Baraza

jad, on 27 Mar 2009

alloha

please, realize that mankind has the right to harness the god given natural resources in his surroundings and the Gillgel Gibe is one of them, and rather than portraying the negative aspect of it please lets try to assist with what ever knowledge we have.

Mulugeta, on 30 Mar 2009

The project feasibility study is already carried out by eminent Ethiopian and foreign environmentalists. they are predicting no adverse consequence from the project. It is quite obvious that local communities which are about half of the population( 250,000) that live in the area are dependent on food aid. So Ethiopian Government is planning to help them by investing on irrigation and they would also long term benefits of the Project.
Few years ago, in these areas there was flooding which takes away many lives of the population. hence the benefit of the project in regulating the flow of the river, which floods annually, and thereby making it navigable all year round.

Gilgel Gibe III promptly is a project which is supported by all Ethiopians population. For how long should we watch our sisters and mothers fetching and carrying firewood on their backs like beasts of burden damaging their health and causing further deforestation.

I strongly believe that this project causes minor environmental problem but on a reverse saves a lot environmental causes on the other of defforsetation.

I am Ethiopian and I will continue to support this project until it is successful accomplished.

Africa should never be named all the time as dark continent though We have enough resource to electrify the continent.

seifu, on 01 Apr 2009

It is always true that litting a candle is much,much better than cursing any sort of Darkness.

Getachew Teshome, on 02 Apr 2009

Re: Omo River Dam Controversy
Greetings for the concerned,
The BBC news coverage about construction of Gibe III Hydropower project on Omo river initiated me to write down facts I know and my opinion regarding the project. I like to start by thanking everybody for the attention to a problem in my country. Here are two urgent problems that are related to the issue.
1.Unsustainable Livelihood of the Omo people: The livelihood of the Omo people totally relies on fishing from Omo river and agriculture from the flooding. The people wait for flood to come and get wet land. That makes the people completely dependent on nature and leaves them with no security from natural disasters. That is why 90% of the population still lives on Food Aid. Another problem related to this is flooding. It was a recent hot news topic when hundreds died and thousands were displaced due to flood from Omo river.
2.Shortage of Electric Power in the whole country: Due to increasing development activities in the country, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation has announced a power shortage of 150MW, which is of course increasing time to time. So the country needs a reliable energy source to keep things going. The need is so staggering that the corporation had to lease diesel generators which cost extra 100million birr per month for fuel. It is clear for anybody what this amount of money means for a country like Ethiopia.
Considering these issues, here is my opinion about the Gibe III hydropower project. As mentioned by the Ethiopian government (and of course the scientific team), the project will regulate the river flow through out the year ensuring constant flow and protecting the surrounding from flooding. The fact that the Omo people farm using the flood cannot be used as argument to oppose the project for two reasons:
1.Farming that is dependent on flooding is totally obsolete and in no way sustainable. Depending on the rainfall in upstream, it can lead to drought, flooding … which can cause community collapse at any time. ( This has of course occurred more than once)
2.Considering the fact that majority of the Omo people are living on food aid (from long time now), it is a clear signal that their life style should be changed. People that closely work on the project have announced that such project elements have been included in the development.
3.Hydropower projects cause no reduction in a river water system because the outflow is returned to the mainstream after generation.
For these reasons that I know, it should be clear for any reasonable person that the project has benefit rather than damage on the environment downstream.
Another reason why I, as an Ethiopian, support the project is the self-sufficiency in Energy that the country will get upon the completion of the project. When the project is finished, the country will fully satisfy its energy need and obtain up to 300million Euros revenue on power export. This contributes to our economy, strategic relationship with our neighbors, and to the well being of the environment (green energy).
So I don’t see any reason to oppose this project. Some people argue that appropriate study has not been made about the environmental impact. Before a few years, while studying Electrical Engineering at AAU, I had study tour to construction site of Gibe I. And we were informed about the extension plans to Gibe II, III. This gives me a reason to believe that there has been a long time plan on the projects. As renowned environmentalists and government officials have said, sufficient study has been made. As a sovereign nation, Ethiopia has the right to decide when to disclose a project for the rest of the world. And for a study to be valid, it does not necessarily have to be approved by a European scientist or journalist. As a country, we have enough trust on ourselves. We welcome support but only if it respects our context and capacity.

What I have missed in BBC’s report is balance of information. It covered the negative consequences of the dam that, even, are not believed to occur. I believe the report should have included at least the following in reasonable depth in order to be a legitimate one.
-The current living situation of surrounding people(aka dependence on food aid)
-The deaths and displacement that the river causes frequently,
-The benefits the projects will bring to the whole country and the surrounding people.
Without putting such crucial issues in proper balance, trying to outrage the local people and the international community will be a demeaning act against the very existence of our nation.
The last point that I want to raise is the titles that BBC gave for its reports – “…the water war”, “the river that divides Ethiopians…” All these are just personal wishes of the journalist, the BBC and some ‘researchers’ who enjoy watching poor people begging and dying of famine. It is as clear as summer sky that BBC sniffs only for topics of war and famine in Africa.
The BBC report has tried to back its war forecast (perhaps a good news source for a couple of years if it happens) by asking the local people. What answer can be expected for a question from a paparazzi that says “The government is building dam upstream; what do you think?” The answer would have been different if the questions were asked after presenting the fact in in the ground.
I will conclude my letter by pointing out TO_DOs and NOT_TO_DOs for responsible journalists and other concerned individuals.
-Stop considering Africa as a source for bloody news articles only.
-Give proper attention and respect for Native researchers and scientists, who know the context better than anyone else.
-Make enough research considering the local context before blazing misleading news to the world.
-Understand that any development activity will cause transformation of society and impact on the environment. The planet’s balance has already been hampered by industrial nations and no actions are taken to stop it even today (except lip service). So put more effort to decelerate those Mega problems than to stop in the way of little and critical projects like the Gibe III.
I believe anybody who is happy with the well being of African people will throw support to this project and contribute in the development of our mistreated continent. I conclude by asking fellow Ethiopians and Africans to counteract pretentions that aim to keep us in poverty and war forever. Actively participate by writing your factual opinions and let the rest of the world hear the other side of stories.

Getachew Teshome
getteshome@yahoo.com
April 2, 2009

sis, on 04 Apr 2009

I am really sad to read and listen such an intellectual idea that shift side ways rather than search for all sided solutions. What about the existence of 80 million people upstream where 90% of their water is transboundary? We (all the country) are living 6 days a month with out electricity at this moment. It is difficult to work on computer, to get hot tea, to produce factory products with full capacity, to attend night education, and so on. It is too difficult for to old and to young persons to move with out trouble at evening time due to shifted use of electricity in the whole country. It is known that millions lost their life due to famine derived from water shortage. Are we Ethiopians not important as at least equal to the wild animals for this world? A great number of biodiversity and ecosystem services has affected by clearing of vegetation for house hold energy. This continued process harm not only Ethiopia but also the world and it must be cull out from the vicious circle of poverty.
For an intellectual who think about wholosm-partism interaction, it is clear that the continual effect of vegetation clearance and desertification at the boarder of Rift Valley of Omo River basin will affect Mursi and Nyangatom regions as well as Lake Turkana more than Gibe III dam. If properly used and regulated, the dam has more positive effect for the whole basin by regulating water during the challenging time of this climate change era.
Dear readers, think about the whole basin as one to understand sustainable ecosystem services.
We Kenyans and Ethiopians know and take care more for our ecosystem and wildlife than others. That is why we conserved them until now. We will have to be benefited from our natural resource in the future. Leave such kind of propaganda and let´s discuss how we will benefit more from our resource than now sustainably, feasibly and viably. Gibe III will increase the sustainable and brotherhood relationship with people of both upstream and downstream areas of the basin and our ecosystem including the lake.
GIBE-III-DAM MUST BE CONSTRUCTED FOR THE SAKE OFF MURSI, NYANGATOM AND ALL ETHIOPIANS, KENYANS AND ECOSYSTEMS BENEFIT:
THANK YOU FOR READING AND RESPONDING,

SISAY.

TTT Jimma U., on 07 Apr 2009

Why do the BBC reporter cry? We Ethiopians are struggling against poverty by ourselves so that we don’t need any external interference. We are not invading another country like Britain or other western countries, but trying to use our resource for the purpose of Ethiopians development and modern life.All of us (Ethiopians) believe that we are the member of one family we help each other rather than what the BBC is trying to say. When our families living near the Omo river got in danger due to the omo flood all of us were doing together to save their lives in 1998E.C. I think the fear of the BBC is, the peoples of Ethiopia living near the omo river start living in modern styles and stop the old and unnecessary styles of wearing, use of mud made plate ear and lip ornaments,etc.so that the BBC will face lack of such and such styles of human beings to laugh at and make a funny videos with no payment for the photographs and movies taken from the people of Ethiopia. Any way leave Us alone we are on the way of development I hope at one time in the future we will lead the world.

Jest Wondering, on 11 Apr 2009

This is simple. If we build something, you are too quick to critisize. If we do not build anything, you are there to critize. How about getting off our back and giving small countries a break? From colonialism, to interfernce in internal matters, there has always been a hidden agenda to keep Ethiopia and other countries from becoming a viable economy. Go focus on your environment that has too many problems on its own and leave Ethiopians alone to solve their own problems.