Hydropower Dams Hamper Migrating Fish Despite Passages, Study Finds

http://uanews.org/story/hydropower-dams-hamper-migrating-fish-despite-passage-features-study-finds

Hydropower Dams Hamper Migrating Fish Despite Passage Features, Study
Finds
By University Communications, January 16, 2013
�
Facilities in the northeastern U.S. fail to allow passage of migrating
fish from the sea to their spawning grounds, scientists say.


Major hydropower dams in the northeastern United States, constructed
with state-of-the-art features designed to allow migratory fish to
pass through them on their way to spawn upstream, have failed in that
regard, raising questions that should be addressed as more dams are
planned worldwide.

These findings were reported in a study published today in the journal
Conservation Letters.
A team of ecologists and economists, led by J. Jed Brown of the Masdar
Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab
Emirates, reported that despite the presence of fish-passage
facilities that were built into the dams, the actual numbers of fish
that passed through them over several decades were only tiny fractions
of targeted goals.

Brown completed his doctorate in renewable natural resources at the
University of Arizona under the direction of Edward Glenn, a professor
in the department of soil, water and environmental science at the UA
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

�It may be time to admit failure of fish passage and hatchery-based
restoration programs and acknowledge that ecologically and
economically significant diadromous species restoration is not
possible without dam removals,� Brown and his colleagues wrote.

The three large river systems studied � the Merrimack, Connecticut and
Susquehanna � are historically important rivers for a suite of fishes
that migrate from the sea to rivers; they are called diadromous fishes
by scientists and include species such as sturgeon, salmon, shad,
river herring and eel.

�Once these rivers supported tens of millions of pounds of biomass of
these species and provided valuable protein to
a growing nation,� said Karin Limburg, a
fisheries ecologist at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and
Forestry in Syracuse, N.Y.

Today the river systems contain hundreds of dams. The dams with the
largest impacts on the fish populations are
those constructed on the main stems of the
rivers for hydropower generation. There are four on the Susquehanna,
including one less than nine miles from its mouth at the head of the
Chesapeake Bay, more than 10 on the Connecticut and five on the
Merrimack.

Using publically available data collected by various agencies since
the 1960s, the research team shows that these state-of-the-art fish
passage facilities have been unsuccessful. Some migratory species,
such as sturgeons, do not pass through at all. But even the species
that do make it through do so in numbers far less than stated targets.
In recent years, for example, the number of American shad, which was
once one of America�s premier food fish, that passed through the dams
has hovered around 2 percent of the target in the Merrimack River and
close to zero percent of target in the other two rivers. System-wide
passage efficiencies, defined as passage from the most downstream dam
in a river up past the uppermost main stem dam with fish passage
facilities, hover at less than 3 percent. Although some fish spawning
does occur downstream of the lowest dams, most of these migratory
species require habitat above the farthest upstream dam.

River herring, a term used to describe both blueback herring and
alewife, are important migratory forage fish, which have been proposed
for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.

�These dams are contributing to reduced resilience of not only shad,
but all diadromous species,� said Adrian Jordaan of the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst. �The result is that other factors including
climate change will have a greater impact on these populations that
are at fractions of their historical levels.� For example, restoration
targets for river herring vary from several hundred thousand to
millions of fish � however, in recent years, river herring returns on
these rivers have averaged less than 1,000 fish.

�The consequences of the use of these failed technologies include
declines in diadromous species, but also an odd, self-perpetuation of
attempts to mitigate dam impacts by continuing restoration programs
despite their inability to show success,� said John Waldman of Queens
College. �Not only are these losses felt locally, possibly with major
ramifications to fishery and biodiversity resources, but in fact they
translate into lost marine production and weakened marine food webs.�

The authors note that � ironically � at one fish passage facility with
an educational center, no fish passed in a typical year.

The authors support innovative solutions to this quandary, inviting
more scrutiny to finding alternatives to main stem dams. In the state
of Maine, for example, a creative solution developed by a broad
coalition was to purchase two main stem dams on the state�s largest
river, the Penobscot, but compensate the electric company with
alternative power generation in tributaries considered less critical
for fish reproduction.

The researchers say the case study serves as a cautionary tale not to
count on fish passage facilities to mitigate dam projects, even as
many developing nations look to their undammed rivers � the Amazon and
the Mekong, among others � as valuable potential sources of hydropower.

�Electricity from hydropower dams is considered mature technology that
is seen as �green energy� because it does not generate greenhouse
gases,� said Brown, the lead author.

�Although hydropower dams are criticized for obstructing the movement
of fishes and other creatures, many hydropower dams have fish passage
facilities of one sort or another. These passage facilities appear to
create a �win-win� situation that allows us to enjoy both
hydroelectricity and healthy fish populations. The problem is it
doesn�t seem to work.�
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Two pieces on African renewables

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-17/africa-renewable-energy-push-not-working-due-to-risks.html

Africa Renewable Energy Push �Not Working� Due to Risks

By Anthony DiPaola - Jan 17, 2013 4:37 AM PT

Africa is lagging the rest of the world in obtaining funds for
renewable energy projects because development banks aren�t assuming
enough of the political risk of working there, United Nations
officials said.

Investors need more guarantees that their projects won�t suffer losses
from political or legal changes in Africa�s poorest nations, said
Mohamed El-Ashry, a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation.
International institutions should shoulder more of those risks, said
Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Program.

�Funding for renewable energy in parts of Africa is not working,�
Steiner said at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. �Public
private partnerships are not working because of too much risk on the
private investors.�

The comments at the conference this week show why African nations are
struggling to attract investors for projects that would meet UN goals
for supplying electricity to poor communities while limiting fossil-
fuel emissions.

Africa had about $4.3 billion of the $268.7 billion invested worldwide
in renewable energy last year, according to data from Bloomberg New
Energy Finance.

The continent had about 36 projects, all except eight of which were in
South Africa, with Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe accounting
for the rest. China by contrast lured $67.7 billion in investment and
the U.S. $44.2 billion.

The UN is pushing countries and companies to provide energy to the
roughly 1 billion people who don�t have access to constant and safe
electricity and water by 2030. In sub-Saharan Africa, many villages
not connected to electrical power grids could be powered with wind and
solar because they�re far enough from the national electric grid that
renewables are competivie, according to participants at the conference
that ends today.

Investors need �top line� guarantees, said Paul Kloppenborg, chief
executive of Amsterdam-based Global Cleantech Fund. Providing
insurance for investors against government or regulatory changes
wouldn�t guarantee profit, Kloppenborg said in an interview. Instead,
it would add the confidence needed for investors to embark on projects
that would then turn a profit depending on the operator�s efficiency,
he said.

Multilateral agencies investing along with private companies in
renewable energy projects in developing countries can improve the
chances of securing financing, El-Ashry said.

------------

Africa Set To Necessary Renewable Energy Growth

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/01/16/africa-set-to-necessary-renewable-energy-growth/

A new report to come from the International Renewable Energy Agency
(IRENA) has detailed its belief that Africa has not only the potential
but the ability as well to fuel the majority of its future growth by
using renewable energy.

The report, �Africa�s Renewable Future: The Path To Sustainable
Growth�, can be found here (PDF) and is one of many announcements made
by IRENA during the World Future Energy Summit (15-17 January), part
of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
Countries throughout Africa are experiencing massive economic and
demographic growth, with six of the world�s ten fastest rising
economies coming from Africa, and a population that is expected to
burst through 2 billion by 2050.

Subsequently, policy makers in Africa, and dealing with Africa, are
facing a decision: where is the energy going to come from to sustain
such a population and economic increase?

The IRENA report shows that a combination of solar and hydropower
resources, when complemented by bioenergy, wind, geothermal, and
marine resources in select regions, could help Africa continue its
growth unhindered.
�Africa is undergoing a transformation, and has an unparalleled
opportunity to use renewable energy to promote growth and improve
millions of lives across the continent,� says Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA
Director-General. �It�s an exciting moment, and IRENA is ready to play
its role in assisting Africa on its path to a renewable energy future.�

All of this comes on the heels of a GTM Reserach report which listed
the Middle East and North Africa as having the capacity to reach 3.5
gigawatts of solar capacity by 2015.

�In terms of solar energy, it is clear that the MENA [Middle East
North Africa] region is set to experience significant change over the
next five years,� said Scott Burger, GTM Research analyst and the
report�s author. �While Saudi Arabia will likely be the largest market
in the long-term, there will be significant opportunities throughout
the region. With strategic planning and a solid development of local
partners and supply chains, savvy companies will be able to capitalize
on all of the opportunities in the region.�


Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1yz2L)
Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2013/01/16/africa-set-to-necessary-renewable-energy-growth/#KqGtoTIgW4VtfIwW.99
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China's subsidies to reservoir migrants hits $15.84b

[With apologies for the delay in reporting about this unique program]

China's subsidies to reservoir migrants hits $15.84b
November 07th, 2012 | Xinhua
http://china-wire.org/?p=24742

Reservoir resettlement migrants have received 99.9 billion yuan ($15.84
billion) in subsidies between January and October, China's Ministry of
Finance (MOF) said on Wednesday.

The amount in subsidies to large and medium-sized reservoir resettlement
migrants is 11.3 percent more than for the same ten-month period last
year, the ministry said.

China has been providing 600 yuan per year as a follow-up subsidy to
each migrant since July 1, 2006. The subsidy is set to last 20 years.

A total of 23.93 million migrants benefit from the subsidy.

The MOF has earmarked 1.89 billion yuan to subsidize migrants for 2013.
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Chinese loans could fuel regional conflict in East Africa

Chinese loans could fuel regional conflict in East Africa
Peter Bosshard
chinadialogue, January 14, 2012
www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/5601-Chinese-loans-could-fuel-regional-conflict-in-East-Africa

[Note: A Chinese version of this commentary appeared at
www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/ch/5601-Chinese-loans-could-fuel-regional-conflict-in-East-Africa.
A full report on the topic appeared at
www.internationalrivers.org/node/7773.]

Dam and irrigation projects could spark "bloody and persistent"
conflict, suggests Peter Bosshard of International Rivers.

China has made great efforts to support poverty reduction in Africa, and
likes to present itself as a friend of the African people. But loans for
contentious dam and irrigation projects now threaten to pull China into
an explosive regional conflict between well-armed groups in Kenya,
Ethiopia and South Sudan.

The Lower Omo Valley in south-west Ethiopia and Lake Turkana in Northern
Kenya are marked by a harsh climate and unique, fragile ecosystems. They
are home to 12 indigenous peoples, one of the largest remaining wildlife
migrations, and some of the earliest remains of the human species.

The region is currently being transformed by one of Africa's biggest and
most controversial infrastructure ventures. Once completed, the Gibe III
hydropower project will dam the Omo River to generate electricity with a
capacity of 1,870 megawatts. It will also allow the irrigation of 2,450
square kilometres of sugar plantations, which are currently being
developed on indigenous lands and in national parks.

Scientific report documents looming environmental disaster

The dam and irrigation projects have been debated for many years.
Reports commissioned and prepared by the African Development Bank,
International Rivers, the World Heritage Committee and the Ethiopian
Wildlife Conservation Authority have documented their impacts on the
fragile ecosystems of the Lower Omo River and Lake Turkana, the 500,000
indigenous people who depend on them, and the unique cultural heritage
of this cradle of humankind.

A new scientific study published by the NGO International Rivers
explores the social and environmental impacts of the project in detail,
and examines the knock-on effects of the impending ecological crisis on
the security of the volatile border region of Ethiopia, Kenya and South
Sudan. The study confirms that Lake Turkana, the world's largest desert
lake, almost completely depends on the inflows from the Omo River, and
that the lake's unique ecosystems and fisheries are closely linked to
the river's annual flood cycle.

The dam and sugar plantations will affect this ecosystem in several
ways. The dam will interrupt the annual flood of the Omo River, which
sustains the agriculture, grazing lands and fisheries of the region. The
filling of the Gibe III reservoir will lower the water level of Lake
Turkana by two metres. The sugar plantations will divert at least 28% of
the Omo River's annual flow, and lower the lake's water level by at
least 13 metres.

With a more realistic assessment of the water demand of the plantations,
the report's author estimates that Lake Turkana will lose more than half
of its current volume, and its water level will drop by 22 metres. This
will split the lake in two, and likely turn the water in the southern
half so saline it will become undrinkable.

The new paper compares the forced modernisation of the Lower Omo Valley
to China's Great Leap Forward. It concludes that "the long-term effect
will parallel what has happened to the Aral Sea in Central Asia", which
was almost sucked dry by cotton plantations, turning the region into a
toxic wasteland.

Will resource conflicts spiral out of control?

The indigenous peoples of the Lower Omo Valley and Lake Turkana are
extremely poor, but well-armed. They have a long history of resource
conflicts over water, fisheries and grazing land. Chinese media have
already warned that the disputed Gibe III Dam "fuels Ethiopia-Kenya
border attacks". According to the new report, these conflicts will
escalate and may spiral out of control if the dam and irrigation
projects are completed.

The report warns: "Local groups displaced from their livelihoods and
homelands will seek out resources on the lands of their neighbors in the
Kenya-Ethiopia-Sudan borderlands. Based on the recent history of
conflict among local communities in this region, they can be expected to
react largely through raids and warfare. Well-armed, primed by past
grudges, and often divided by support from different state and local
governments, these conflicts can be expected to be bloody and
persistent. In fact they are already under way."

Once the projects are completed, the northern shore of Lake Turkana will
retreat from Ethiopia into Kenya. Peoples such as the Dassanech will
have to follow the shoreline into Kenya in order maintain their access
to the lake. The shrinking of Lake Turkana will also remove a buffer
between the peoples of the western shore, particularly the Turkana, and
inhabitants of the adjacent shore such as the Gabbra.

Such migrations and conflicts will likely push people into the disputed
Ilemi Triangle between Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia, across the
Ugandan border, and into the Borana region east of Lake Turkana. Groups
of displaced people will also seek refuge in urban slums and rural
famine camps, which will breed their own violence and despair. The
report's author, who has to remain anonymous, warns of "inflamed
cross-border tensions" between Kenya and Ethiopia at a time when oil has
been found near Lake Turkana, and when Ethiopia is looking for better
integration with Kenya for access to the sea.

The Ethiopian power utility promises that brief artificial floods will
help mitigate the environmental impacts of the project. It argues that
"the possibility to control flooding" through the Gibe III Dam will make
irrigated agriculture possible and prevent occasional destructive
floods. The Ethiopian government also points out that the Kenyan power
utility has agreed to import electricity from the Gibe III Project, even
though the Kenyan parliament passed a resolution against this.

Chinese support at the core of the conflict

In the years after 2006, the Ethiopian government tried to raise funds
for the multi-billion dollar projects on the Omo River from the World
Bank, the African Development Bank and other international financiers.
Due to the controversy over the social and environmental impacts, none
of these funders got involved. Only the Industrial and Commercial Bank
of China (ICBC) stepped forward and approved a loan for a US$500 million
turbine contract of Dongfang Electric for the Gibe III Dam in August
2010. In September 2012, the China Development Bank (CDB) signed a
memorandum of understanding with the Ethiopia Sugar Corporation for
another loan of US$500 million for the construction of sugar factories
in the Lower Omo Valley.

The Gibe III Dam and the sugar plantations will threaten World Heritage
Sites in the Lower Omo Valley and near Lake Turkana. In June 2011, the
UN World Heritage Committee called on the Ethiopian government to
"immediately halt all construction" on the dam, and encouraged the
Chinese financiers "to put on hold their financial support" until the
Committee's next annual meeting in June 2012. Neither the Ethiopian
government nor ICBC heeded this call.

Ethiopia is an important friend and partner of China - but so is Kenya.
Once the dam and irrigation projects are complete, China may find itself
at the centre of an escalating conflict, which does not serve its
interests in the region. "The destruction of Turkana, if it proceeds,
will become as notorious as that of the Aral Sea, tainting all those who
perpetuate it", the paper warns.

The completion of the multi-billion dollar project in the Lower Omo
Valley depends on international funding. Neither ICBC nor the CDB have
so far disbursed their loans. Now that the likely social, environmental
and security impacts of the projects are evident, the Chinese government
should reconsider its interests in the region, and ask its banks to
withdraw their support for a social and environmental disaster in the
making.
________________________________________________

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Ethiopian Dam Threatens to Destroy Livelihoods, World’s Largest Desert Lake

(Apologies for x-postings)

The following is a new blog from National Geographic blogger Sandra
Postel, based on a new report that reveals how developments in
Ethiopia could turn Lake Turkana into "East Africa's Aral Sea." Read
about the report and download it here: http://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/gibe-iii-s-impacts-on-lake-turkana-7773

--------------------------------
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/11/ethiopian-dam-threatens-to-destroy-indigenous-livelihoods-and-the-worlds-largest-desert-lake/

Ethiopian Dam Threatens to Destroy Indigenous Livelihoods and the
World�s Largest Desert Lake

Posted by Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative
in Water Currents on January 11, 2013

Over the last century, the construction of big dams to generate power,
supply water and control floods has unleashed a damaging cascade of
social and environmental consequences � including the destruction of
fisheries, subsistence farmlands, homes and communities.

More than 470 million people around the world are estimated to be
suffering from these and other downsides of dams, often with little or
no compensation for their lost livelihoods.

Now, another big dam under construction � on the Omo River in Ethiopia
� threatens not only the ancient ways of living of some 500,000 tribal
peoples in Ethiopia and Kenya, but also Lake Turkana, the world�s
largest desert lake.

The Omo traverses the highlands of southern Ethiopia before it empties
into the lake in northern Kenya.

The Ethiopian Government views the Gibe III Dam, under construction
since 2006 and now about half complete, as essential to its drive for
economic development. In addition to generating electricity for
domestic use and export to neighboring Kenya, the dam will supply
water to vast agro-industrial schemes, including plantations of sugar
cane for biofuels production.

But without attention to the peoples, wildlife and ecosystems affected
by this massive project, the cost of progress may be far too great,
according to a study released this week by International Rivers, an
environmental and human rights organization based in Berkeley,
California.

If Ethiopia completes the Gibe III Dam and moves ahead with large-
scale irrigation in the lower Omo Basin, �the result will be a cascade
of hydrological, ecological and socio-economic impacts that will
generate a region-wide crisis for indigenous livelihoods and
biodiversity and thoroughly destabilize the Ethiopia-Kenyan
borderlands around Lake Turkana,� says the report, written by a
natural scientist with many years of field experience in the region
who wishes to remain anonymous.

Numerous indigenous peoples, including those of the Bodi, Karo, Kwegu,
and Mursi tribes, rely on the natural flood cycles of the Omo for
their sustainable practices of flood-recession farming, fishing and
livestock grazing. Like generations of their forebears, they plant
sorghum, maize and beans in the riverside soils after the yearly
flood, relying on the moisture and nutrient-rich sediment the Omo
deposits each year.

That cycle of flooding will disappear if the dam is completed, because
the river�s natural rhythms will be replaced by flows regulated to
optimize the production of hydropower and to deliver irrigation water
to industrial-scale farms.

�When we talk about the Omo River we are talking about our life,� said
the chief of the Karo people to Mark Angelo, chair of the Rivers
Institute at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. �The Omo
River is everything to us. But we don�t have a say.� (Read Angelo�s
article and see the video here.)

The lower Omo Valley is also the last unspoiled biodiversity hot spot
in southwestern Ethiopia and an area crucial for elephant and other
large mammal migrations. Harm to wildlife from the dam-based schemes
could be substantial, since among the areas slated for large-scale
plantation-style agriculture is a sizeable portion of the Omo-Tama-
Mago complex of protected areas, Ethiopia�s most important wildlife
territory.

Lake Turkana, situated at the northern end of Kenya�s Great Rift
Valley and one of the oldest lakes on Earth, could shrink dramatically
if Gibe III is completed. The lake currently receives nearly 90
percent of its inflow from the Omo. Without the river�s yearly
supply, Lake Turkana would steadily lose water, because evaporation
would no longer be balanced by inflows. Each year, about 7 percent of
the lake�s total volume evaporates under the hot desert sun.

Between the Omo water stored in the Gibe III Dam�s reservoir and
diverted to the large irrigated plantation schemes now under
development in the lower Omo Valley, the level of Lake Turkana could
drop by as much as 22 meters (72 feet), according to the study. Given
that the lake�s average depth is 30 meters, such a drop would alter
its ecology, salinity and habitat immensely.

Indeed, the devastation to the lake�s ecology and fisheries could
rival that of Central Asia�s Aral Sea, which has lost more than 80
percent of its volume of water through excessive diversions of the two
rivers that flow into it.

Gibe III, expected to cost about $2 billion (which is likely an
underestimate, given the history of dam cost-overruns), is a public�
private partnership between the state-run Ethiopian Electric Power
Corporation and the Italian engineering firm Salini Costruttori.

International Rivers and Friends of Lake Turkana are calling for a
halt to construction until there is a thorough and scientifically
sound assessment of how the dam and irrigation projects will harm Lake
Turkana, as well as a plan to ensure the lake does not collapse
ecologically.

As for the Omo, the government earlier proposed to mitigate the
effects of the dam with a �controlled� flood, executed by releasing
water from the dam�s reservoir for ten days. The idea would be to
mimic the Omo�s historic natural flood, which is so important to the
indigenous peoples� livelihoods.

However, an independent review of the Gibe III project, commissioned
by the European Investment Bank, determined that the planned
artificial flood had not been adequately studied to determine its
effectiveness. But given the rapid growth of irrigation in the basin,
it is likely the dam would not be managed to maintain ecosystem
functions. As the new report states, �The designation of Omo riverbank
lands for industrial agriculture immediately makes clear that
artificial floods for ecological benefits will not be released as
proposed, since these would harm the estates.�

Ethiopia remains one of the world�s poorest nations. There is no
begrudging its quest for economic advancement.

But there are alternatives to grabbing land and water from indigenous
tribes who have lived and farmed sustainably in the region for
hundreds of years, and to destroying so much of the country�s natural
and cultural heritage for the sake of export-oriented agriculture that
will do little to improve the lives of the very poor.

The government should halt the development of Gibe III until its full
social, political and ecological ramifications are understood, and
until the principles set forth by the World Commission on Dams for dam
project assessment and compensation are fully taken into account.

-----------------------------------------
*Note: I joined fifteen other scientists, including Richard Leakey of
the Turkana Basin Institute, David Turton of Oxford University�s
African Studies Centre, Kate Showers of the University of Sussex, and
Eric Odada of the University of Nairobi, in endorsing this study.

Sandra Postel is director of the Global Water Policy Project and
Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. She is the
author of several acclaimed books, including the award-winning Last
Oasis, a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment, and one of
the �Scientific American 50.�
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Ethiopian Dam Threatens to Destroy Livelihoods, World’s Largest Desert Lake

The following is a new blog from Nat'l Geographic, based on a new
report that reveals how developments in Ethiopia could turn Lake
Turkana into "East Africa's Aral Sea." Read about the report and
download it here: http://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/gibe-iii-s-impacts-on-lake-turkana-7773

The blog:

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/11/ethiopian-dam-threatens-to-destroy-indigenous-livelihoods-and-the-worlds-largest-desert-lake/

Ethiopian Dam Threatens to Destroy Indigenous Livelihoods and the
World�s Largest Desert Lake

Posted by Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative
in Water Currents on January 11, 2013

Over the last century, the construction of big dams to generate power,
supply water and control floods has unleashed a damaging cascade of
social and environmental consequences � including the destruction of
fisheries, subsistence farmlands, homes and communities.

More than 470 million people around the world are estimated to be
suffering from these and other downsides of dams, often with little or
no compensation for their lost livelihoods.

Now, another big dam under construction � on the Omo River in Ethiopia
� threatens not only the ancient ways of living of some 500,000 tribal
peoples in Ethiopia and Kenya, but also Lake Turkana, the world�s
largest desert lake.

The Omo traverses the highlands of southern Ethiopia before it empties
into the lake in northern Kenya.

The Ethiopian Government views the Gibe III Dam, under construction
since 2006 and now about half complete, as essential to its drive for
economic development. In addition to generating electricity for
domestic use and export to neighboring Kenya, the dam will supply
water to vast agro-industrial schemes, including plantations of sugar
cane for biofuels production.

But without attention to the peoples, wildlife and ecosystems affected
by this massive project, the cost of progress may be far too great,
according to a study released this week by International Rivers, an
environmental and human rights organization based in Berkeley,
California.

If Ethiopia completes the Gibe III Dam and moves ahead with large-
scale irrigation in the lower Omo Basin, �the result will be a cascade
of hydrological, ecological and socio-economic impacts that will
generate a region-wide crisis for indigenous livelihoods and
biodiversity and thoroughly destabilize the Ethiopia-Kenyan
borderlands around Lake Turkana,� says the report, written by a
natural scientist with many years of field experience in the region
who wishes to remain anonymous.

Numerous indigenous peoples, including those of the Bodi, Karo, Kwegu,
and Mursi tribes, rely on the natural flood cycles of the Omo for
their sustainable practices of flood-recession farming, fishing and
livestock grazing. Like generations of their forebears, they plant
sorghum, maize and beans in the riverside soils after the yearly
flood, relying on the moisture and nutrient-rich sediment the Omo
deposits each year.

That cycle of flooding will disappear if the dam is completed, because
the river�s natural rhythms will be replaced by flows regulated to
optimize the production of hydropower and to deliver irrigation water
to industrial-scale farms.

�When we talk about the Omo River we are talking about our life,� said
the chief of the Karo people to Mark Angelo, chair of the Rivers
Institute at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. �The Omo
River is everything to us. But we don�t have a say.� (Read Angelo�s
article and see the video here.)

The lower Omo Valley is also the last unspoiled biodiversity hot spot
in southwestern Ethiopia and an area crucial for elephant and other
large mammal migrations. Harm to wildlife from the dam-based schemes
could be substantial, since among the areas slated for large-scale
plantation-style agriculture is a sizeable portion of the Omo-Tama-
Mago complex of protected areas, Ethiopia�s most important wildlife
territory.

Lake Turkana, situated at the northern end of Kenya�s Great Rift
Valley and one of the oldest lakes on Earth, could shrink dramatically
if Gibe III is completed. The lake currently receives nearly 90
percent of its inflow from the Omo. Without the river�s yearly
supply, Lake Turkana would steadily lose water, because evaporation
would no longer be balanced by inflows. Each year, about 7 percent of
the lake�s total volume evaporates under the hot desert sun.

Between the Omo water stored in the Gibe III Dam�s reservoir and
diverted to the large irrigated plantation schemes now under
development in the lower Omo Valley, the level of Lake Turkana could
drop by as much as 22 meters (72 feet), according to the study. Given
that the lake�s average depth is 30 meters, such a drop would alter
its ecology, salinity and habitat immensely.

Indeed, the devastation to the lake�s ecology and fisheries could
rival that of Central Asia�s Aral Sea, which has lost more than 80
percent of its volume of water through excessive diversions of the two
rivers that flow into it.

Gibe III, expected to cost about $2 billion (which is likely an
underestimate, given the history of dam cost-overruns), is a public�
private partnership between the state-run Ethiopian Electric Power
Corporation and the Italian engineering firm Salini Costruttori.

International Rivers and Friends of Lake Turkana are calling for a
halt to construction until there is a thorough and scientifically
sound assessment of how the dam and irrigation projects will harm Lake
Turkana, as well as a plan to ensure the lake does not collapse
ecologically.

As for the Omo, the government earlier proposed to mitigate the
effects of the dam with a �controlled� flood, executed by releasing
water from the dam�s reservoir for ten days. The idea would be to
mimic the Omo�s historic natural flood, which is so important to the
indigenous peoples� livelihoods.

However, an independent review of the Gibe III project, commissioned
by the European Investment Bank, determined that the planned
artificial flood had not been adequately studied to determine its
effectiveness. But given the rapid growth of irrigation in the basin,
it is likely the dam would not be managed to maintain ecosystem
functions. As the new report states, �The designation of Omo riverbank
lands for industrial agriculture immediately makes clear that
artificial floods for ecological benefits will not be released as
proposed, since these would harm the estates.�

Ethiopia remains one of the world�s poorest nations. There is no
begrudging its quest for economic advancement.

But there are alternatives to grabbing land and water from indigenous
tribes who have lived and farmed sustainably in the region for
hundreds of years, and to destroying so much of the country�s natural
and cultural heritage for the sake of export-oriented agriculture that
will do little to improve the lives of the very poor.

The government should halt the development of Gibe III until its full
social, political and ecological ramifications are understood, and
until the principles set forth by the World Commission on Dams for dam
project assessment and compensation are fully taken into account.

-----------------------------------------
*Note: I joined fifteen other scientists, including Richard Leakey of
the Turkana Basin Institute, David Turton of Oxford University�s
African Studies Centre, Kate Showers of the University of Sussex, and
Eric Odada of the University of Nairobi, in endorsing this study.

Sandra Postel is director of the Global Water Policy Project and
Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. She is the
author of several acclaimed books, including the award-winning Last
Oasis, a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment, and one of
the �Scientific American 50.�
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Exim Bank China Lends Ivory Coast $500 Million for Hydro

Exim Bank China Lends Ivory Coast $500 Million for Hydro
By Olivier Monnier
Bloomberg
Jan 9, 2013

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-09/exim-bank-china-lends-ivory-coast-500-million-for-hydro.html

The Export-Import Bank of China will lend Ivory Coast $500 million for a
hydroelectric dam built by Sinohydro Corp., the biggest amount given by
the lender to the West African nation in 30 years, Ambassador Guoqing
Zhang said in a statement.

Works started on Jan. 2 on the 275-megawatt plant at Soubre, in the
southwest, and will continue for more than four years, Oil and Energy
Minister Adama Toungara said in a separate statement. Both were handed
to reporters in Abidjan, the commercial capital, today.

The plant will allow the country to "face the nation's growing
consumption" of electricity, Toungara said. Operations will start by
late 2017 or early 2018 and the facility will be the biggest hydropower
producer in Ivory Coast.

Ivory Coast plans to invest $4 billion over the next six years in energy
infrastructure to boost power output by 80 percent, Toungara said in
November. The country currently produces 70 percent of electricity
demand through natural-gas fueled thermal plants, he said today.

After contracting 4.7 percent in 2011, Ivory Coast's economy grew more
than 8.5 percent in 2012, Christine Lagarde, managing director of the
International Monetary Fund, said in Abidjan on Jan 7. The government is
targeting 9 percent growth this year and 10 percent in 2014.
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