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Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and hydrologic hegemony over Abbay Basin

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Abstract

The hydropolitics over the Abbay basin has a long history of hydrologic hegemony by Egypt. The conflict over the Abbay River mainly occurred between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Even though the river is shared by 11 countries, the use is principally dominated by Egypt in the last decades. This paper aimed to review the hydropolitics of Abbay/Blue Nile, its challenges, opportunities, and also the impacts of constructing the GERD over the riparian states (Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan). This review was done by searching and reviewing of papers published in reputable journals (peer reviewed and open access) focused on Abbay Basin, GERD and transboundary rivers. Egyptians said that Abbay is the primary water resource and their lifeblood and desires to continue their power on the Abbay basin. On the opposite side, Ethiopia, contributing about 86% of the flow has not been benefited from the river. This controversy has brought disagreement between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan but mainly the tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia are running high. For the last 40 years, the two nations haven't experienced such resistance. However, the starting of the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) brought deviation. Ethiopians are constructing the dam over the river Abbay by their source of finance and people for ensuring their capacity and the moral issue of the people. Egypt’s hydrological hegemony on the Abbay river is reversed from the dominance of one state to the equitable and benefit-sharing of the transboundary river. Even though, the standard water program has been developed, the riparian states haven't entirely approved it due to current and projected water needs, conflict of interest, little data, and lack of mutual aid. The variety of hydrological processes within the Abbay basin makes it challenging to implement a standard plan that could be applied for overall riparian states. Although Egypt and Sudan are resisting the efforts to incorporate the other upstream riparian’s within the negotiations, they have to understand that the river and its management must be advanced from a regional viewpoint. The development of GERD within the Abbay river by Ethiopia has a positive impact on downstream countries because it provides electricity, regulates the flow, controls flood, and reduces the cost of reservoir maintenance in downstream dams. A comprehensive understanding of hydrological processes is currently essential for effective water management in the Abbay basin.

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source of Abbay at Mount Adama, Ethiopia (Own photo captured on August 2015)

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Notes

  1. Hydro-hegemony is hegemony at the river basin level, achieved through water resource control over transboundary waters, consolidated by one actor (Dombrowsky et al. 2014).

  2. Water rights pertain to the legal rights of property owners to access and use bodies of water adjacent to lands they hold.

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Acknowledgements

The authors of this paper kindly acknowledges Debre Tabor University for the initiations to take this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia

    Tesfa Gebrie Andualem & Imran Ahmed Dar

  2. Department of Natural Resources Management, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia

    Mulatu Kassa & Girum Getachew Demeke

  3. UniSA STEM, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095, Australia

    Guna Hewa

  4. Department of Hydraulic and Ocean Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

    Quoc Bao Pham

  5. Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, N13 W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8628, Japan

    Tomohito J. Yamada

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  1. Tesfa Gebrie Andualem
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Correspondence to Tesfa Gebrie Andualem.

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We here submitted the manuscript entitled “Hydrology of Abbay Basin and Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)” to be considered for publication. We declare that this is our original research work. The authors declare that this review paper is not submitted and will not be submitted to any other journal.

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Andualem, T.G., Kassa, M., Getachew Demeke, G. et al. Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and hydrologic hegemony over Abbay Basin. Sustain. Water Resour. Manag. 7, 102 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-021-00568-y

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