Nile Rivers Basin Dispute: Perspectives of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)

Abstract

Transboundary river basins are under increasing pressure due to population growth agricultural and industrial developments and climate change as well as river pollution Water scarcity is on the increase due to the increasing gap between water demands and supply This will result in more tensions disputes conflicts and deadlocks in negotiations over water distribution length of time it takes to fill the reservoir and allocation Ethiopia is building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam GERD on the Blue Nile River with a hydropower capacity of 6 000 MW The total estimated cost of the project is US 4 8 Billion and will be the largest dam in Africa which is much larger than the Aswan Dam in Egypt Regional controversies have risen over the construction of the dam between Ethiopia and the downstreamcountries Sudan and Egypt The Blue Nile River is a source of around 85 of the Nile River water Egypt claims that GERD will reduce flow of water in the Nile River between 11 and 19 billion m3 BCM which will affect2 million people and will also interrupt electricity supplies 25 to 40 The real scale of the environmental impacts of GERD under construction upstream of the Nile River together with the rising sea levels due to climate change leading to saltwater intrusion downstream are still not clear But for Ethiopians GERD is empowering development and contribution to their future With the Nile no longer Egyptian birthright and the Nile Delta gradually disappearing into the Mediterranean sea millions of Egypt s people will inevitably need to look elsewhere for a livable future The crises therefore necessities the adaptation of a more effective institutional arrangement such as through Rowland-Ostrom Framework for common pool shared water resource management andcooperative approach to address and resolve present and future problems including on other common transboundary resources forest oil gas and minerals The need for expanding traditional