GIBE GIBE GIBE III

Source: LifeGate (2020, April 1) 'The Omo Valley: Where Life Flows With The River'

Previously I explored the complexities of the GERD on Egypt and Sudan and the havoc it was creating for the ability for downstream riparians to ensure reliable water supply and food security. Over the next few blogs, I will explore the construction of the Gibe III dam in the Omo-Turkana region and its effects on food and water, starting with an overview.

The Omo-Turkana region in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya is unique in the rate of change occurring. The construction of the Gibe III dam in Ethiopia and associated large-scale commercial farming is resulting in catastrophic hydrological and ecological changes to the Omo-Turkana region. Lake Turkana is the world’s largest desert lake with the River Omo supplying 80-90% of its inflows (Hodbod et al. 2019). Roughly 300,000 people depend on the lake’s resources– through fishing, pasture and even for drinking water, but the building of the Gibe III will likely reduce these flows by 60-70% (Car 2012).

Source: Location of the Gibe III dam on the Omo River in the tri-nation transboundary region (Carr 2016)

The hydropower dam permanently alters the natural hydrological cycles and lake level variability which is vital for fishing and flood-retreat farming (Avery & Tebbs 2018). During the filling of the Gibe III reservoir in 2015-16, Lake Turkana’s water level declined by 2m (ibid). This will have immense repercussions for the ecology of the water, thus affecting the ability of those reliant on the Omo-Turkana basin for food, and the ability for farmers and pastoralists in the region to grow their crops and feed their livestock.

Not only will the filling of the dam affect the water basin, but also the planned large-scale plantation developments that is substituting the basin’s natural capital. Ethiopia has proposed to resettle the riverine communities and instead, develop large plantations, the Kuraz Sugar plantation (Avery 2012). A study discovered that the proposed the large-scale irrigation schemes for the plantations will abstract 50% of the Omo river, permanently impacting ecology through diminishing the lake level (ibid). Essentially 80% of the basin will now controlled, dampening the volume and seasonality of inflows from the Omo river, reducing downstream productivity as there will be less nutrient deposition (Tebbs 2014).

Mitigation measures by the Ethiopian government, especially surrounding the resettlement schemes, have been unsuccessful in sufficiently waning the risk of food insecurity  for the riverine communities that are so dependent on the Omo-Turkana basin, following disruptions caused by the dam and proposed plantation developments (Hodbod et al. 2019).

The Gibe III dam’s construction poses significant threat to the livelihood of the riverine communities that it feeds. The tremendous loss in water level and nutrients perpetually affects the ecological makeup of the basin. Like the Nile basin, the Omo-Turkana basin is fragile and vital for those living around it. It is the lifeline for so many.

I have made a lot of large remarks about the effects of the Gibe’s construction, so I should really back them up with evidence right. Stay tuned and I will do just that.