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.

:: Egypt Independent

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When the Union des Associations Europeennes de Football’s (UEFA) fair play rules come into effect in 2014, Turkey’s Trabzonspor club may be among the few that will be financially self-sufficient. The UEFA’s new rules are designed to ensure that no clubs have an unfair advantage over another due to wealthy owners who can afford to woo the best players with obscene contracts.

Instead, each club will be required to raise their own funds in a more ethical manner. Trabzonspor’s response to these new restrictions and Turkey’s overall energy and fiscal challenges is a government-approved 28 MW hydroelectricity plant planned for Trabzon, Northeastern Turkey.

The hydroelectric plant is expected to cost $50 million to build and generate $10 million annually, which is significantly more than the club can raise selling tickets and t-shirts.

The chairman of Trabzonspor, Sadri Sener, told the Financial Times that the club needs a guaranteed source of income, and that the conditions for hydro power are ideal in the mountainous coastal city, which typically receives plenty of rain. Sener is a construction magnate.

While the ink is still drying on the government approval of this first hydro plant, plans to build a second plant are already being considered.

Meanwhile, experts claim that Turkey’s diminishing success in football is directly related to its declining fiscal health. This in turn, according to our correspondent Julia, is largely attributed to the country’s dependence on oil and gas. So a shift to a more renewable energy portfolio (whether or not hydroelectricity is genuinely renewable is subject to fierce debate) is definitely long overdue.

The Financial Times reports that Turkey’s energy production needs to increase by 45% in the next decade in order to meet the country’s growing energy demand, which is expected to top out at 80,000 MW annually within the next eight years.

So, depending on your view, Trabzonspor’s new hydroelectric plant is either a boon or a travesty. But what if clubs start building solar plants in order to increase their bottom line..? That could get interesting.

:: Your Middle East

The post Turkish Soccer Club Trabzonspor to Fund Itself With Hydroelectric Plant appeared first on Green Prophet.

The politics surrounding Ethiopia’s Grand Millennium Renaissance Dam changes only slightly more frequently than the project’s name, and we are excited to bring you one of the most positive updates since the saga began. Ethiopia has being posturing against Egypt’s historical monopoly of the Nile river’s waters for months, even though the country lacks the funds to see a potentially environmentally destructive 5,250MW dam to completion without help.

Loyal Ethiopians unaffected by urging from UNESCO to halt another dam contract awarded to a similar consortium of cronies accused us time and again of turning a blind eye to their distressing energy poverty. But that was never the case. We have always advocated for a fair distribution of the Nile river, as well as for a thorough investigation of the project’s potential environmental impact. We may finally have received our wish, but it’s probably not as altruistic as it seems.

Egypt’s Nile Basin tour

According to our friends at Almasry Alyoum, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr will take a tour of six Nile Basic countries in the second week of January.

Nile Basin Coordinator Maddy Amer said in a statement that solving the Nile river issue is top priority for the country that is still struggling under the weight of political mayhem.

Amer added that while Egypt has not changed its position on the Nile dam, it won’t accept an Ethiopian solution that jeopardizes either Sudan or Egypt, and that Ethiopia has to cooperate if it hopes to receive any funding.

If the dispute over Nile waters has not been settled, then aid groups will be unwilling to put forth financial assistance.

Impartial assessment

But the most promising development we’ve seen is the commitment from Addis Ababa, Cairo, and Khartoum to finally prepare a technical report that evaluates the potential impact of Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam.

6 experts – two from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan – will choose an additional 4 international experts to help them conduct a year long study that is expected to start as soon as next month.

The team of 10 experts should be able to produce an impartial scientific document which lays out exactly what is at stake if the dam is allowed to continue – without favoring any one country.

One hopes that up and downstream ecological consequences will be considered, as well as the potential effects that climate change will have in the future.

Ethiopia needs power, everyone needs water, but there must be a way to accomplish this without hasty planning. This recent news gives us hope that finally this dispute is taking a constructive, diplomatic turn.

:: Almasry Alyoum

Read more on the Nile River:
American Elections Are Bad for the Nile Delta
In The Face of Nilelessness, Egyptians Protest Water Shortages
Nile Water Kills 17,000 Children Each Year

map via University of Bergen

The post Finally – A Team of Experts to Evaluate Impact of Massive Ethiopian Dam appeared first on Green Prophet.