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Sustainable Hydropower – Ethiopian Style

As International Rivers' Policy Director and before, the coordinator of a Swiss NGO, I have advocated for human rights and the environment for more than 20 years. When I'm not at work, I spend time with my family, hike, and visit the opera. My favorite river is the Albula in the Swiss Alps. “If you are interested in environmental public policy on a global scale, Peter Bosshard’s blog is the way to go,” the Policy Police recommends. Happy reading! You can also follow me on Twitter @PeterBosshard.

At the end of June, Reeyot Alemu , an Ethiopian journalist, was thrown into jail after she dared to raise questions about the proposed Grand Millennium Dam. This is only the latest example of the severe repression that the Ethiopian government metes out against anybody who takes a critical position on its massive hydropower projects. In spite of such repression, the International Hydropower Association recently recognized Ethiopia’s power utility as a “Sustainability Partner.” This is a telling example of the dam industry’s current propaganda effort – an effort that is at best naive and at worst cynical. Ethiopia is rich in rivers, geothermal and solar energy. Given the country’s huge needs and limited resources, the government would be well advised to follow a rational planning process and mobilize all forces of society as it develops its energy resources. Yet Ethiopia’s energy sector is utterly politicized. The government has pulled multi-billion dollar projects such as the Gibe III Dam on the Omo River and the Grand Millennium Dam on the Blue Nile out of thin air. It stitched up both projects with an Italian company that received big no-bid contracts for them – without comprehensive evaluation, a public debate, or notifying its partners in the Nile Basin Initiative.

Ethiopia’s politicized approach to hydropower is underpinned by severe repression. Dam-affected people, academics and journalists cannot afford to question government pet projects such as Gibe III and the Grand Millennium Dam. A detailed report by Human Rights Watch documents how the Ethiopian regime uses development projects to systematically suppress critical voices. “Ethiopia’s practices include jailing and silencing critics and media, enacting laws to undermine human rights activity, and hobbling the political opposition,” the report states. As if to drive home the point, several farmers and a journalist who wanted to provide input into the report were detained.

Sustainable Hydropower – Ethiopian Style « EthioSun

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At the end of June, Reeyot Alemu , an Ethiopian journalist, was thrown into jail after she dared to raise questions about the proposed Grand Millennium Dam. This is only the latest example of the severe repression that the Ethiopian government metes out against anybody who takes a critical position on its massive hydropower projects. In spite of such repression, the International Hydropower Association recently recognized Ethiopia’s power utility as a “Sustainability Partner.” This is a telling example of the dam industry’s current propaganda effort – an effort that is at best naive and at worst cynical.

Ethiopia is rich in rivers, geothermal and solar energy. Given the country’s huge needs and limited resources, the government would be well advised to follow a rational planning process and mobilize all forces of society as it develops its energy resources. Yet Ethiopia’s energy sector is utterly politicized. The government has pulled multi-billion dollar projects such as the Gibe III Dam on the Omo River and the Grand Millennium Dam on the Blue Nile out of thin air. It stitched up both projects with an Italian company that received big no-bid contracts for them – without comprehensive evaluation, a public debate, or notifying its partners in the Nile Basin Initiative.

Ethiopia’s politicized approach to hydropower is underpinned by severe repression. Dam-affected people, academics and journalists cannot afford to question government pet projects such as Gibe III and the Grand Millennium Dam. A detailed report by Human Rights Watch documents how the Ethiopian regime uses development projects to systematically suppress critical voices. “Ethiopia’s practices include jailing and silencing critics and media, enacting laws to undermine human rights activity, and hobbling the political opposition,” the report states. As if to drive home the point, several farmers and a journalist who wanted to provide input into the report were detained. The ripples of this repression have even reached our office, as we have received death threats and other abuse for our efforts to stop the destructive Gibe III Dam.

A few months ago, the Ethiopian government and the International Hydropower Association (IHA) organized an international conference in Addis Ababa under the motto of Hydropower for Sustainable Development . The sponsors included China’s Sinohydro, the World Bank, and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. In spite of the event’s alluring motto, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi did not mince his words. In a blistering opening statement , he condemned activists who opposed dam projects as “hydropower extremists” and “bordering on the criminal.” The government’s thugs will know how to take care of people whom the Prime Minister has branded as “extremists.