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (the Dam). Monday January 2, 2017. 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. Owned and operated by the Ethiopian Electric Power company, the 145-m-tall roller-compacted concrete gravity dam . Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan reach 'major common understanding' on dam. But controversy has surrounded the project ever since it was announced in 2011 especially concerning its . [18] 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. You can revoke your consent to the site operator at any time by unsubscribing from the newsletter. Learn. In particular, the DoP takes a very strict approach to the no significant harm rule. First, Ethiopia could highlight that it was not a party to either the 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty or the 1959 Egypt-Sudan Treaty. For more on the background and history of these important relationships, see my book with former AGI Director Mwangi S. Kimenyi, Governing the Nile River Basin: The Search for a New Legal Regime., not be filled without a legally binding agreement, when the flow of Nile water to the dam falls below 35-40 b.c.m. The first filling of the dam in July 2020 went uneventfully. Both Egypt and Ethiopia could make arguments in support of their positions. 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. They can also cause dispute and heartachefor example, over damage to. 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). 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. It states in Principle III that the parties shall take all appropriate measures to prevent the causing of significant harm. 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 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. Sudan, caught between the competing interests of both Egypt and Ethiopia, has been changing its stance on the issue. The 1902 Treaty did not preclude Ethiopia from undertaking works that might reduce, but not arrest, the flow of waters. These two factors could become serious problems. These conflicts could take the form of international armed conflicts (between states), non-international armed conflicts between a group and a state, or conflicts between non-state groups. 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 former was initially funded by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, but these later withdrew for legal and other reasons. 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. Construction on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam began in 2011 and it is currently nearing completion. Perhaps even more consequential is the fact that this agreement granted Egypt veto power over future Nile River projects. Egypt has issued a public statement to that effect. In contrast, if water from the Dam were to be used for irrigation purposes by Ethiopia (i.e. Cairo . Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the dam. Indeed, Egypt has called the filling of the dam an. l located on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia . After all, the VCLT allows states to withdraw from or terminate a treaty owing to a fundamental change of circumstances which has occurred and which was not foreseen by the parties (Article 62(1)). The three fillings hitherto, with the most recent in August 2022, imposed no discernible harm on downstream states. 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. casting the DoP as a treaty) has the potential to abrogate the Nile Waters Treaties that Egypt holds so dear. A political requirement will be to agree on rules for filling the GERD reservoir and on operating rules for the GERD, especially during periods of drought. In 1964, the US Land Reclamation Bureau conducted a study for the Ethiopian government, identifying 33 hydraulic projects in the Blue Nile Basin. The so-called Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) is Africa's biggest hydroelectric project to date. This exception was implemented to mitigate the risk of decolonisation leading to boundary wars. 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 recognition of the fact that the Nile Waters Treaties had become an uncomfortable and anachronistic vestige of colonialism, ten watercourse states along the Nile (including Egypt and Ethiopia) agreed in 1999 to form the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). As noted above, the instrument concedes for the first time that Ethiopia has legitimate interests over the Nile. An unsubscribe function is also at the bottom of every newsletter. Although conflict over the allocation of the waters of the Nile River has existed for many years, the dispute, especially that between Egypt and Ethiopia, significantly escalated when the latter commenced construction of the dam on the Blue Nile in 2011. Four of these would potentially be located on the main river and one would eventually evolve into the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). 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. Hence, it seems that such an argument would receive a warm welcome from the current bench were the matter ever to be adjudicated there. 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. Perhaps the most obvious argument that Ethiopia may want to make is a rebuttal to Egypts continued reliance on the Nile Water Treaties. Ethiopia says it will take a further four to six years to fill up the reservoir to its maximum flood season capacity of 74bcm. 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). First woman appointed to the Canada Supreme Court. But with a generation capacity of 6.45GW, the Ethiopian government quoted the project as vital to the country's economic growth. On March 4, 1909, the Copyright Act of 1909 became law, making infringement of a copyright a federal crime for the first time. 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. The multi-services provided by the hydropower development and its technical advantages could be driving forces for local, regional and national development, and a catalyst for sustainable development. It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. l Coordinates 111255N 3505 . (2011). All three countries have a vested interest in a properly operated dam. This agreement could pave the way for a more detailed cooperation framework, and represents a major step toward dispute resolution. (2017). 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. By Ambassador Gurjit Singh*. 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. (2014). Given these considerations, it seems that Ethiopia has all but won the dispute. 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. A general view of the Blue Nile river as it passes through the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), near Guba in Ethiopia, on December 26, 2019. The Danger of Multi-Party Democracy and Free Elections in Plural Societies Recognizing the Muslim Brotherhood as a Legitimate Player in Egyptian Politics was a Big Mistake Ethiopian Partnering with ASKY to Establish West African Cargo Hub Ethiopia and China's ZTE singed $800 million mobile deal H and M to build factories in Ethiopia Alaa al-Zawahiri, a member of the Egyptian National Panel of Experts studying the effects of the Renaissance Dam, believes as much. "I came to Cairo on my first official trip to the region to hear . grand ethiopian renaissance 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. The GERD and the Revival of the Egyptian-Sudanese Dispute over the Nile Waters. The late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who laid the foundation stone in 2011, said the dam would be built without begging for money . 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. As stipulated by an Agreement of 1959 (see:Nile Main Conflict), Egypt and Sudan presented for several decades a common position vis--vis other riparians regarding the utilisation and management of Nile waters. Ethiopia also seems to have the political upper hand given that the Dam is effectively a fait accompli and given that Egypts erstwhile downstream ally, Sudan, switched sides in the dispute leaving the Egyptians diplomatically isolated. There are three key articles. In fact, the Dam arguably smooths out the flow and mitigates the risk of both drought and floods.

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