Dateline Dispatches: Around the World in Ten Days
DAY THREE Saturday, 18 November 2000

The Hague - Islamabad

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS: Is the Globe Warming to the WCD Report?

As interest in the WCD Report began mounting, Climate Change talks began sinking - over carbon sinks.

But WCD buttonholed key participants to alert them of relevant findings in the Report, notably that new reservoirs can emit a net increase in greenhouse gases, CO2 and methane, that therefore dams must be assessed individually to see if they are "clean" or "cleaner" than alternative development options.

That morning, 200 government agencies received the comprehensive press release on Dams, GHG's and the Clean Development Mechanism.

Several journalists and an interested group of participants began a discussion over the current political faultline here between the European Union and the US. The former wants to define in detail what technologies are eligible for Clean Development Mechanism credits, and the latter, with Canada, wants no restrictions.

In the current negotiating draft small-scale hydro is included as eligible for carbon credits, and for the European Union this means less than 10 MW. The issue of whether or not reservoirs emit GHGs does not seem to be high on the agenda, as all technologies will have to do a full Life Cycle Analysis to get a carbon credit.

WCD provides guidance on how this can be done for hydro, and encourages dam owners to assess their reservoirs for GHGs.

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN: Focus on the Indus

WCD returned to the nation where one of its comprehensive Case Studies - the past performance and impacts of Tarbela Dam on the Indus River - helped shape the Final Report.

But most questions concerned how that Report, in turn, can help shape future and ongoing projects elsewhere in the country.

WCD presented the Report to concerned officials of the federal government and to civil society groups. The Secretary to the Ministry of Water and Power informed the WCD that the Pakistani government will make its formal comments on the Report after obtaining views from each of the four provinces.

WCD was reminded of the controversy over planned projects in Pakistan, including the Kalabagh Dam, but by mandate has looked only at existing projects.