ANNEX 10

BRIEFING PAPER

The Fate of the Knowledge Base

The work of the World Commission on Dams can be divided, broadly, in two parts: the assessment of the development effectiveness of dams, and the formulation of recommendations for the handling of future water and energy development projects. The latter, to a considerable extent, depended on the former.

In order to lay the foundation for the assessment, the Commission collected an extensive amount of information. The bulk of this information was in the form of:

• Case studies of 8 individual dams
  
  

• The cross-check survey of over 150 additional dams
  
  

• Two country review papers
  
  

• Thematic papers on issues relating to water and energy development
  
  

• Contributed papers on wide range of topics
  
  

• Reports of regional consultations
  
  

• Inputs from interested parties, both invited and spontaneous
  
  

• Reports of Commission and Forum meetings
  
  

• A wide range of technical background material collected by the Secretariat.
  
  

  Many will recall, from the April 2000 Forum meeting, the wide expanse of wall papered with the cover sheets of the papers produced for the Commission at that time.

  With the Commission already disbanded, and with the Secretariat closing down at the end of March 2001, the question naturally arises as to what should be done with the Knowledge Base produced by the WCD process. This paper aims to set out the issues, so as to facilitate a discussion of this matter at the Forum meeting in late February 2001.

  The Formal Knowledge Base

  The formal knowledge base – the WCD report and overview, the case studies and country reviews, the cross-check survey, the thematic papers, and the formal reports of Commission and Forum meetings, and or regional consultations – can be made available in CD-ROM form and, for a time, on the WCD website. This represents the bulk of the Knowledge Base and a good part of the resource future scholars and practitioners may wish to consult concerning the WCD and its work. The intention is to produce the CD-ROM in sufficient quantity, and to make it available free of charge and as a public resource, free of copyright or other intellectual property protections (see attached layout).

  A number of issues nevertheless arise around the formal Knowledge Base. These include:

• What elements of the Knowledge Base should the CD-ROM contain (ie. what should be included and what excluded)?
  
  

• Should one or several entities be designated as focal points for the distribution of the material, for example at the regional and country level?
  
  

• Should an entity be given responsibility, for a certain time at least, to keep alive the WCD website, among other things making the contents of the formal Knowledge Base available through the World Wide Web?
  
  

• If so, should the website be entirely passive (ie. simply holding the material) or more dynamic, hosting discussions of the WCD report or other content?
  
  

  The Informal Knowledge Base

  Whatever the decision taken on what constitutes the formal WCD Knowledge Base, there are two further categories of in the Knowledge Base about which decisions have to be taken. The first is relatively straightforward. It concerns the non-confidential physical material accumulated by the Secretariat. While most of the material of general interest will be available in CD-ROM form, there could be scholarly interest in the broader notes, the submissions, the records of public consultations and the many technical reports and articles that the Secretariat accumulated over the two years of their existence.

  The present thinking is to turn this material over to a suitable university in South Africa. There should be some discussion as to:

• Whether this indeed is the optimal solution, or whether the material should be held by a Forum member, another organisation, or offered publicly on a competitive basis either through an auction, or through the application of pre-established criteria