Indigenous Paradiplomacy and Orokawe Dam

Indigenous Paradiplomacy and the Orokawe Hydroelectric Dam

• Indigenous groups lobbied against the Orokawe dam on the Kunene River, a transboundary river shared by Angola and Namibia.
• Bilateral state diplomacy exists regarding the allocation and management of the transboundary water resource.
• Indigenous groups used ideational power in transboundary water diplomacy.
• This involved lobbying, transnational network development, and using the internet to communicate.
• Dam projects often cause displacement, environmental damage, and alter river flow which may create conflicts upstream and downstream.
• Sunk costs, such as expensive technical feasibility studies, can make projects difficult to stop.
• Indigenous groups used documents, such as declarations, to influence the status quo.
• Indigenous paradiplomacy involves non-state actors managing relations among themselves and others in an international context.
• Indigenous paradiplomacy actors used power over ideas (or ideational power) to influence non-state and state actors.
• Indigenous groups used international fora (e.g. UNDRIP).
• The Kunene River basin is geographically and biophysically unique, with a steep gradient and waterfalls.
• The Orokawe dam project was controversial and has been opposed by indigenous groups since the 1990s.
• Indigenous groups used the internet to organize and disseminate information about their cause.
• The Orokawe dam project has been proposed for several decades.