A boat cannot go forward if each rows his own way

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22 TN“I don’t think the damhas a big effect”Alaa EliassKhartoum, SudanHatim Abdelhadi, a 30-year-old lawyer in Sennar, talks about howthe Sennar Dam changes the lives of those living alongside it.“Electricityismorestablehere.”The Niles: In your opinion, what are the goodand the bad aspects of the Sennar Dam?Hatim Abdelhadi: I can’t say that there aremany adverse effects from the dam, exceptthe many mosquitos living and reproducingin the dam’s reservoir. The dam was builtfor its positive impact of providing irrigationfor the farms of Gezira, Managil and otheragricultural projects near the city, as well asgenerating electricity.TN: Are there any diseases in Sennar that arelinked to the dam?HA: Malaria is the disease that I believeis connected with the dam. After all, mosquitoslive and breed in the lake. That hasmade malaria one of the endemic diseasesin Sennar.TN: Do you think air humidity is higher inSennar than elsewhere in Sudan because ofthe dam’s lake?HA: The air humidity is normal to me –it’s not very high or low. I don’t believe thatthe dam has affected air humidity.TN: Are there big populations of mosquitos,scorpions or house flies in the area?HA: We have big numbers of mosquitos inthe city linked to the dam, but I think we don’thave an excessive number of other insects,although there are scorpions and snakes inthe grass near the dam’s lake.TN: Is electricity stable in Sennar?HA: Electricity is more stable here than inother cities: the electricity is cut off once ortwice a week, except in the autumn.TN: From your information, were people forcedto move due to the Sennar Dam? Was compensationpaid to these people?HA: Yes, there was forced transfer of somefamilies near the dam area because they wereat risk of drowning and their agricultural landswere sinking in the dam’s lake. From whatI heard they were compensated.TN: Have you been personally negatively affectedby the dam?HA: Yes, I have had Malaria many times, butother than that, I don’t see any evident impact.TN: Do you personally benefit from Sennar dam?How?HA: Yes. We can get a lot of fresh fruits andvegetables from different farms around thedam which are directly irrigated by it.TNA fisherman at workin Sennar.Photo: The Niles / DominikLehnertTN15_20210310.indd 22 2021/03/10 18:29
Dagim TerefeAddis Ababa, EthiopiaChoke Mountain sedimentsstifle downstream reservoirsTN 23Growing populations and their needs put pressure on the Choke Mountainecosystem — and the consequences reach as far downstream as Egypt.“We aresufferingasfloodingwashesawaythe soilwith ourseeds.”At an elevation of over 4,000 metres, ChokeMountain in the tropical alpine environmentsin Ethiopia’s Amhara region is experiencingrapid population growth, deforestation, landdegradation and seasonal flooding.The Choke watershed is the water sourcefor the Upper Abay (Blue Nile) river system, whichincludes more than 59 rivers and 273 springs.Belachew Miherete, a 52-year-old farmer,has five children and works on his father’s farm.“I have been farming with my father and gettingcrops and produce from his land,” he said.Belachew, like other farmers in the area,underlined that the Choke’s regional ecosystemsare deteriorating as the climate warms.“We are suffering as flooding washes awaythe soil with our seeds during ‘Kiremet’(Winter),” he said.Choke means “very cold” in Amharic.Until about 20 years ago it was covered witha glacier, but these days it is rare to see snowand frost, not to mention vegetation like thegiant lobelia gibberoa tree which was traditionallyfound in the region.The Choke Mountain ecosystems arealso under pressure as agriculture reducesbiodiversity and the alpine zone retreats.Land use pressures of a growing populationare affecting the agro-ecological systems.Land degradation associated with overcultivationimpacts watershed-wide erosionrates and affects the quality of water fordownstream users, including the GreatEthiopian Renaissance Dam.Siltation, the increasing amount of sand andother particles in the water, increasingly affectsthe downstream countries Sudan and Egypt.According to a United Nations Office forthe Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA) report of 2019, higher than averagerainfall during the first weeks of August triggeredflooding in South Gondar Zone in theAmhara region of Ethiopia and killed twopeople and inundated many households.The flooding occurred in the Fogera andLibo Kemekem districrs on August 11 and 12,and is attributable to the overflow of the riversthat are tributaries of Lake Tana and the BlueNile. Reportedly 25,000 people were affected,6,653 houses were flooded, 18 schools weredamaged, and 3,428 hectares of crop-areaswere covered by water.This year the pattern was repeated, andthe damage was even worse. On the same datesin August, a large number of communitieswere affected, but the extent of the damage hasnot yet been officially announced.overgrazing, deforestation, and unsustainableagricultural practices.The Choke agro-ecological problems havebeen noted by environmentalists, governmentand non-governmental organisations, sparkinga series of initiatives and projects.Debre Markos University and Addis AbabaUniversity have conducted several surveys,identifying socio-economic aspects of the ChokeMountain communities.“We have conducted a research on whatkind of livelihood options are recommendedto avert the existing severe ecological problems,”said Abiyot Molla, Director of Choke WatershedResearch Project Development Departmentat Debre Markos University.The university is working with East GojjamZone Rural Land Administration Authorityand the Federal Environment Commission’sproject office of Mainstreaming Incentivesfor Biodiversity Conservation funded by theGlobal Environment Facility.Extreme rainfall has been a significantproblem in the Choke watersheds, causingfloods that can significantly damage agriculture,ecology, infrastructure, disruption to humanactivities and the loss of property, especiallydownstream of the watersheds.The high cost of sedimentationSudan and Egypt have been building manydams along the Nile for various purposes,valid experiences upstream riparian countries,including Ethiopia, should take into account.According to Dr Eng Manaye Ewenetu,Associate Engineer at Me Consulting Engineers,siltation of these reservoirs has been a majorissue for storage and the structural integrityof the dams.The sedimentation, within their reservoirs,reduces their storage capacity and theireffective life span, he said.He also mentioned that the Sennar Dambuilt on the Blue Nile in Sudan for irrigationpurposes has lost more than 60 percent ofits original water storage capacity due to thesediment deposition over 61 years, accordingto publicly available studies.The Roseires Dam, which was constructedon the Blue Nile (Sudan) to store water forirrigation lost 36 percent of its original waterstorage capacity over 28 years.The High Aswan Dam Reservoir (LakeNasser) has a total length of about 500 kilometres(350 kilometres inside Egypt and150 kilometres inside Sudan). More than 124million tons of sediment per year is depositedin the Lake Nasir reservoir, which has reducedthe reservoir volume tremendously.Sedimentation is seen as a critical problemfor Ethiopia, and it could cost millions ofdollars to avoid the silts from the GrandEthiopian Renaissance Dam’s reservoir.However, according to experts, the GrandEthiopian Renaissance Dam will substantiallyreduce the sedimentation problem to reservoirsin Sudan and Egypt.“This will directly benefit the downstreamcountries with additional agricultural production,energy generation, river navigation andwater supply”, Dr Manaye said.As the Nile is a shared river, both theEthiopian government and several academicscall on basin countries to share responsibilityfor conserving the environment.More ambitiously, the Ethiopian governmentalso wants countries downstream of theNile, including Sudan and Egypt, to contributefinancially towards maintaining Choke’secosystem services.Some 85 percent of the Nile River emergesfrom the Ethiopian highlands. “Choke Mountainby itself contributes more than 10 percentof the Nile water. So the ecosystem is not justinvaluable for Ethiopia – the downstreamcountries Sudan and Egypt should also takea share in the problems facing this landscapeand act accordingly,” said Abiyot.Adding legal support to this argument,Article 2 of the Convention on the Protectionand Use of Transboundary Watercourses andInternational Lakes (Water Convention) alsostates that “the Parties shall take all appropriatemeasures to prevent, control and reduceany transboundary impact”.TNLocal livelihoods on the lineStudies by Debere Markos Universityreveal that the Choke Mountain watershedshave been facing flooding and erosion resultingfrom population growth, settlement,Farmers are ploughing theirfield on the slopes of ChokeMountain.Photo: The Niles / DagimTerefeTN15_20210310.indd 23 2021/03/10 18:29
Page 1 and 2: “A boatcannotgo forwardif eachrow
Page 3 and 4: The damTN 3conundrum:To buildor not
Page 5 and 6: The cascade effect:TN 5sharing info
Page 7 and 8: TN 7A photojournalist fromEgypt at
Page 9 and 10: Do damsMiCT The NilesBerlin, German
Page 11 and 12: EL-QANATER EL-KHAYREYA DAM, EgyptEx
Page 13 and 14: Can South Sudan relaunchTN 13its Fu
Page 15 and 16: TN 15THE KHASHM EL-GIRBA DAMTHE ROS
Page 17 and 18: TN 17obviously have a major effect
Page 19 and 20: TN 19resettlement, saying that that
Page 21: TN 21kilometres in length, with a s
Page 25 and 26: Farming is not the only source of i
Page 27 and 28: The Grand EthiopianRenaissance Dam

A boat cannot go forward if each rows his own way

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