2011. how much does the reservoir contain? 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. Officials in Addis Ababa argue that the GERD will have no major impact on water flow into the Nile, instead arguing that the hydropower dam will provide benefits to countries in the region, including as a source of affordable electric power and as a major mechanism for the management of the Nile, including the mitigation of droughts and water salinity. An argument could be made that some of its provisions have passed into customary international law, however, that would require clear general practice and opinio juris. Cairo Controversy prevailed in the Egyptian public opinion, after Deltares, a Dutch advisory institute, announced on Sept. 15 its withdrawal from a study to assess the risks that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is under construction on the Blue Nile, can cause to Egypt and Sudan. Indeed, Egypt has called the filling of the dam an. However, Sudans future water requirements will likely exceed its water quota as defined in the 1959 Agreement. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and hydroelectric project is located 700 km northeast of the capital city Addis Abeba, in the Benishangul--Gumaz region of Ethiopia, along the Blue Nile River. March 14, 2020, 6:57 AM. This agreement could pave the way for a more detailed cooperation framework, and represents a major step toward dispute resolution. An optimistic trend among todays African commentators focuses primarily on economic growth rates and pays little attention to human tolls, questions of transparency and accountability, and the sustainability of growth. The Dam is used to generate electricity and went into partial operation in 2022. (2014). The disadvantages for Egypt and Sudan are the possibility of reduced river flow, although this is only really a problem during the years of filling the dam. It too has legal arguments it could adduce in support of its position that the Dam is permitted under international law. The US has revived diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute sparked by Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project on the Nile. Addis Ababa launched the construction of the GERD under Zenawi, and work on it has proceeded at full steam ahead ever since. The Untold Story of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam 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). Even then, the initial studies did not extend beyond the borders with Kenya. Egypt had asked the UNSC to push the three countries to adhere to their obligations in accordance with the rules of international law in order to reach a fair and balanced solution to the issue of the GERD. Egypts repeated references to the rules of international law is part of an effort to maintain its so-called natural and historical rights that were established and reaffirmed by the 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and 1959 Agreement between Egypt and Sudan, respectivelytreaties many of the other involved parties reject as anachronistic and untenable. Egypt and Ethiopia have once again locked horns over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile. Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Egypt's enemy or a blessing in Ethiopia has never 'consumed' significant shares of the Niles water so far, as its previous political and economic fragility in combination with a lack of external financial support, due to persistent Egyptian opposition to projects upstream, prevented it from implementing large-scale projects. Afraid that a drought might appear during the filling period, Egypt wants the filling to take place over a much longer period. Solar and wind power could break the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Disadvantages of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam jobs Match. But this did not rule out eruptions of tension, not just between local communities and the central government, but also between Ethiopia and its neighbours. This article quantifies the major benefits of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project for Sudan and Egypt based on GERDP technical design and quantitative analysis. Ethiopia completes third filling of Blue Nile mega-dam reservoir It merely provides at Article III that Ethiopia undertakes not to construct any work across the Blue Nile, Lake Tsana, or the Sobat which would arrest the flow of their waters into the Nile. In other words, Ethiopia only agreed that it would not completely stop the flow of tributaries into the Nile. No water at all was allocated to Ethiopia. The Politics Of The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - Analysis 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. Consequently, it suits Egypts interests in this context to argue that the DoP is binding, that it precludes any net loss of flow and therefore that the use of the Dam for irrigation purposes is prohibited. 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. The Grand Renaissance Dam - Ethiopia's greatest risk Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam | International Rivers Despite the fact that newly independent Sudan in the late 1950s was literally forced by a dominant Egypt into a highly asymmetrical water-sharing arrangement, Sudan has rarely challenged this arrangement. Learn. Ethiopia could argue that those imperial powers did not foresee the decolonisation of Africa and that this represented a watershed event that profoundly changed the foundation on which the Nile Water Treaties were constructed. Ethiopia: The Untold Story of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a powerful generation linchpin Hence, it is hard to see how Egypt could make a compelling argument that it has been harmed by the Dam. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Gets Set to Open - Hiiraan Online The change of government in Egypt led to a more conciliatory approach (Von Lossow & Roll, 2015). The situation seemed to improve in the beginning of 2015 when tripartite negotiations were held in order to determine principles of cooperation. In addition, no independent, multilateral Environmental and Social Impact Assessments has been carried out suggesting that Ethiopia is reneging from the 2015 Declaration of Principles (Kandeel, 2020). Moreover, with GERD, Ethiopia opts for a hydropower expansion strategy on the Blue Nile, and not an irrigation strategy. Filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) along the Blue Nile River is well under way near the Ethiopia-Sudan border. The Grand Renaissance Dam and prospects for cooperation on the Eastern Nile. disadvantages of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam But the Ethiopian elites show little interest in addressing such concerns, bent as they are on a nationalist revivalist project that claims an Ethiopian exceptionalism that places Addis Ababa above international law as it pursues a water-management strategy that has less to do with its development aims than with its ambitions to weaponise water in a bid for regional hegemony. It will also give Ethiopia more control . Ethiopia seems to have the legal upper hand in this dispute. 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. 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. Across Ethiopia, poor farmers and rich business executives alike . Sima Aldardari. While the water will return to its normal state before reaching Egypt, the damage to these populations will be permanent. First, as noted above, Ethiopia contributes 86% of the water in the Nile and so it seems only natural that it has an equitable claim to using Nile waters to aid growth in its impoverished economy. Why the Nile could see a 'water war'. Nevertheless, Egypt must not use sympathy for its water vulnerability as a weapon to frustrate the efforts of the other riparians to secure an agreement that is balanced, fair, and equitable. The controversy over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - Brookings In general, the Ethiopian development philosophy rests on two pillars: mega-dams and mega-agricultural projects. By Ambassador Gurjit Singh*. 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. The United States is Committed to Egypt's Water Security and Advancing 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)). Crucially, however, despite being signed by Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, the legal status of the DoP was left (deliberately) vague. In July of 2021, the second filling of the dam was completed. l It is in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, about 15 km east of the border with Sudan. 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 . The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Security implications of growing water scarcity in Egypt. The CFA was a political success for the eight upstream states such as Ethiopia as it favoured those states and isolated the downstream states of Egypt and Sudan and made them appear recalcitrant. While such dams also come with long-term benefits to local populations, the chief beneficiary will always be the state, which reaps profits from the sale of surplus electricity. This represents a new challenge to the basins current hydro-political regime and status quo, as it may drive Sudans interest in renegotiating its current quota(Link et al., 2012;Whittington et al., 2014). In March 2015, a 'Declaration of Principles' was signed by the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, setting the foundations for an initial cooperation. That seems unlikely given that the DoP concerns the Dam alone and was agreed only between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan; whereas the Nile Waters Treaties concern the whole Nile Basin and involve many more states. Ethiopia has never 'consumed' significant shares of the Nile's water so far, as its previous political and economic fragility in combination with a lack of external financial support, due to persistent Egyptian opposition to projects upstream, prevented it from implementing large-scale projects. The three countries have agreed that when the flow of Nile water to the dam falls below 35-40 b.c.m. Water Policy, 16(4), 595-608. On the surface, the 558 ft tall dam Africa's biggest hydropower project belies Ethiopia's financial muscle. (PDF) The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Evaluating Its Moreover, it arguably prohibits any reduction of flow to Egypt by limiting Ethiopias use of the Dam to electricity generation alone. Revisiting hydro-hegemony from a benefitsharing perspective: the case of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. 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. Ethiopia's dam dispute: five key reads about how it started and how it Over the years, Egypt has used its extensive diplomatic connections and the colonial-era 1929 and 1959 agreements to successfully prevent the construction of any major infrastructure projects on the tributaries of the Nile. 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. On March 4, 1834, the town of York in the British colony of Canada was incorporated as the City of Toronto. The establishment of the Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, up 145 and a storage capacity of 74 . The former was initially funded by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, but these later withdrew for legal and other reasons. Egypts original goal was to have the project purely and simply cancelled. The final touches to these plans were added in 2005 and 2007, and one involves nine hydroelectric dams along the Gebale Dawa to produce some 1,300 MW of electricity for export. 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. Ethiopia - Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) - Hydropower 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. Attempts to resolve the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute over the past decade have reached a deadlock. However, Ethiopia ultimately refused to sign the draft agreement. This is a matter of acute concern given that Egypt depends on the Nile for about 97% of its irrigation and drinking water.