ETHIOPIAN DAM TO AFFECT 500,000
Mar 24th, 2010 by admin
A long-running campaign against a controversial project to build a giant hydropower dam in Ethiopia has escalated this week amid claims that thousands of local people would lose their livelihoods as a result. Tribal rights group Survival International said on Wednesday that over 200,000 Ethiopians who rely on fishing and farming will have their livelihoods destroyed and become dependent on aid if construction of the Gilgel Gibe III dam on the Omo River goes ahead. An independent environmental impact assessment by the Africa Resources Working Group claims that up to 500,000 people will be affected by the project around the Kenyan Lake Turkana, which gets 90 per cent of its water from the Omo River. Almost 30 per cent of the Gibe III dam has already been constructed. If completed it would almost double the Ethiopian government’s current energy capacity.
