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Guidelines for future dams

by Kalpana Sharma, Mumbai, The Hindu - 17 November 2000

A ``rights-and-risks approach'' should determine whether large dams are built rather than the usual cost-benefit calculations. This is the central suggestion of the World Commission on Dams (WCD), which released its report in London today. In its 398-page report titled ``Dams and Development - A new Framework for Decision-making'', the WCD sets out values, criteria and guidelines that could govern future decisions on dam building. The report was released by the former South African President, Mr. Nelson Mandela.

The WCD was born in May 1998 against the background of the increasing controversy surrounding big dams worldwide. It was conceptualised at a meeting in April 1977 initiated jointly by the World Bank, one of the principal funders of large dams in developing countries, and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to which the opposing sides of the dams debate were invited. All agreed that an independent review of large dams was needed so that a set of guidelines could be formulated for future big dams.

Since then, the 12-member WCD, which is headed by South African Education Minister, Prof. Kader Asmal, with India's Mr. Lakshmi Chand Jain as the vice-chair, has conducted wide- ranging consultations with all the stake-holders in this issue. It has held four regional consultations in which 1,400 individuals from 59 countries made representations, took part in two hearings on large dams organised by NGOs in Southern Africa and Europe and received 947 submissions from over 80 countries.

Apart from this, the WCD commissioned eight independent case studies on large dams and two country studies (India and China). It also sought 17 thematic reviews under the following categories: social, environmental, economic and financial, options assessment and institutional. And finally, it conducted a comprehensive global survey of 125 dams for a ``Cross- Check Survey''. Altogether, 1,000 of the 45,000 large dams in the world have been examined in some detail. All this data is now part of the WCD Knowledge Base which will be freely available.

It is the consequence of this detailed and consultative process that has led to the final report. Despite the diversity of views represented by the commissioners, who include dam builders and those who oppose them, members of government and NGOs, academics and economists, the main conclusions of the report are consensual. The only commissioner to have made a separate representation is Ms. Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan who has felt that some fundamental issues are missing or have not been given the central place they deserve. These include the fact, as she sees it, that ``dams are a symptom of the larger failure of the unjust and destructive dominant development model''. But Ms. Patkar has signed the report and suggested that the missing elements form an agenda for future dialogue and research.

Anti-dam NGOs hail report

Other anti-dam NGOs, who also took part in the WCD consultations, have generally welcomed the report. ``The WCD report vindicates much of what dam critics have long argued. If the builders and funders of dams follow the recommendations of the WCD, the era of destructive dams should come to an end,'' says Mr. Patrick McCully of the International Rivers Network.

The WCD report, however, is not narrowly critical of large dams. It assesses the positive and negative points of large dams and then sets out criteria and guidelines for the future. It has used three important internationally-endorsed conventions to arrive at five core values. These are the little- known UN Declaration of the Right to Development (1986), the UN Human Rights Charter (1948) and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992). The framework of sustainable development provided by these three documents informs the five core values that the WCD suggests should govern decision-making: equity, efficiency, participatory decision-making, sustainability and accountability.

Seven strategic priorities are spelled out in the report which would form the basis of a new policy framework. These are: gaining public acceptance through an open and transparent decision-making process; a comprehensive options assessment which looks at alternatives to dams; addressing existing dams by optimising the benefits; sustaining rivers and livelihoods by looking at basin-wide ecosystems; recognising entitlements and sharing benefits by holding joint negotiations with adversely affected people; ensuring compliance through a Compliance Plan for each project and sharing rivers for peace, development and security.

Documenting some of the negative aspects of large dams, the WCD report acknowledges the fact that 40 to 80 million people have been displaced by large dams. And although large dams have contributed to 12-16 per cent of world food production, 60 per cent of food production is still through rain-fed agriculture. The studies conducted for the WCD also record the under- performance of large dams in providing irrigation facilities and generating hydro power . It also notes the adverse environmental impacts of large dams including on river ecosystems, and the negative impact on people dependent on these ecosystems, specially tribals and indigenous communities. The studies also reveal that the mitigation steps taken to offset the negative impacts have rarely been enough.

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