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$1.7b dam may sink the hopes of 20,000
Fishermen on Lake Turkana. The main river feeding the lake, the Omo, is threatened by a new hydropower project supported by the governments of Ethiopia and Kenya. Photo/WILLIAM OERI
Lake Turkana could be the scene of a major conflict in the near future, environmentalists are warning.
Ten years ago, then Egyptian foreign minister Boutros Boutros-Ghali said the next major wars in Africa would be over water.
Now water diplomacy is starting to take centre-stage in African and global affairs.
Experts are tracing fights over water rights and shortage as the root cause of the many civil conflicts in the continent over the past three decades.
As Kenya and Ethiopia enter a series of deals on electricity generation and supply, the livelihood of 200,000 people is threatened.
These people have for centuries depended on a lake that is fed by rivers currently threatened by a giant hydroelectric power project in Ethiopia.
The Gilgel Gibe III hydroelectric power dam, which at a cost of $1.7 billion will be one of the largest in Africa, is already causing concern among environmentalists and local communities.
Opponents say it will destroy the livelihood of thousands of people.
Situated on the Omo River Valley, the dam is expected to have a mammoth reservoir that will hold thousands of cubic metres of water.
Environmentalists and locals believe this will interfere with the flow of water into Lake Turkana.
Other flashpoints that Unep and UNDP have cited include the Nile, Niger, Volta and Zambezi basins.
The UNDP says population growth and economic development will lead to nearly one in two people in Africa living in countries facing water scarcity and water stress in 25 years.
Water scarcity is defined as less than 1,000 cubic metres of water available per person per year, while water stress means less than 1,500 cubic metres per year.
By 2025, according to UNDP, 12 more African countries will join the 13 that already suffer from water stress or water scarcity.
“Water disputes in Africa revolve around one or more of three issues: quantity, quality and timing. These play out differently on various scales, whether internationally, intra-nationally, regionally or indirectly,” says a Unep-funded report titled: “Hydropolitical vulnerability and resilience along international waters in Africa”.
