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People and nature in danger if dam recommendations not implemented says WWF

World Wildlife Fund - 20 February 2001

Gland, Switzerland - As the World Commission on Dams (WCD) Consultative Forum prepares to meet in South Africa later this week, WWF, the conservation organization has warned that unless the Forum adopts a series of tangible steps for members to take, the third of the world's rivers that remain relatively intact will be destroyed and up to ten million people could be displaced in the next decade.

Up to 1,700 dams are in the pipeline around the world, mostly in India, China and Turkey. Proceeding with these projects will mean up to ten million people being displaced, thousands of small farmers losing their jobs, a widening economic gap favouring the rich, increasing social conflict over water, and more species going extinct than we already know.

The WCD Consultative Forum is expected to identify, shape, and set a timeframe on the actions that must be taken by the governments, businesses and civil society groups involved in the dams issue. It is also expected to build a consensus among the different interest groups to ensure that no more concrete and steel structures rob people of their livelihoods and rich natural resources. For example, in Senegal alone, dams on the Senegal River resulted in loss of eleven thousand tonnes of fish per year.

"While the WCD report documented benefits accrued from dams, it also confirmed that dams have done irreversible damage in many parts of the world," said Dr. Biksham Gujja, Head of WWF's Freshwater Unit. "While we applaud the WCD report for providing recommendations and a framework, we now expect to see the many groups making up the Forum commit to specific actions within a specified timeframe."

In a position statement released today, WWF listed a series of recommendations to the Forum and actions for all stakeholders to ensure that there is no further displacement of populations and loss of habitat and natural resources due to dams. WWF believes that financiers and development aid agencies such as the World Bank must commit to a code of practice so that where one funder rejects a proposal that fails to meet sound criteria, another does not step in to fund the project. By the same token, WWF wants OECD countries to refrain from building more large dams (over 15 metres high) at least for the next two decades and also wants a moratorium on megadams (over 100 metres high).

The WCD Forum should give private sector financiers and aid agencies a larger role in finding alternative energy and water options. According to WWF, where decommissioning is not possible, the focus should be on mitigating the adverse environmental impacts of dams through river restoration and recreating floodplains.

"The effectiveness of the WCD report and process will ultimately depend on the implementation of its recommendations-- Aid agencies and governments must set aside the resources and establish financial mechanisms without which, this will not be possible," Dr. Gujja added.

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