Tribe

Question 1

How many tribes is the Lower Omo River home to? what is their total population?

Answer 1

8 tribes with a total population of 200,000

Question 2

What is the name of the dam that is being built there?

Answer 2

the Gibe III

Question 3

When was the hydro-electric dam commissioned to be built and why was it planned?

Answer 3

2006 to support commercial plantations

Question 4

Who is the dam funded by?

Answer 4

China’s largest bank

Question 5

Did the indigenous people know about the plans? Why?

Answer 5

No.

Literacy rates are extremely low - little access to information

Question 6

What are some of the impacts of the dam developments on the Lower Omo river?

Answer 6

• forcing tribes from their land and resettling them to camps where they must rely on governmental food packages etc.
• irrigation canals are diverting waters away from the tribes to the plantations
• loss of the annual flood of the river on which the tribes depend on
• will cause lake turkana in kenya to dry up - threatening fisheries on which hundreds of indigenous people depend on
• 100,000 tribal people facing food shortages
• potential for inner ethnic conflict

Question 7

What is happening in the Lower Omo region in terms of land grabs?

Answer 7

in 2011 the government began to lease out land to transnational corporations to plant biofuels and cash crops

Question 8

what is the impact of the land grabs in the Lower Omo region?

Answer 8

• beginning to evict tribal people from their lands e.g. Kwegu
• those opposing the threat of their land are beaten and put in jail
• rape and assault from officials

Question 9

What is the name of the area of the tribes used to argue against development improving quality of life?

Answer 9

The Lower Omo River, SW Ethiopia