Impacts of Ethiopia Dam on Vegetation and Water and Ecological Countermeasures

Ethiopia is one of the highest lying countries in Africa, known as the “Roof of Africa”. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is established to solve the problem of electricity shortage, storing and supplying water. This study analyzes the impacts of the Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia on vegetation and water through random forest model and index map via semi-automatic classification module of QGIS’s plugin. Results show that area of vegetation around the dam decreases and the water area increases during dam construction. Based on previous studies, the dam has variable impacts on surrounding vegetation, water quality and level. Renaissance dam has had a negative impact on the surrounding vegetation and water level for decades of construction, but a positive impact on the water quality. Considering the ecological system and sustainable development as the ultimate goal, it needs to make full use of environmental assessment and establish the ecological operation mode of dam for achieving better results.

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