Authors:
- This is an open access book
- Only book to analyze the vulnerability of ethnic groups in the aridic Ethiopia-South Sudan-Kenya border region
- Reflects years of research, with the participation of local residents and citizen organizations
- Makes clear that no environmental or social review of the full cross-border impact area has been conducted
- Offers a devastating look at deeply flawed development process fueled by the special interests of global finance and African governments
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
This book offers a devastating look at deeply flawed development processes driven by international finance, African governments and the global consulting industry. It examines major river basin development underway in the semi-arid borderlands of Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan and its disastrous human rights consequences for a half-million indigenous people. The volume traces the historical origins of Gibe III megadam construction along the Omo River in Ethiopia—in turn, enabling irrigation for commercial-scale agricultural development and causing radical reduction of downstream Omo and (Kenya's) Lake Turkana waters. Presenting case studies of indigenous Dasanech and northernmost Turkana livelihood systems and Gibe III linked impacts on them, the author predicts agropastoral and fishing economic collapse, region-wide hunger with exposure to disease epidemics, irreversible natural resource destructionand cross-border interethnic armed conflict spilling into South Sudan. The book identifies fundamental failings of government and development bank impact assessments, including their distortion or omission of mandated transboundary assessment, cumulative effects of the Gibe III dam and its linked Ethiopia-Kenya energy transmission 'highway' project, key hydrologic and human ecological characteristics, major earthquake threat in the dam region and widespread expropriation and political repression. Violations of internationally recognized human rights, especially by the Ethiopian government but also the Kenyan government, are extensive and on the increase—with collaboration by the development banks, in breach of their own internal operational procedures. A policy crossroads has now emerged. The author presents the alternative to the present looming catastrophe—consideration of development suspension in order to undertake genuinely independent transboundary assessment and a plan for continued development action within a human rights framework—forging a sustainable future for the indigenous peoples now directly threatened and for their respective eastern Africa states.
Claudia Carr’s book is a treasure of detailed information gathered over many years concerning river basin development of the Omo River in Ethiopia and its impact on the peoples of the lower Omo Basin and the Lake Turkana region in Kenya. It contains numerous maps, charts, and photographs not previously available to the public. The book is highly critical of the environmental and human rights implications of the Omo River hydropower projects on both the local ethnic communities in Ethiopia and on the downstream Turkana in Kenya.
David Shinn Former Ambassador to Ethiopia and to Burkina Faso Adjust Professor of International Affairs, The George Washington University, Washington D.C.
Keywords
- Consequences for the Ilemi Triangle and the Broader Region
- Consequences for the Lower Omo River Basin
- Cross-Border Armed Conflict in Pastoral East Africa
- Ethiopian Government And Development Bank Impact Assessments
- Fate of the Riverine Forest and its Resources
- Gibe III Dam Project in Ethiopia
- Global finance and African governments
- Government Eviction of Indigenous Communities
- Indigenous Livelihood In The Lake Turkana Region
- Indigenous Survival Strategies
- Interethnic Conflict Over Diminishing Resources
- Lower Omo Basin Plant Species List
- Northwestern Lake Turkana’s Shoreline
- Nyangatom Livelihood in the Omo River Zone
- Omo River and Lake Turkana
- Seismic Threat and Dam Collapse
- Social And Environmental Consequences Of The Proposed Dam
- U.S. Geological Survey Report on Seismic Risk
- Human Rights in Eastern Africa
- Open Access
Authors and Affiliations
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Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
Claudia J. Carr
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: River Basin Development and Human Rights in Eastern Africa — A Policy Crossroads
Authors: Claudia J. Carr
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50469-8
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-50468-1Published: 30 December 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-50469-8Published: 05 January 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIX, 240
Number of Illustrations: 8 b/w illustrations, 66 illustrations in colour
Topics: Human Rights, Human Geography, Ethics, Sustainable Development, Anthropology, Development Economics