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Dams Carry Hidden Costs The Daily Yomiuri, Japan - 21 November 2000 Dams have delivered major benefits to more than 140 countries but have exacted a high price in human hardship and environmental damage, experts say.A new report by the World Commission on Dams, an independent body sponsored by the World Bank and the World Conservation Union, calls for a new approah to planning and building dams that takes into account the needs and desires of people. "This report provides answers and solutions," former South African President Nelson Mandela, invited to unveil the document, said at the launch in London. At 400 pages and two years in the making, the report is the first independent, systematic assessment of large dams around the world. While extolling their power, water and farming benefits, the report concludes that in many cases fewer people might have been diplaced, more livlihoods salvaged and the loss of fish and birds might have been avoided if large dams had been better planned. "The report is vigorous without being rigorous," Kader Asmal, the chairman of the commission told a news conference. "It shows how nations can make the best development decisions every time." Achim Steiner, the secretary general of the World Commission on Dams, said the most fundamental negative finding was the systematic failure to account fully for the social impact dams have had on communities they displaced and on these downstream from them. "We estimate there are about 40-80 million people that have been diplaced by dams. You are talking about a very significant number of people." Steiner said in an interview. The 12-member commission, which includes representatives from industry, dam owners, government and environmentalists, also found that many dams are run inefficiently, involve cost overruns and have led to accidents and the loss of flood plains, forests, fisheries, and wildlife. The commission recommends that large dam projects should only be approved if they meet a framework and guidelines, set out in the report, that recognize the rights of and assess the risks to all interested parties. The World Bank welcomed the report, and said it firmly believes in the process of reaching out and encouraging dialogue. "Dams offer huge benefits but sometimes at a large cost. The Bank is currently funding less than 1 percent of dam projects worldwide within strict environmental and social guidelines," World Bank President James Wolfensohn said in a statement. Critics of dams immediately seized on the report as a vindication. They challenged the funders of the $42 billion per year dam industry, including the World Bank and export credit agencies, to stop supporting all dam projects unless they meet the report's criteria. "Had the planning process proposed by the WCD been followed in the past, many dams would not have been built." Patrick McCully of the California-based International Rivers Netowrk said in a statement. The report could influence the future of China's Three Gorges dam, the dams on India's narmada river, the Ilisu dam in Turkey and San Roque in the Philippines, among others. - Reuters
Copyright © 1999, 2000 The World Commission on Dams | ||||||||||||||||||||||
