GERD: Powering Up Poverty Eradication

Sustainable Development Goals

On the 25th September 2015 at the United Nations summit on sustainable development, the world adopted a historical document titled “Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” The agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity and consists of 17 sustainable development goals of most urgent priority to the international community.


Goal 1: End Poverty in all its Forms, the Energy Factor

Amongst the SDGs, Goal 7 on Energy has been recognised as an enabler for achieving almost all of the Sustainable Development Goals, “from the eradication of poverty through advancements in health, education, water supply and industrialisation, to combating climate change.” Thus, failure to avail reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy supply means that sustainable development grinds to a halt - and subsistence itself becomes uncertain.

The note attempts to show how the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam enables countries in North-Eastern Africa to achieving sustainable development goals. Let us start from Goal 1.

Sustainable development goals “recognise that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.” Thus, Ending Poverty in all its forms becomes its first goal. 

 


700 million people or 10% of the world population, still live in extreme poverty surviving on $1.90 a day. The majority of people living in sub-Saharan Africa and among these people 23 million Ethiopians, 10 million Sudanese, and 1 million Egyptians, 17 million Kenyans, and 8 million South Sudanese live in extreme poverty, and lack of access to modern energy has been identified as a primary challenge in the fight against poverty.



GERD: Electrifying Poverty Eradication 

These countries need a reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy supply to eradicate poverty because energy is “the master resource” for development! The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, with its installed capacity of over 5000MW of electric power, will contribute significantly to ensuring the much sought after access to energy for North-Eastern Africa. Thus, GERD can play a significant role in lifting 59 million people out of extreme poverty in the region.

 


Comments

New comments are not allowed.

Popular posts from this blog

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Democratizing the Nile River

Image
The Nile River is a lifeline to close to three hundred million inhabitants from which half of them lives under the poverty line. Underdevelopment hinders the Nile River from playing a leading role in poverty eradication attempts across the Basin. Riparian states seem resolute to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals by democratizing the Nile River, and it seems inevitable. Colonizing the Nile Ensuring the continuous flow of the Nile River has been the guiding national security objective of successive administrations in Egypt, be it the Ottoman, the British, or successive Egyptian presidents, often at all but ill-advised costs. Whoever ruled Egypt followed a legal, political, or diplomatic endeavours to pursue the national security objective. Waters of the Nile should reach the land of the pharaohs disregarding the needs of millions of people living in the entire river basin. Countries beyond the Lake Nasser, most of them under the British colonial rule, were forced to
Read more

GERD: Ending Child Undernourishment and Hunger

Image
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Sustainable Development Goals On the 25 th September 2015 at the United Nations summit on sustainable development, the world adopted a historical document titled “ Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development .” The agenda is a plan of action for people , planet and prosperity and consists of 17 sustainable development goals of most urgent priority to the international community. Amongst the SDGs, Goal 7 on Energy has been recognised as an enabler for achieving almost all of the Sustainable Development Goals, “ from the eradication of poverty through advancements in health, education, water supply and industrialisation, to combating climate change .” Thus, failure to avail reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy supply means that sustainable development grinds to a halt - and subsistence itself becomes uncertain. This part of GERD-SDG series attempts to show how the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam enables Ethi
Read more

Opinion – Multilateralism as Panacea for COVID-19

Image
Three months after the first case of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, the world registered (at the time of writing) more than 2.6 million cases, more than 180,000 deaths, and no fewer than 700,000 recoveries. The  World Health Organization  (WHO), leading and coordinating the global effort, supporting countries to prevent, detect, and respond to the pandemic, is heavily criticized in its handling of the pandemic at the beginning of the outbreak. There is no clear end in sight. Multilateralism is needed more than ever to avert the global health crisis. Many express concerns that contemporary multilateralism is too weak to tackle the global pandemic. The geopolitical context within which contemporary multilateralism operates makes global cooperation daunting, and the COVID-19 pandemic makes it more difficult. At first glance, it appears that states themselves are self-isolating and further damaging the remaining fabric of multilateralism. However, the crisis might play a constructive role in
Read more