Third WCD Forum Meeting
25-27 February 2001 - Cape Town, South Africa

German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Peter Bosshard

Within the German government, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has taken the lead in following up the report of the WCD.

The minister, Ms. Heidemarie Wiezcorek-Zeul, convened a conference of German stakeholders in January 2001 in Berlin to evaluate the report and its recommendations, to discuss implications for government policy as well as for other stakeholders, and to draw conclusions for a follow-up by German stakeholders. The 2-day conference was well attended by more than 100 representatives from government ministries, aid agencies, corporate and financial institutions, non-governmental organisations, and the media.
Dr. Judy Henderson and Achim Steiner represented the World Commission on Dams and presented the report.

The conference clarified the relevance of the dams-related issues for Germany today.
For dams within Germany relevance is limited because there are no current plans for new dams (except one dam for which planning is almost completed). However, there are plans for the decommissioning of several dams.
As an issue for public policy in Germany, dams are primarily relevant for development policy, in particular for German development assistance to countries in which dams are being planned and operated. The primary responsibility for public decisions in dam-building countries rests with the authorities in these countries; public sector institutions in developed countries such as Germany share this responsibility in a variety of ways. There is a general link based on the principle of "common, but differentiated responsibility" ("Rio Principles") for sustainable development. But there are direct links as well: the government is accountable to German public for its decisions, i.a. in its role as donor.
As is well known, other German stakeholder are involved in dam projects outside Germany as well, in particular contractors, suppliers for equipment and engineering consultants. Non-governmental organisations observe carefully governmental and corporate actions with relevance to dams.

The conclusions of the conference reached a remarkable degree consensus, given the wide spectrum of attending stakeholders:
1) Dams present challenges, but hold opportunities as well for sustainable development in many developing countries. For example: In all scenarios for a sustainable energy future, hydropower plays an important and growing role as a renewable energy.
2) The WCD report shows the way forward to a comprehensive approach to dams issues, not only for public decision-making, but for corporate decisions as well. Ethical corporate management requires consideration of rights as well as sustainability goals.
3) The standards proposed by the WCD, in particular those regarding participation, are ambitious; reservations were voiced from corporate stakeholders regarding possible negative impacts on time requirements and planning security. It was recognized that a "reality check" of those recommendations could identify conflicting requirements as well as opportunities for a participation-based decision-making approach, leading to a higher reliability for corporate investors. It was proposed to use a dam project "in the pipeline" as a model project to further explore these issues and trade-offs.
4) There was agreement that a structured international follow up to the WCD report is highly desirable and should lead to broad acceptance of standards for dam projects.

The conference agreed to form a group comprising all German stakeholders to exchange information and to consult on follow-up ; this group will be facilitated by BMZ.

With regard to the follow-up by the German government, Minister Wiezcorek-Zeul announced four conclusions:
1. The WCD recommendations will be implemented in the German development cooperation and its implementing institutions (KfW, GTZ, DEG). It will be done by reviewing existing rules and adapting them where necessary in the spirit of the WCD recommendations, not by translating 26 guidelines into German. An equivalent action is considered necessary for the decisions linked to export credit guarantees for developing countries.
2. The German government will intensify its assistance to developing countries to strengthen their decision-making on dams issues. The WCD recommendations should be considered a constructive contribution to sustainable development, not as imposed conditionality.
3. Germany will actively support the adaptation of dams-related policies in multilateral development agencies and international financial institutions.
4. Germany will support a structured follow-up to the World Commission on Dams, in particular to keep the dialogue among stakeholders alive in the post-report phase and to facilitate further work.

A close cooperation among donor agencies will help to broaden support for a structured follow-up. The development assistance agencies from United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany have already agreed to co-ordinate their approaches to the follow-up.