Kenya News Papers

Ethiopian officials reject UN calls to suspend controversial dam project

The UN body recently called on the Ethiopian government to suspend constructing the hydropower project arguing that it lacks environmental and social impact assessments and endangers one the World’s Heritage site, Kenya’s Lake Turkana.

World Heritage sites are of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity and are conserved and catalogued accordingly.

The Ethiopian government claimed that it has undertaken thorough studies and taken precautionary measures to protect Lake Turkana; insisting to continue constructing the US$1.7 billion power project expected to generate 1,870 MW of electricity up on completion.

“The impact studies made by both local and international experts establish Gilgel Gibe III dam does not endanger Lake Turkana” Project manager Azeb Asnake said on Thursday reflecting country’s unchanged stand.

She asserted that the dam instead will have a positive effect on the lake and will regulate the water flow of the OmoRiver, preventing floods and raising the water level during dry seasons.

The World Heritage Committee which monitors World Heritage Sites worldwide called on China’s development bank and other financiers “to put on hold their financial support” until the Committee reviews this issue until the next annual meeting in June 2012.

"No matter what is reported, the project will continue, and financing of the project is certain as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has provided 470 million dollars, and the remaining might be covered by Ethiopia," Misikir Negash, public relations officer for Ethiopia Electrical Power Co. , told a local news paper, Fortune.

The projects is also facing protest from a number of environmental groups who argue that as well as having a devastating impacts on the Omo River and Lake Turkana, the project will also effect 500,000 indigenous people who depend on the river and lake for their livelihoods.

Recognised and protected as a World Heritage Site in 1997, Lake Turkana in Kenya and Ethiopia, is the world’s largest permanent desert lake and the world’s largest alkaline lake. According to the World Heritage Committee, its unique ecosystem has made it “an outstanding laboratory for the study of plant and animal communities.”

Having a total of nine recognised World Heritage sites; Ethiopia is currently among the 21 members of the World Heritage Committee.

Millions Impacted by Drought in Northern Kenya « Newspapers Today

But the effects of acute water shortages on families are even more far reaching. They include lifestyle changes in communities experiencing water shortages.

Airlie Taylor, communications officer for ActionAid International’s International Emergencies and Conflict Team, says that the lack of water is changing the way families live.

“We’ve seen women whose traditional domestic roles have made them the main water collectors, are increasingly being faced with the task of walking farther distances to find water, or spending a lot of time scraping water from shallow wells with water pans.”

She said this is taking up a lot more of their time and leaving them less for other things. Taylor said the drought is causing families to break up.

“We find the men have migrated with their livestock to find water, leaving the women and children at home. So there is a social impact with the drought situation. It’s not just about a lack of water and people going hungry,” said Taylor.

The ActionAid official said children are among the most vulnerable groups as they are less able of coping with less food and water. She said consequently, the shortages have forced many families to pull their children out of school.

“Children are being pulled out of school, either because their families are migrating closer to water sources, or because the families have lost their livestock and no longer have a means to make a living, can no longer afford to pay school fees or to pay for school uniforms,” said Taylor.

Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard)

Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard)

Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard)

Kenya Gazette

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