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

Reactions to the WCD Report
Statement from the Confederacion Hidrografica del Ebro

Firstly we would like to thank the work carried out by the Commission and the enthusiasm and dedication of its Commissioners. They have made a great effort to balance the future of water management with the needs of development .

The World Commission on Dams Report was brilliantly presented in London last year the 16th of November, and afterwards it has been presented in several countries around the world. Perhaps, taking advantage of the presence of the Commissioners, it would have been a good occasion to brief the report to all Forum members and share the views and perspectives of the Commissioners about it, and not only through reading the report itself either in printing or at the web site. Surely, it would have led to a very productive discussion.

After the Gland meeting in 1997 the World Commission on Dams was built in three parts: the Commission itself, the Forum and the Secretariat. The WCD Forum is a consultative group consisting of 68 members. The one of them I am here representing is the River Ebro Basin Organisation (Confederaci6n Hidrografica del Ebro) from Spain. The Forum objectives were to act as a "sounding board" for the work of the Commission, and so, review the outputs of the Commission through the access to intermediate and final reports. The Forum had as well to provide technical inputs, advice and guidance, as well as sources of information for the WCD programme.

We as members of the Forum have submitted several times our contributions to the discussion, stating our experiences and issues. Neither we received any response, nor couldn't discuss them, nor they were taken into account in the final Report. That's why, we believe there have really been neither dialogue nor participation of the Forum neither in the works of the Commission nor in the production of the Report. The Forum hasn't been able to fulfil its purpose. It has been turned into a bureaucratic organism. just used by the other Commission bodies.

Now a day, there are 1200 dams in Spain, with a total storage capacity of 56 cubic kilometres, This has made possible to use a 40 percent of the total amount of the natural water resources, far beyond the 8 percent only possible without dams. This implies to have available an amount of water resources essential for the country .The economic benefits of dams in Spain in terms of irrigation, domestic and industrial water supply and hydroelectricity, imply more than a 6 percent of its Gross National Product .

Social and territorial benefits coming from irrigation are as well very important . The contrast between irrigated and not irrigated areas is enormous. In irrigated areas people remain in their villages, they don't need to migrate, and their standards of living rise whereas in not irrigated areas the situation is just the contrary .

The measures implemented since the 1950s by the Ebro Basin Organisation and by Spain in general, to compensate the negative effects of dams, could have been used by the Commission as examples of good practice of what can be done to reconcile development with respect for people and the environment . From economic compensation up to the implementation of restoring plans for the whole affected areas, the measures took are widespread effective.

We think that with these examples taking into account we could have a more hopeful vision of water management and the role of dams in it .

Now a day dams and reservoirs in Spain are subjected to numerous standards, environmental impact assessment processes, rules and regulations, and besides European Union directives. All them imply the participation of all the stakeholders in the decision making process, the recognisant of rights of the affected people, and all in all a process focused on a social and environmental sustainable development .

Concerning the Report on "Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision Making" we have concluded after its analysis that the Report deals with the benefits and concerns of dams without a balanced perspective and without a scientific base. The vision and evaluation of the performance of large dams in the world is very biased and partial. not global. The analysis of the experiences it presents is unbalanced. leading mainly to a negation of the role of dams within the holistic approach of the water management. That's why we cannot give our support to the Report .

On the other hand, we think that the Forum couldn't fulfil the main objectives it was created for, and so, in spite of our deeply regret we propose the end and dissolution of the Forum offer this last meeting.

Finally, I hope that the experiences learnt during the Commission work would involve a step ahead in the vision and action on water resources and a contribution to an improvement of people's welfare.