Sustainable mountain development in East Africa in a changing climate
hydropower schemes are also seen as a viable option for providing electricity to remote rural areas, such as mountainous areas where access to the electricity grid is difficult (Quirke, 2012; UNEP, 2014). A key constraint hindering the development of the energy sector is limited finance. In addition to the economic costs of constructing dams, there is the social and environmental cost to consider. The construction of new dams means the forced relocation of communities and changes to the natural water flow which can place stress on downstream communities and countries as well as ecosystems and biodiversity (UNEP, 2014). It is crucial that new constructions take into account environmental and social sustainability and that the costs and benefits are shared equally (Niang et al., 2014). Hydropower is a vulnerable sector to climate change due to its reliance on precipitation and water flow. Reductions in rainfall, increased evaporation and droughts have already had significant impacts on hydropower generation in East Africa. During the previous La Niña years of 1991-1992 and 2009, droughts results in a drop in annual hydropower generation to less than 2,500 million kWh, down from an average of over 3,000 million kWh (UNEP, 2014). Similar reductions in hydropower generation occurred in 2011 due to drought (Wahome, 2011). Prolonged droughts in 2004-2005 in Rwanda, coupled with the drainage of the Rugezi marshland, reduced electricity generation from the Ntaruka and the Mukunwa hydropower plants from 23 MW down to 5 MW (MoNR, 2012). Similarly, when Lake Victoria’s water level dropped by over a metre in 2006 as a result of dry conditions, the Ugandan hydropower station at Owen Falls Dam was not able to operate at full capacity (NEMA, 2010a). Floods and landslides can also cause significant damage to hydropower plants. The construction of the Tekeze Dam in Ethiopia, for
Contribution to Climate Change
Emissions from volcanoes CO 2 fluxes from pesisstently degassing volcanoes Tonnes per year
190 130
2 420
20
ERITREA
SUDAN
Erta Ale
DJIBOUTI
SOUTH SUDAN
GHG Emissions
2012
ETHIOPIA
Tonnes of CO₂ equivalent Including
SOMALIA
Land-Use Change and Forestry
Nyiragongo
150 000
UGANDA
KENYA
BURUNDI
Excluding Land-Use Change and Forestry
Oldoinyo Lengai
RWANDA
Traditional use of biomass for cooking in Africa Percentage of population relying on traditional use of biomass 2012
100 000
DRC
50 000
(Djibouti) 14%
95% 80 60
TANZANIA
ZAMBIA
0
MOZAMBIQUE
MALAWI
Sources: IEA,2014, “WorldEnergyOutlook” ;WorldResources Institute,2014, “CAIT -CountryGreenhouseGasEmissionsData”;M.R.Burton,G.M.SawyerandD.Granieri,2013, “DeepCarbon Emissions fromVolcanoes”,Reviews inMineralogy&Geochemistry,Vol.75,pp.323-354,MineralogicalSocietyofAmerica.
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