5.1 : Klaus Toepfer

Executive Director

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

His Excellency Professor Kader Asmal, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very delighted to be here to address this important meeting. The final report of the World Commission on Dams, the “Dams and Development – A New Policy Framework for Decision Making”, deals with the very issue of new policy framework of sustainable development, which should show how to balance poverty, the need for better environmental quality and social justice. The United Nations Environment Programme, and our sister agency, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlement are two UN agencies whose headquarters are located in the developing world. By closely experiencing the poverty problems and sustainable development issues in Kenya, Africa, UNEP regards sustainable development as central to its programme. In 2000, Kenya was hit by a severe drought, causing shortage of water and electricity over a seven-month period. Kenya is a country, which relies on a large portion of its electricity production on hydroelectric power. Water and energy meet fundamental human needs, and their shortage is linked with poverty in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

Concerning water, while humanity has continued to increase in number, the total amount of freshwater available for human and ecosystem use on Earth has remained relatively constant over the same period. Water demand growth rate is approximately 100% larger than the population growth. Therefore, UNEP considers water demand management as a key water management issue. The project, “Water for African Cities”, conducted by AUNEP and the Untied Nations Centre for Human Settlement (Habitat), is a demonstration of how such demand management can be incorporated in management to address future water problems.

Similarly, today there are 1.6 billion people who do not have access to modern energy services, and there is a need to overcome this energy poverty in ways that will lead to reduction of air pollution and of CO₂ emissions. Developing countries and countries with economies in transition specifically need better options. During the Governing Council of UNEP, which concluded two weeks ago, we had a special session on renewable energy in Africa. Further, energy is the central issue in the forthcoming ninth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development this year.

The significance of the WCD work and its final report lies in that it represents a transparent process of stakeholder involvement, which can stimulate decision making in a complex and controversial issue. By going through such a process, I believe that it is always possible to reach decisions, and achieve a ‘win-win’ situation. In this sense, we can learn a lot from this report.

In this context, I congratulate Professor Kader Asmal and the World Commission on Dams for the Inaugural Zayed Prize, the largest environment prize.

UNEP, under a project funded by the United Nations Foundation (UNF) through the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships, has been most pleased to work closely with the World Commission on Dams (WCD) since June 1999. Promoting sustainable infrastructure, in particular dams, which meet the water and energy development needs and at the same time take into account other social and environmental aspects, is at the heart of UNEP’s mission.

I would like to highlight some issues that might be considered as follow-up activities to it.

1. The beneficiaries of the development are normally different from those affected in their socio-economic conditions and the ecosystems. The distribution of benefits and negative impacts is central to the issue of ‘equity’.

2. The WCD report submitted a good procedure checklist and there should be sufficient information on options in technology for the construction of dams, technology in mitigation of negative impacts, available financial instruments and tools, and planning and management tools, particularly in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

3. As also indicated in the report in ecosystem impacts of large dams, which UNEP submitted together with IUCN, there are a host of negative impacts on the ecosystem by large dams, but we also recognise that there are possible uses of dams, which can enhance the ecosystem resilience, which should lead to better use of ecosystem functions and services for human life and activities.

4. Costs and impacts of construction, operation and decommissioning of dams are considered under national policies and legislation.

5. Where applicable, dam issues should be incorporated into the work of implementation and compliance of the Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEAs) so that the environmental issues relating to dams can be effectively addressed in a co-ordinated manner. This is also where the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (GPA), whose secretariat is hosted by UNEP in The Hague in the Netherlands, can play a significant role together with the UNEP Regional Seas Programme.

The WCD report in its chapter 10 makes a set of clear recommendations. Among the tasks identified, I would highlight four, which in my opinion would require additional action

• further raising awareness about WCD report and building capacity of relevant decision makers to address the issues related to dams being built or for existing dams;
  
  

• developing “standardised guidelines and procedures” that would be universally accepted, building on the recommendations of the WCD and on the many existing guidelines which are currently dealing only with one of the aspects of same;
  
  

• developing a formal process to evaluate and monitor the effective implementation of the guidelines for all new dams, at each key decision point of planning and project development. Identifying actions to be taken for some existing dams might also be necessary;
  
  

• sharing of information and lessons learned from actions taken at national level or by various stakeholders as a follow up to the WCD report, and capacity building.

Looking at the significant step taken by the WCD, and taking into consideration UNEP’s concerns and mandates, UNEP has started devising its follow-up to the final report of the World Commission on Dams.

1. UNEP is committed to disseminate the results and recommendations of the World Commission on Dams to a wider audience, particularly among the United Nations agencies. The WCD final report was sent to the key UN agencies that are considered to have direct relevance to the work of the Commission. It was also presented at the conference organised in Frankfurt last November by our UNEP Financial Initiative, and attended by more than 150 representatives from various financial institutions.

2. The concept of ‘environmental flow’ should be incorporated into national or basin-level water and environment management policies. UNEP will further promote incorporation of environmental flow and water quality requirements into water and environment policies.

3. UNEP intends to develop a demonstration of activities to carry out an option assessment for national energy or water supply policy, also integrating demand-side management.

4. Before designing specific projects, environmental implications of water, energy and environmental policies at national and basin levels should be assessed and analysed. UNEP intends to develop methodologies on assessment of environmental implications of policy instruments to be applicable to developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

5. Impacts of large dams are also pronounced in the coastal areas. Pilot studies and projects will highlight the linkages of river basins and their associated coastal areas, and will address issues of impacts of large dams on the coastal areas. This is where the GPA and the Regional Seas Programme can play a significant role.

UNEP believes that a mechanism should be established to continue the dialogue that the WCD has started. It should involve all stakeholders. The “mechanism” or ‘forum’ should be neutral, flexible and draw on existing expertise of various organisations, and able to monitor the progress in the implementation on the follow-up activities.

The World Commission on Dams has presented an excellent report to us, proving the differences in opinions can be overcome through a transparent dialogue and stakeholder participation. Everyone would gain from a continuous dialogue and from consensus building to address dam issues.

UNEP is ready and committed actively to contribute to this follow-up process.