May 31, 2011
It's a story that truly spans the globe: Activists from all over the world, including San Francisco, are trying to stop the construction of a dam in Ethiopia financed by a Chinese bank.
The Gibe 3 Dam is in the early phases of construction on Ethiopia's powerful Omo River, using $500 million dollars in equipment funded by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
The hydroelectric dam, one of the largest construction projects in Ethiopia's history, would regulate the flow of water along the Omo River as it courses through Ethiopia and into Kenya's massive Lake Turkhana -- a freshwater oasis in the heart of the desert.
The project has been mired in controversy since it was just a blueprint. The World Bank and the European Investment Bank financed smaller hydroelectric projects on the Omo River, but dropped consideration of the Gibe 3 Dam after viewing the environmental impact report commissioned by the Ethiopian government.
Activists say the banks were scared away by the Ethiopian government's lack of transparency regarding construction plans and the fact that the Gibe 3 will have a profound ecological impact on the region's fragile ecosystem, from Ethiopia into Kenya.
A November 2010hydrology report by the African Development Bank (pdf) (AfDB) noted that the Omo River is responsible for 90 percent of the water leading into Lake Turkhana.
A major dam blocking the river would drain most of the lake, depriving 300,000 Kenyans of the water needed for agriculture, cattle herding and fishing. And that's just the first concern: The activists' extended list of fears about the dam seems as long as the Omo River itself. Read more »
Source: cbs news.
It's a story that truly spans the globe: Activists from all over the world, including San Francisco, are trying to stop the construction of a dam in Ethiopia financed by a Chinese bank.
The Gibe 3 Dam is in the early phases of construction on Ethiopia's powerful Omo River, using $500 million dollars in equipment funded by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
The hydroelectric dam, one of the largest construction projects in Ethiopia's history, would regulate the flow of water along the Omo River as it courses through Ethiopia and into Kenya's massive Lake Turkhana -- a freshwater oasis in the heart of the desert.
The project has been mired in controversy since it was just a blueprint. The World Bank and the European Investment Bank financed smaller hydroelectric projects on the Omo River, but dropped consideration of the Gibe 3 Dam after viewing the environmental impact report commissioned by the Ethiopian government.
Activists say the banks were scared away by the Ethiopian government's lack of transparency regarding construction plans and the fact that the Gibe 3 will have a profound ecological impact on the region's fragile ecosystem, from Ethiopia into Kenya.
A November 2010hydrology report by the African Development Bank (pdf) (AfDB) noted that the Omo River is responsible for 90 percent of the water leading into Lake Turkhana.
A major dam blocking the river would drain most of the lake, depriving 300,000 Kenyans of the water needed for agriculture, cattle herding and fishing. And that's just the first concern: The activists' extended list of fears about the dam seems as long as the Omo River itself. Read more »
Source: cbs news.
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