Components of Catastrophe: Social and Environmental Consequences of Omo River Basin Development

Abstract

The Gibe III dam and its associated agricultural development would cause radical reduction of Omo River flow and inflow to Lake Turkana, as well as elimination of the Omo River annual flood—all essential to the survival of a half million residents of the lower Omo basin and the Lake Turkana region. These major changes would destroy the Omo riverine natural resource systems—eliminating ‘last resort’ grazing lands for livestock, flood recession agriculture and fishing habitats throughout the lowermost Omo basin. The impending destruction of indigenous survival systems is heightened by the Ethiopian government’s expropriation of tens of thousands of villagers for large-scale, irrigated commercial agricultural enterprises, accompanied by political repression of communities through-out the region. Pastoralists and fishers residing near the western shoreline of Kenya’s Lake Turkana also face economic collapse—primarily due to radical lake level drop causing destruction of fish habitat, lakeside grazing for livestock and potable water. As in the lower Omo basin, these conditions would produce massive scale hunger along with widespread disease. Rapid escalation of armed conflict in the cross-border region would ensue as ethnic groups battle over vanishing food sources.