 |
 |
 | |
| |
| |
| WCD in the Media
[Media Items Contents] | |
Home
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| WCD in the Media
[Media Items Contents] | |
|
Home
|
|
|
Dams Cause Flood, Ecological Havoc WCD report reveals by Star reporter, The Daily Star, Bangladesh - 19 November 2000 Many dams are failing to live up to expectations. Instead, they make flooding worse, and cause ecological havoc and social conflict, says "Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making," a World Commission on Dams (WCD) report which was launched Thursday in London.The World Bank-sponsored report, available on the Internet, assesses the world's dams -- the biggest drain on aid budgets for the past 50 years, costing four billion dollars a year in the 1980s. So far over 45,000 large dams have been built, driving some 80 million people out of their homes. Disturbingly, however, a few dams have ever been looked at to find out whether the benefits outweigh the costs, the commission says. The report has been two years in the making since the World Bank and World Conservation Union (IUCN) initiated setting up of the Commission and its dams review process in 1998. A quarter of dams built to supply water deliver less than half the intended amount, says the report. In a tenth of old reservoirs, the build-up of silt has more than halved the storage capacity. What's more, by stopping the flow of silt downstream, dams reduce fertility of the flood plains and "invariably" cause erosion of coastal deltas. It's not all bad news, though. Dams irrigate fields that provide up to a sixth of world food production, while hydroelectric dams power many homes and factories. However, it's often the well-off urbanites, not the rural poor, who reap the benefits. The report also concludes that some dams designed to prevent flooding actually exacerbate the situation. Such problems will worsen with climate changes, it says. The commission agrees with the view that most reservoirs emit greenhouse gases. And it says dam construction is one of the major reasons for freshwater fish going extinct and bird species vanishing from flood plains. The largest dam project ever -- the US$20 billion Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze in China -- is mired in controversy sparked off by allegations that much of the money allocated to resettling a quarter of a million people has gone missing. "Dams offer huge benefits but sometimes at a large cost," World Bank President James D Wolfensohn said during the report launching in London. "The Bank is currently funding less."
Copyright © 1999, 2000 The World Commission on Dams | ||||||||||||||||||||||
