The Nile and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Is There a Meeting Point between Nationalism and Hydrosolidarity?
(2015) In Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education 155(1). p.73-82- Abstract
- The soon-to-be completed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which will be the largest hydroelectric power plant and among the largest reservoirs in Africa, has highlighted the need for expanding traditional integrated water resources management to better include the cultural, social, and political complexities of large water infrastructure in development projects. The GERD will store a maximum of 74 billion cubic meters of water corresponding to approximately the average annual outflow of the Nile from the Aswan high dam. Undoubtedly, the GERD will be vital for energy production and a key factor for food production, economic development, and poverty reduction in Ethiopia and the Nile Basin. However, the GERD is also a political... (More)
- The soon-to-be completed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which will be the largest hydroelectric power plant and among the largest reservoirs in Africa, has highlighted the need for expanding traditional integrated water resources management to better include the cultural, social, and political complexities of large water infrastructure in development projects. The GERD will store a maximum of 74 billion cubic meters of water corresponding to approximately the average annual outflow of the Nile from the Aswan high dam. Undoubtedly, the GERD will be vital for energy production and a key factor for food production, economic development, and poverty reduction in Ethiopia and the Nile Basin. However, the GERD is also a political statement that in one stroke has re-written the hydropolitical map of the Nile Basin. The GERD has become a symbol of Ethiopian nationalism or “renaissance” (hidase in Amharic). A contrasting concept to nationalism is hydrosolidarity. This concept has been put forward to better stress equitable use of water in international water management challenges that would lead to sustainable socioeconomic development. We use the opposing notions of nationalism and hydrosolidarity at three different scales, everyday politics, state policies, and interstate and global politics to analyse some aspects of the new hydropolitical map of the Nile Basin. We argue that nationalism and national interests are not necessarily negative standpoints but that there may instead be a meeting point where regional and national interests join with hydrosolidarity principles. We believe that this meeting point can maximize not only the common good, but also the good from a national interest point of view. For this, it is important not increase collaboration instead of being locked in to the historical narrative of nationalistic culture and historical discourse. This would benefit and improve future sustainability. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8227944
- author
- Abdelhady, Dalia LU ; Aggestam, Karin LU ; Andersson, Dan-Erik LU ; Beckman, Olof LU ; Berndtsson, Ronny LU ; Broberg Palmgren, Karin LU ; Madani, Kaveh LU ; Ozkirimli, Umut LU ; Persson, Kenneth M LU and Pilesjö, Petter LU
- organization
-
- MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World
- Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
- Middle Eastern Studies
- Human Rights Studies
- Division of Water Resources Engineering
- LTH Profile Area: Water
- Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University
- Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- Centre for Geographical Information Systems (GIS Centre)
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Nile, Egypt, Hidase, Ethiopian Nationalism, Conflict, Transboundary, Water
- in
- Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education
- volume
- 155
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 73 - 82
- publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000211990800008
- ISSN
- 1936-704X
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1936-704X.2015.03197.x
- project
- Lund Human Rights Research Hub
- Hydrosolidarity - Theme, Pufendorf IAS
- Hydrosolidarity and the Nile River Basin
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 28b8a1c1-0154-4c0a-ac20-6a566c714d71 (old id 8227944)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 14:53:01
- date last changed
- 2023-08-17 15:43:23
@article{28b8a1c1-0154-4c0a-ac20-6a566c714d71, abstract = {{The soon-to-be completed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which will be the largest hydroelectric power plant and among the largest reservoirs in Africa, has highlighted the need for expanding traditional integrated water resources management to better include the cultural, social, and political complexities of large water infrastructure in development projects. The GERD will store a maximum of 74 billion cubic meters of water corresponding to approximately the average annual outflow of the Nile from the Aswan high dam. Undoubtedly, the GERD will be vital for energy production and a key factor for food production, economic development, and poverty reduction in Ethiopia and the Nile Basin. However, the GERD is also a political statement that in one stroke has re-written the hydropolitical map of the Nile Basin. The GERD has become a symbol of Ethiopian nationalism or “renaissance” (hidase in Amharic). A contrasting concept to nationalism is hydrosolidarity. This concept has been put forward to better stress equitable use of water in international water management challenges that would lead to sustainable socioeconomic development. We use the opposing notions of nationalism and hydrosolidarity at three different scales, everyday politics, state policies, and interstate and global politics to analyse some aspects of the new hydropolitical map of the Nile Basin. We argue that nationalism and national interests are not necessarily negative standpoints but that there may instead be a meeting point where regional and national interests join with hydrosolidarity principles. We believe that this meeting point can maximize not only the common good, but also the good from a national interest point of view. For this, it is important not increase collaboration instead of being locked in to the historical narrative of nationalistic culture and historical discourse. This would benefit and improve future sustainability.}}, author = {{Abdelhady, Dalia and Aggestam, Karin and Andersson, Dan-Erik and Beckman, Olof and Berndtsson, Ronny and Broberg Palmgren, Karin and Madani, Kaveh and Ozkirimli, Umut and Persson, Kenneth M and Pilesjö, Petter}}, issn = {{1936-704X}}, keywords = {{Nile; Egypt; Hidase; Ethiopian Nationalism; Conflict; Transboundary; Water}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{1}}, pages = {{73--82}}, publisher = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}}, series = {{Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education}}, title = {{The Nile and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Is There a Meeting Point between Nationalism and Hydrosolidarity?}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1936-704X.2015.03197.x}}, doi = {{10.1111/j.1936-704X.2015.03197.x}}, volume = {{155}}, year = {{2015}}, }