As Ethiopia continues with its plans to build the Grand Renaissance Dam in order to meet the country’s burgeoning energy shortfall, Egypt is starting to worry that the hastily planned hydroelectric plant will put its own water supplies at considerable risk.
The rhetoric between the two countries reached a feverish pitch last week, prompting local media to hint at the possibility that Egypt would go to war to secure its share of the Nile River, while Ethiopia allegedly said it would be prepared to defend the project at all costs.
However, a spokesperson for Egypt’s armed forces assured Reuters that it’s far too soon to talk about war. And that makes sense.
Ethiopia still hasn’t secured sufficient funding to get the project off the ground, and if it does get funding from the World Bank or similar development organizations, it will likely come with peaceable conditions.
Still, the issue is testy enough that Egypt’s foreign minister Hohamed Kamel Amr is planning a visit to Ethiopia and Sudan in order to reach an agreement that would bode well for Egypt’s population of 80+ million.
One major concern is that the Grand Renaissance Dam will deplete the Nile River’s flow to below the 75 billion cubic meters over a five year period, which is necessary to sustain the water levels that both Egypt and Sudan are accustomed to.
Another is that Ethiopia’s failure to conduct legitimate environmental impact assessments and then follow through with sound development practices could lead to the contamination of the Blue Nile.
Egypt is expected to enter into tripartite discussions with Ethiopia and Sudan in order to reach an agreement that works for all three nations.
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
The Hopi indians say “We don’t manage the water, the water manages us”, which means they keep their population in balance with the environment’s ability to support them. So, if the people of both Egypt and Ethiopia gently reduce their populations with family planning programs, there will be plenty of water for everyone.
Brothers and sisters. Most countries, governments are not thinking of the needs of the population when they take on these bombastic projects. You can refer to an article written in your own press to certify this truth:
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/8785
Israel is still licking her ecological wounds after drying up the Hula Lake, over 60 years ago.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/geo/Hula.html
And the same kind of devastation is happening at the Dead Sea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL3ybLmK_DM (ignore the commercial, please!)
We can learn from others mistakes, and make the world better, or continue with business as usual, and we will see the damage effect us in our lifetime!
I don’t understand Egypt’s concern over GERD reducing their share of water. To my knowledge, not only Ethiopia will build more dams on its quota from Nile now or in the future but also the other upstream countries. We shall use it for both irrigation and hydroelectric power generation.
Did you copy different paragraphs from different articles? Stupid writing !! for your information, the money is going to be raised by ourselves! Try another career man, because this one is not working for you!!
This newspaper is full of bullshit. you don’t know what you’re talking about . Unqualified writer lol
Egypt Gets Testy Over Ethiopia’s Giant Renaissance Dam so what?
The selfish Egyptian still didn’t awake from the colonial era dream. All what they said have been well calculated before entered to construction of the dam. Fund, war, supporting of rebels, and other sabotages Ethiopian well know ahead of time and prepared to tackle all the problems. Dear writer, you wrote about the failure of Ethiopia to conduct legitimate environmental impact assessments are you sure about that. What was the task given to the international experts? What was the experts recommendation? All the attempt of Egypt is to delay the GERD and if possible to see the weak Ethiopia in the region.