26 May 2016 Speaking Engagement in New York City

I have been invited to speak in NYC on the evening of 26 May at Midoma Gallery for the closing party of artist Ariel Shallit's Iconic: re-imagined show. You can check out the details on my website news and read more about our collaboration work - my portrait photography of indigenous river communities before displacement and his overpainting technique to combine art and science for advocacy. I am quite keen on sharing the story of the people I have met around the world who are experiencing community instability and threats to their identity, health, and well-being due to the wave of water development on rivers. River communities of indigenous are losing their way of life and this is being categorized as an economic externality or a political blip on the RADAR.

I feel I have failed a bit to be able to get this point across in academia sometimes as responses from my audience sometimes ask why the Gumuz (and you can insert any indigenous group out of the national economic system here) matter? Other times I am asked whether I really thought that local people wouldn't prefer buying their fish at a grocery store to having to fish in the river. And yet more have voiced the need to modernize the traditional communities who are "primitive" or "backwards" and need help.

As one recent reviewer wrote on an academic paper that I unsuccessfully submitted for publication - "The Gumuz are being displaced, others are not, so this is obvious and does not need human security [analysis] or interviews in the field."

I hope I can improve my scholarship to clarify the point that development may have it wrong - and in fact may be an absolutely dangerous path with no return. I hope to communicate clearly that every sort of people matter, traditional lifestyles and knowledge are valuable, and people have the right to determine their own identity and livelihoods. Until then, I will start to really move on advocating through art and collaborations with artists to get the message out - maybe if people are unable to understand the dignity of people in my words, they can understand through the images I take.

The engagement information is below if you are in the NYC area next week and would like to attend. No cover.

World Bank Report on Water and Economics Link

If you are curious to read the World Bank's report on water from their perspective, you can access the full report from their site (or you can opt out for the executive summary which is only a few pages). This report will help to explain where the Bank will be investing next and how.

Inga 3 in the News Again: Talk of Selecting a Construction Company

News article released today states that Democratic Republic of Congo's Inga 3 dam project is alive and well and is moving forward this year. The news is that the project's potential electricity is being sold to South Africa's energy hungry market and Congo's mostly foreign-owned mining sector, the left-overs go to the people. This is in an energy poor country. It appears from this that water resources of the Congo will be harnessed for profit rather than for domestic development.

The Inga project, well-known to anyone interested in hydropower on the African continent, has been an idea in the heart of Congo's desire to develop and the heart of many economists that see Inga as the answer to Africa's energy needs. The siting of Inga can harness 11% of global hydropower potential - yes global not just Congo River - and this is found on one stretch of the Congo River, downstream from Kinshasa. I wrote a bit about this twice in 2013 (here is the second post) and it is the highest traffic post I've written receiving more than 4500 hits to date.

The two tenders are big companies, one of which constructed Three Gorges Dam and we all know how efficient that dam is running. Perhaps they have learned from their mistakes? With Congo's internal political challenges, it will be quite interesting to see how and when this project can get off the ground. The estimated cost of 50 billion dwarfs Ethiopia's GERD, which is the largest hydropower project being constructed on the African continent right now.

Congo to select developer for Inga 3 hydropower plant by October

Tue May 10, 2016 3:08pm GMT

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By Aaron Ross

KINSHASA May 10 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo will decide by October between a Chinese and Spanish consortium to develop the long-delayed Inga 3 hydroelectric project with construction expected to begin the following June, a government official said on Tuesday.

The $12 billion project along the Congo River will expand on two existing Inga hydroelectric dams and is part of an eight-stage Grand Inga project that would produce a record 44,000 MW at an estimated cost of $50-80 billion.

Proponents of the project say that it could eventually power half of Africa, while critics say that the money would be better used supporting smaller local plants.

The Chinese consortium is led by China Three Gorges Corporation while the Spanish one includes engineering giant Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA , said Bruno Kapandji, the head of the Agency for the Development and Promotion of Grand Inga.

"We are waiting for their bids in the month of July," Kapandji told Reuters. "We will choose the one that will be the best in terms of experience, capacity to mobilise funds, capacity to mobilise technology."

Of Inga 3's 4,800 MW, 2,500 will be sold to South Africa and 1,300 is earmarked for Congo's mining sector. The remaining 1,000 will go toward meeting domestic demand in a country where less than 15 percent of the population has electricity.

The start of construction has been repeatedly delayed by red tape and disagreements between Congo and its partners on the project, including the World Bank and African Development Bank, which have provided technical assistance.

Kapandji said he expects construction to begin in June 2017 and last four to five years. Congo had originally promised South Africa power from Inga 3 by 2020. 

However, he said that the project still needed to secure additional financing. He declined to say how much money had already been mobilised but said that possible investors were attracted by the project's potential profitability.

Kapandji also defended the controversial decision last October to move control of the project from the prime minister's office to an agency within the presidency, which has raised concerns about corruption and political interference.

"It's the head of state who pilots this programme," he said. "First of all, that secures the project itself. Also, that reassures our partners and, above all, our clients."

(Editing by David Evans)

Water and GDP

A recent news article about a new World Bank report - with partners like Coca-Cola in tow - was released that says something about how water management contributes to climate change and that water is directly linked with a country's GDP. I was introduced to the concept that there is a link between water and GDP four years ago during a conversation with someone in Ethiopian government. At the time I asked where they had heard this idea - and they told me that they heard it through the World Bank. Well, the Bank has continued with this premise even though I have a hard time finding scientific or economic evidence to back this claim up.

I find that this cannot be true of water scarce countries in our world's desert areas who have quite healthy GDPs (based on petroleum). I also think a country's GDP depends on many factors, water perhaps being one, but not necessarily a central one. I shudder to think why the Bank is pushing this idea - the last of the world's great wild stretches of rivers are located in developing places where country governments are strategizing how they can improve their GDPs.

I err on the side of caution: always, always attempt to use critical thinking with these ideas that are placed before me as common truths until I find evidence to swing me in one direction or another...

What I know: China is leading the world in hydropower development by a significant amount both at home and abroad. The World Bank has accordingly ramped up their hydropower portfolio after years of reallocating funds for large water projects amid protests from people in the late 1900s and the World Commission on Dams Report. That report, in 2000, that pointed out how much cost dams cause to local people. Further research (by Brian Richter, et. al 2010) claims that the WCDR was conservative in their estimates. When the topic was brought up during a dinner one night, two years ago, a former WB employee leaned over and said to me, "you can look into this, but no one will talk to you about it." Sinister, why the secrecy?

What I think: the World Bank is building up a story to validate their aggressive plans to develop the world's last remaining wild resources. If there is money to be had, the World Bank will be there with bells on. They claim to serve community interests, but they continually serve select members of country government interests while displacing high numbers of people, rendering them landless and dependent on an already taxed system. They put countries into further debt for projects that benefit the few, and perhaps the national GDP, if the host government is lucky. I have yet to see a World Bank project, a significant one, that really improves society. They do build schools and contribute to the medical sector in some select places...say they are contributing to combat climate change in various ways (don't look to closely as to how), but at the end of the day they are a bank, not a service outfit. They want you to show them the money - even if it breaks the lives, identities, and dignity of people living in conditions with little choice to begin with. The horror.

Water Scarcity Can Lower GDP by 6 Percent in Some Regions, Report Warns

• By SUSANNA KIM
 

May 3, 2016, 3:37 PM ET

Andrei Pungovschi/AFP/Getty Images

Young men load water from the Nile river into containers, Feb. 26, 2014 in Bor, South Sudan.

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Lack of water is not only a health issue for many regions of the world, it can have a huge economic impact, even lowering GDP by as much as 6 percent, according to a report issued today by the World Bank.

Factors like growing populations and climate change could reduce water availability in cities by as much as two-thirds by 2050, compared to 2015 levels, according to the report. Even rising incomes will cause further strain by creating a surge in water demand.

The effects will be far-reaching, even in regions in Central Africa and East Asia where it's now abundant, unless governments respond. Countries like China and India could be among the nations that have a 6 percent drop in GDP by 2050 without efficient water policies, the report states. The impact is greatest in places where water's already in short supply, such as the Middle East and the Sahel region in Africa, which includes countries already suffering from the effects of drought or war, such as Mali and Sudan.

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The report, "High and Dry: Climate Change, Water and the Economy," explains that economic growth can be hampered by water-related losses in agriculture, health, income and property. In the next three decades, the global food system will require between 40 to 50 percent more water while municipal and industrial water demand will increase by 50 to 70 percent, according to a 2009 Water Resources Group report by the World Bank and business partners like McKinsey and Company and the Coca Cola Company.

World Bank

The Estimated Effects of Water Scarcity on Gdp in Year 2050, under Two Policy Regimes

The World Bank researchers used economic modeling to find that bad water-management policies can exacerbate the effects of climate change, while better managing resources can neutralize them.

Among the policies that could offer solutions are advancing technologies to increase water supply, such as waste-water recycling and desalination. The most widely used method to increase water supply is water storage through dams, the report states. Better planning and incentives, such as water permit allocation, giving users the right to "sell" or "rent" water, is another idea, the report states.

Unfortunately, the poor will disproportionately feel the effects of water mismanagement, the report states. About 800 million people, or nearly 78 percent of the world's poor, live in rural areas and rely on agriculture, livestock and fishing. More vulnerable communities are "likely to rely on rain-fed agriculture to feed their families, live on the most marginal lands which are more prone to floods, and are most at risk from contaminated water and inadequate sanitation," the report states.

The report warns that water insecurity could multiply the risk of conflict, as droughts can cause a surge in food prices and exacerbate migration and already dangerous situations.

The Nile: the water that binds us in dance and song - a voice from South Sudan.

Nile Forum Seed Camp 2016, Nubia, Egypt © J.C. Veilleux

I recently had the privilege to attend the Nile Forum Seed Camp, where I was delighted to reconnect with Nile basin-based colleagues from the Nile Project Workshop that took place in Egypt in 2013 and honored to meet new amazing & impressive people from about 14 countries throughout the basin, West Africa, and Europe. This initiative was called to determine whether there is actual interest in creating a platform for civil society dialogue across the borders of the Nile basin. We find that there is, so now we have to do the work to develop that platform - what that looks like will be discussed in another post soon.

The following article was written by one colleague and friend from the Nile Forum, author Deng Aling from South Sudan about the importance of dance and music as a human expression and unifier. Inspiration from the article includes the experience we shared at the Nile Seed Camp when we'd break into song or dance to lighten the intensity of the work. Deng writes here about dancing and music from the region and the experience we shared in our workshop. I am touched to relive what we experienced during those very special days together through Deng's words and the included video that Kata Molnar, our colleague from Europe who works for the World Water Council, compiled from a number moments from the Seed Camp for Peace Community's International Dance Day 2016.

This article is published on another colleague's site that serves as a communications platform for Sudan, South Sudan, and beyond: Andariya. Andariya's founder, Omnia Shawkat (you can hear an interview with her on the link), was in attendance, as was Mohamed AlToum the art director (professional photographer), both extremely inspiring individuals.

We came together over the weekend and by the next Friday we did not want to leave one another. We did not shy away from challenging conversations, and we found instead that we enjoyed many eye-opening and beautiful moments of shared ideas and common ground. Despite our superficial differences we discussed openly how we all possess something undeniably very important in common: our humanity and, in that, our love for one another. We are a family and we remain in constant contact thanks to modern technology...and thanks to the Nile River Basin.

WORK OVERVIEW

Deng Aling

Love teaches donkeys how to dance ~ French proverb

Photo Credit: David Azia

Dancing occupies a prominent position in African societies; it is an old practice in which all members of society; from the king to the hunter, soldier, women, children and everyone engages together. Dance circles may seem almost chaotic, yet there is a sense of organization. One of the most important features of African dancing is that it’s a group activity; you need a lot of dancers and therefore a nice bond is established between each member of the dancing circle. Dancing is thus a form of creative expression of love, courage and beauty.

Due to the worldwide acknowledgement of the importance of dancing, the twenty-ninth of April is now designated as the International Dance Day. This day marks the birth of the French dancer Jean-Georges Noverre (1727- 1810). Noverre was a dancer and choreographer and he established some of the foundations of ballet. The importance of this day comes from the universal desire to forget and let go, even for a little while, the pressures of everyday life especially the political nuisances. The World Dance Council urges governments to establish places for dancing and teaching it at various educational levels.

Dance is as important as music, singing and poetry because it stimulates the full interaction between the music and the rhythm of the body, and that in turns helps to enhance memory and decrease depression as well as make the body more flexible. We can also describe dance as the ability to use the body to interact with music and cultural and aesthetic memories to create a combination of signs and signals that can bypass traditional narrative. Dancing can be used to tell stories of war, friendships and express the appreciation of cultural values. The great dancers in each tribe are considered brave warriors, because dancing for every tribe, especially in South Sudan is a space for freedom and interaction and it connects different generations and experiences.

Photo Credit: Pinterest

Dance and Peace-building

We can claim that dancing has a role in peace-building; especially folk dance. Peace-building is known as “infrastructural and structural establishments that assist conflicted parties in crossing over from a state of conflict to a state of peace”. The absence of war or conflict does not necessarily mean the presence of peace. The tolerance and acceptance of different communities and the absence of violence in all its forms and the abundance of respect means that there is peace, and it’s much needed at this time. In South Sudan, we perform folkloric dancing in many events with the most important feature being the interaction between the past, present and future. Children, youth, and elderly people dance together in wonderful harmony and in the dancing circle one feels indescribable joy.

In Africa in general and South Sudan in specific, we dance for all occasions; we dance at birth, puberty, and dance more at weddings, we beat our drums when we  go fishing, and then more in the case of war and peace. There is also a ritual of dancing and singing during dry seasons to appease the Gods and beg them to send down rain which symbolizes goodness in folklore. We also dance in times of death; dancing is not just for fun and euphoria, but we dance for therapeutic reasons and as a way to exorcise bad spirits. We dance to share our vision of existence, we dance because we want to listen to the universe, we simply dance for both joy and sadness.

Dancing to Overcome Differences

Due to the power and the solid presence of dance culture in our societies, we must work to raise citizens’ awareness of the need for peaceful coexistence through the ability of dancing to promote freedom and cooperation between the dancers. This linkage can help people establish and strengthen bonds with each other.

Dancing was one of the forms of interaction in the Nile Basin Seed Forum, which gathered members of civil society form the Nile basin countries in Aswan between 20-26 March. We danced to various songs and languages and cultures, and we did not feel any difference or strangeness in the essence of music. Even in Cairo we spontaneously started singing and dancing in Zooba restaurant in Zamalek, and were joined by strangers dining next to us, mesmerized by the rhythm of African melodies & traditional dances.

It started as a challenge between us; myself (South Sudan), Philimon (Ethiopia), Melat (Ethiopia), Abraham (Ethiopia), Mohamed (Sudan), Sarah (Uganda), Jennifer (USA), Mai (Egypt), Andre (Democratic Republic of Congo) on one side and Walid al-Shaalan (Egypt) and Balqis Duval (British of Syrian origin) on the other. Mai sang in Arabic, Philimon in Amharic, and Jennifer in English on our behalf, while Duval sang a beautiful song in English. Soon we began dancing to Amharic tunes, then we danced the Shilluk dance of South Sudan; where a male and female sing and jump with the song’s rhythm in a circle, the female jumps backwards facing the male who raises his arms to the rhythm.  We were also joined by the workers at the restaurant who didn’t mind us occupying the entirety of the small space and we laughed and danced like we all knew each other for decades. Still huffing and puffing with excitement, we finally sat down and enjoyed our traditional Egyptian dinner! Both dancing groups won the challenge because we all enjoyed ourselves. This spontaneous dancing break was a continuation of the wave of singing and dancing that was started in Aswan during the Forum and continued to the airport and the bus that took us downtown and eventually to Zooba.

This wonderful connection between people of different nationalities and cultural backgrounds opened my eyes to the importance of dancing and its ability to help us overcome our differences and bring people together and even unite them. It was a unique experience and it wouldn’t have been the same without dancing bring a prominent feature in our everyday interactions. Dancing is a form of establishing relations and emotional bonds, thus it becomes inevitable in today’s world. With it, we can create bonds of communication between people; we dance in joy or in sadness, but also to celebrate our humanity, friendship and peace.  

Mara River Fieldwork Post From SELVA

The SELVA team has pulled together our research notes and are in the process of writing up our report and producing other types of visual products about our current work in Tanzania. The following post from our weblog today highlights one of the issues we identified as a challenge: how do people get their water? During our conversations with water users we found that in the rural areas the water people use is hauled from different undeveloped and developed sources, but many villages do not have community taps or community wells that work:

Fetching Water on a Saturday Morning

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Jennifer Veilleux

Local children pump ground water in the Mara River Basin, Tanzania. Photo credit: Ana Lemos 2016

On a typical Saturday morning in Miami, you can find children playing on the beach, in the yard, or on their tablet in the living room. On a typical Saturday morning in rural parts of the Mara River Basin in Tanzania, you can find children fetching and hauling water, farming, or minding their younger siblings.

Fetching water is a task left almost exclusively to women and children in many parts of the world. Culturally, men do not fetch water in most places in the world because they are busy with farming, animal husbandry, or other tasks assigned a gender divide. This is particularly true in underdeveloped rural areas. The SELVA field team discovered that this is no exception in the Mara River Basin during their March 2016 field trip. Through discussions with local water users in villages, we found that children, such as the group in the photograph, and women can take up to 2 hours one direction to fetch water during the dry season. Depending on the size of their family and containers for hauling, this trip is taken up to 6 times in a single day. Simple math can illuminate the fact that this means approximately the entire length of the daylight hours is spent in pursuit of water. This work leaves little time for anything else.

Women and children use plastic containers, like jerry cans and 20-liter buckets, to transport the water on their heads.  Water pumps, such as the one here donated by JICA – Japanese International Cooperation Agency – produce clear, but salty water . This water is not good for drinking. Local wells produce grey colored water. Wells provided by other development groups produce no water at all. There are only a few rain catchment systems, donated by the local chapter of WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature). Otherwise locals must use surface water. The Mara River is available year-round, and a few tributaries, secondary rivers that enter the Mara, flow during the rainy season.

There are risks associated with hauling water directly from the Mara River that threaten women and children’s lives and health. Risks include wildlife threats like crocodiles and hippos, exposure to water borne disease such as malaria, cholera and schistosomiasis, and the river itself can flood suddenly or the weakened riverbanks can collapse. When mothers send their children to bring water, they do not know whether they will return safely. Improved water supplies can help to address this particular set of risks associated with the security of women and children in their relationship with water resources.

Learn Swahili language

mamba: crocodile  |  kiboko: hippo  |  maji: water