Identifying Synergies and Trade-offs between the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Sustainable Development Goals

Sammanfattning: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is a large hydropower project currently under construction in Ethiopia. Supposedly it will benefit the people of Ethiopia through an increased access to electricity, but it is also associated with complex political relations between Ethiopia and the neighbouring countries Egypt and Sudan. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the GERD project with regard to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals and their 169 related targets, and to show what actions should be taken to improve the contribution of the GERD to sustainable development. A method developed for mapping synergies and trade-offs between targets in the SDGs was used. To identify how the GERD contributes to and/or hinders the fulfillment of the goals, published evidence was systematically searched. 83 synergies, 45 trade-offs and 16 instances when cooperation in the Nile River basin is needed were identified. By radically increasing the electricity access in Ethiopia and because of the dam itself, the GERD both potentially contributes to and hinders sustainable development in relation to environment, society and economy. Identified key actions to reinforce the synergies and minimise the trade-offs are to establish a secure and including cooperation between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan; to ensure increased transparency, public access to information and participatory processes; to investigate and carry out measures that benefit the ecology in the area; and to strengthen the positive outcomes of electrification through supplementary measures.