New Episode of Resources Radio: “Getting Filled In on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, with Annalise Blum”
WASHINGTON, DC—Resources for the Future (RFF) today released a new installment of Resources Radio: “Getting Filled In on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, with Annalise Blum.”
In this episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Annalise Blum, a policy fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Blum explores the conflict over the Grand Ethiopan Renaissance Dam, a hydropower project along the Blue Nile that is expected to double Ethiopia's power generation capacity. Blum notes that, while Ethiopian leaders see the dam as a potential unifier for a divided country, Egypt sees the project as a threat to its water supply—90 percent of which comes from the Nile.
Notable quotes from the podcast:
- The Renaissance Dam will be Africa’s largest source of hydropower: “When the dam is complete, it'll be the largest hydropower dam in Africa, and it's expected to be 509 feet high, just over a mile long, and to have a volume of 60 million acre-feet … The projected capacity from Ethiopia is 6,000 megawatts, which will more than double Ethiopia's current power generation capacity. And in terms of social and ecological impacts of filling the reservoir, it's been estimated that the reservoir will flood an area of over 700 square miles … So, Egypt is really concerned about reductions in Nile flow, both when the reservoir is initially filled and then during long-term operations that can negatively impact Egyptian agriculture and water supply.” (5:07)
- The dam could boost Ethiopia’s economy and unify the country: “The main motivation that the Ethiopian government has given for building the dam is power production to increase electrification, accelerate industrialization, and to sell power to neighboring countries. The Ethiopians feel the dam is essential to moving a lot of the country out of poverty … and seen as a point of national pride and self-determination … Ethiopia is a really highly divided country, so actually, this dam is a huge issue that is able to unify different ethnic groups.” (10:09)
- Strong opposition from Egypt: “Egypt has declared the dam to be an existential threat, including at a UN security council meeting a few weeks ago and … has warned that filling the reservoir will heighten tensions and could provoke destabilizing regional conflict … The real issue is: Egypt relies on the Nile for the vast majority of their water supply, and they're really worried about Ethiopia having greater control over that. In particular, Egypt is concerned about meeting water demands of their growing population, which is already a challenge and expected to become even more uncertain and difficult with climate change.” (11:37)
Resources Radio is a weekly podcast series exploring timely environmental, energy, and natural resources topics. Episodes can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Stitcher.
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