Water in contested worldviews: insights from hydropower projects on Abbay and Omo-Gibe Rivers

This paper explores the deep-rooted ontological conflicts over water and how these conflicts are shaped by different water worldviews, by taking the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and Gibe III hydroelectric power projects as a case. Adopting a political ontology and worldview as an integrative analytical framework, the study investigates the competing water ontologies and the consequent ontological conflict, contributing to the understanding of how differing worldviews influence water resources management and development. The research employed a qualitative research approach in which data were gathered from 38 key informants, focus group discussion, as well as relevant literature and documentary sources. The central argument is that water conflict is not only caused by physical scarcity or weak governance systems but also by ontological conflicts between different competing water worlds striving to sustain their ontological security constructed at the center of the River or hydraulic infrastructure. The findings also reveal that the construction of hydropower projects has sparked contestation between traditional water ontology and modern water ontology, leading to the marginalization of the periphery and the reinvention of state coercive legitimacy. The study implies that understanding the difference in worldviews is crucial in addressing the question of why water resources and their developments have become so contentious and how contested worldviews have contributed to the simultaneous processes of inclusion and exclusion, naturalization and marginalization, the image of self, and other discourses.