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>>
>>By Danielle Knight
>>
>>WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (IPS) - The Namibian government, ignoring the
>>protests of thousands of its own people and international environmental
>>groups, is pushing ahead to secure funds to dam the Cunene River for a
>>new hydroelectric project.
>>
>>If the dam is built, the resulting lake will flood 380 square kilometers
>>of land in the inhabited by thousands of Ovahimba people - also known as
>>Himba herders - a group of semi-nomadic pastoralists who live entirely
>>off their cattle, sheep and goats in the border area of Namibia and
>>Angola.
>>
>>''This dam is a disaster,'' says Lori Pottinger, a campaigner with the
>>California-based International Rivers Network (IRN). ''Its power is not
>>needed for the foreseeable future, it will evaporate massive quantities
>>of water in a country with critical water shortages, and it will create
>>an unnecessary debt burden. Worse, it will destroy the culture of the
>>Himba.''
>>
>>Government officials argue that the 500 million-dollar Epupa Dam which,
>>if built, will be the highest in Africa, will bring necessary energy and
>>jobs to the region and, according to Jesaya Nyamu, deputy minister of
>>mining and energy, rescue the Himba from ''a culture of poverty and
>>deprivation.''
>>
>>Arguing that the dam would bring schools and jobs to the region, Hidipo
>>Hamutenya, Namibia's minister of trade and industry, told a British TV
>>reporter that the Himba should abandon their old customs and ''learn to
>>wear shirts and ties and suits like me and everyone else.''
>>
>>The Himba, who have lived in the remote region for hundred of years
>>through drought and war, remain unimpressed by the government's talk of
>>progress, jobs, and schools. ''We don't need work,'' says Kathimbathere
>>Mbendwa. ''We already have our livestock and we live off them.''
>>
>>''If the dam is built our grazing areas will be destroyed, our
>>ancestors' graves will be destroyed, and more people will come and
>>settle here,'' said a Himba elder at a tribal council meeting. ''They
>>will have to build the dam on top of us.''
>>
>>The new reservoir created by the dam would block river crossings used by
>>the Himba to maintain contacts with relatives in Angola. And the Epupa
>>Falls, a growing tourist attraction in this beautiful remote region,
>>would also be destroyed. Several fish species would also be made
>>extinct.
>>
>>Despite the controversy surrounding the dam - and the fact that both the
>>World Bank and the European Union say they are not interested in
>>providing support for the project as it currently stands - the Namibian
>>government appears determined to find funding and begin construction.
>>
>>''There are many development financing agencies...waiting to see how
>>they could fit into this scheme,'' Hamutenya told Nimibia's
>>heads of state at a September conference. ''It is imperative for our
>>missions to promote this important project against the backdrop of
>>negative publicity spearheaded by environmental fanatics.''
>>
>>While it is still uncertain who will fund the project, they are sure to
>>face widespread international opposition for the dam's environmental
>>effects.
>>
>>Besides flooding miles of green riverbank between Epupa and Swartbooi's
>>Drift, the main source of dry-season grazing for Himba herders, the huge
>>reservoir would lose water to evaporation in this hot and dry region,
>>say environmentalists.
>>
>>Roughly 900 million cubic meters would be lost to evaporation, says
>>environmental group Earthlife Africa's Namibia branch. Facing a serious
>>water shortage, Namibia has one of the highest evaporation rates in the
>>world. Most - about 83 percent - of the meager rainfall of this hot and
>>dry region is lost to evaporation.
>>
>>If Namibia undergoes another drought - which is widely predicted because
>>of the El Nino phenomenon - Namibia will run out of fresh water by the
>>year 2000, according to a recent report by the International Food Policy
>>Research Institute.
>>
>>Earthlife has proposed an alternative package of desalinisation and
>>natural gas projects, that they say would provide abundant and cheaper
>>power with fewer environmental impacts. The group notes that although
>>the Epupa dam is supposed to make Namibia self- sufficient in power, it
>>could fall short during periods of extended drought.
>>
>>All water and energy projects in the region must be looked at together,
>>says Earthlife, and its proposal points out that the planned Okavango
>>water pipeline would disrupt the ecology of the Okavango Delta and set a
>>precedent for future increased water abstraction from the river - which
>>local communities have protested.
>>
>>Instead, Earthlife wants smaller water pipelines, gas power stations and
>>a desalinisation plant that would be cheaper, provide enough energy and
>>be less harmful to the Himba and the environment.
>>
>>The large gas fields off the coast of Namibia would generate more than
>>enough energy for the country while not being as destruction to the
>>environment, say critics. But government officials say that the
>>development of gas plants, such as the proposed billion dollar Kudu
>>project, will not be a substitute for the controversial Epupa dam.
>>
>>A seven million-dollar feasibility study, paid for by the Norwegian
>>Agency for Development, NORAD and the Swedish international aid agency,
>>SIDA, that attempted to shed some light on the Epupa project, has
>>recently been suspended.
>>
>>In March, after minister Nyamu said, ''It is not a question of whether
>>Epupa will be built or not, but rather where it will be built,''
>>Himba communities felt that their input in the study was irrelevant.
>>
>>The Himba refused to continue with the household, water, and health
>>surveys of the social investigation of the study. And, field staff
>>conducting these portions of the study were reportedly harassed and
>>intimidated by local government officials.
>>
>>So far, other parts of the study have concluded that the Epupa site is
>>''economically but not environmentally undesirable.'' It says that
>>funding for Epupa by international investors - while not naming names -
>>remains ''promising.''
>>
>>Regardless if the study is ever resumed and completed, President Sam
>>Nujoma said in August that the dam would be built no matter what the
>>study recommended. '' The government will not be deterred by the
>>misguided activities of those who want to impede economic development
>>and upliftment of the standards of living of our people,'' he told
>>government ministers.
>>
>>The two governments are scheduled to announce their official decision
>>onb whethjer the dam should go ahead after a public hearing in early
>>February, but Himba elders and environmental groups say that, since
>>officials obviously have already made up their minds, efforts should
>>focus on discouraging potential donors.
>>
>
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Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 14:43:16 -0800 (PST)
From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
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Subject: Epupa story/IPS
>
>
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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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