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WB body damns large dams for adverse social, ecological impact

by Artemio A Dumlao , Manila Times, Philippines - 16 December 2000

WB body damns large dams for
adverse social, ecological impact

By Artemio A Dumlao

BAGUIO CITY—Up to 80 million people worldwide have been adversely affected by large dams, and efforts to counter the impact of large dams on the ecosystem had limited success, the World Bank ’s newly-organized World Commission on Dams reported.

The forcible eviction of between 40 million and 80 million people from their homes and lands within dam project sites led to extreme economic hardships, community disintegration, and increase in mental and physical health problems, the WCD said in its final report released last month in London and disclosed in the Philippines only this week.

Indigenous, tribal and peasant communities have been particularly hard hit, said Ibaloi-Igorot Joji Cariño, one of the 12 WCD commissioners.

Large dams also led to the loss of forests and wildlife inhabitants and the loss of aquatic biodiversity of upstream and downstream fisheries, Cariño told THE MANILA TIMES. The WCD report sought to “turn costly controversies into clear and productive consensus,” Cariño said.

Eight large dams—in Turkey, Norway, the United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Thailand, Pakistan, Brazil and South Africa—were covered in the WCD’s detailed comprehensive review. Another 125 large dams were surveyed for thematic reviews on social, environmental and economic issues; alternative to dams; and governance and institutional processes.

Besides its final report, the WCD prepared country reviews for India and China, as well as briefing paper on Russia and the Newly Independent States.

The WCD report spurred the International Committee on Dams, Rivers and People, composed of anti-dam groups worldwide to challenge funding agencies, including the WB, to halt all support for dams until the WCD’s recommendations are fully implemented.

WCD estimates that the World Bank has provided almost $75 billion (in 1998 dollars) for 538 large dams in 92 countries.

WB lending for dams peaked in the late 1970s and early 1980s at a level of more than $2 billion a year. Since the mid-1990s the WB’s lending for large dams has declined significantly noting the struggle by anti-dam movements across the world.

The WCD recommended that:

• No dam should be built without the agreement of the affected people.

• A comprehensive and participatory assessments of the needs to be met, and alternatives for meeting these needs should be developed before proceeding with any new project.

• Prioritization of existing energy sources and maximizing the efficiency of water systems before building new projects.

• Participatory reviews should be done periodically for existing dams to assess dam safety, and possible decommissioning.

• Mechanisms be developed to provide social reparations for those who are suffering the impacts of dams;

• Restore damaged ecosystems

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