WCD Media Echo
Some early reactions from the international press:

London, 17 Nov 2000
Editorial, Dam Building
"For such a controversial subject, it is remarkable that the World Commission on Dams, comprising representatives from industry, dam owners, environmentalists and governments, came to any conclusions at all. That it managed to agree on the costs and benefits of dam projects should serve as a model for rational debate on other highly contentious development issues. But only if interested parties do not selectively pick the conclusions they like will this report represent a lasting contribution to the debate ... There cannot be a simple, prescriptive answer to these dilemmas. If the best social, economic and environmental assessments are undertaken and if a dam's impact falls within national boundaries, democratic governments have a right to build them. "

São Paulo, 27 Nov 2000
The Great Dam Scam: Has half a century of dam building done more harm than good?
"A principal conclusão do relatório da Comissão Mundial de Barragens é de que as barragens nem sempre são a solução mais adequada para controlar inundações, gerar energia elétrica, irrigar plantações e fornecer água para consumo humano e industrial. Por isso, antes de se iniciar qualquer projeto para construção de barragens, é indicada a análise de outras opções de desenvolvimento de recursos hídricos e energéticos. Como alternativas, a Comissão sugere a administração da demanda (redução de consumo, uso mais racional dos recursos), o melhor aproveitamento das barragens já existentes (aumento da eficiência do fornecimento) e, ainda, o uso de novas tecnologias."

Tokyo, 21 Nov 2000
Dams Carry Hidden Costs
"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 approach 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."

Bangkok, 26 Nov 2000
Dam `Villain' Ponders Their Future
"Today, however, few projects have gone ahead without first being subject to severe scrutiny from environmentalists and communities, and even then few have continued beyond the planning stage. The launch of the World Bank-sponsored World Commission on Dams (WCD) two years ago was seen as the first attempt to review the performance of 1,000 dams in 79 countries. Sitting on the commission were both "heroes" and "villains" in the dam controversies."

Kuala Lumpur, 8 Dec 2000
Sheelah Gullion, Troubled Waters
"As protests continue over dam-building, a landmark review calls for a rethink on future projects..."But the purpose of the World Commission on Dams was to provide a framework for evaluating future dam proposals. Its conclusion was that if a dam is to be genuinely successful there must be openness and transparency in decision-making throughout the process. Everyone affected should have the chance to voice his or her views, at each step of the process. And perhaps most importantly, social and ecological impact should be given as much weight as economic considerations."

Cape Times
Cape Town, 23 Nov 2000
Melanie Gosling, Dammed If You Do, Dammed...
"The Tonga's case is not isolated. Between 40 and 80 million people worldwide have been displaced by the 45,000 large dams built in the last century. Last year, like Cumanzala, some of them had the chance to tell their stories to the World Commission of Dams ... The effect of dams on people is only one aspect of the most comprehensive, independent review of dams to date."

New York, 19 Nov 2000
Tom Zeller, Ideas & Trends; Ebb and Flow of Opinion: Big Dam Projects
"The commission itself was formed two years ago in an attempt to provide the most comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of dams ever undertaken, and to seek some common ground among the builders and governments and advocacy groups whose competing interests have made dam-building an ever more contentious enterprise."

Zürich, 27 Nov 2000
Neue Grundlagen für den Bau von Dämmen Empfehlungen einer internationalen Kommission
"Das alles hat den Bau von derartigen Staudämmen sehr umstritten werden lassen. Das Hauptziel des Berichts, dem zahlreiche Fallbeispiele zugrunde liegen, ist denn auch, solche nachteiligen Folgen in Zukunft wenn möglich zu minimieren oder ganz zu vermeiden. Im Vordergrund steht eine aktive und informierte Partizipation aller beteiligten und betroffenen Kreise entsprechend ihrer Rechte und der von ihnen zu tragenden Risiken am Entscheidungsprozess und eine gründliche und frühzeitige Evaluation allfälliger Alternativen. Der Bericht enthält dabei für die verschiedenen Parteien unterschiedliche Empfehlungen und will so als Basis für eine transparente und faire Entscheidungsfindung dienen."

Clarin
Buenos Aires, 19 Nov 2000
Vices et vertus des grands barrages
"El informe expresa fuertes reservas contra los grandes proyectos de represas que, según afirma, con frecuencia no logran proporcionar los beneficios prometidos y subestiman enormemente los costos humanos y ambientales. El flamante informe de la Comisión Mundial de Represas puede alentar dudas similares entre los gobiernos de los países industrializados, algunos de los cuales ayudan a las empresas de sus países a construir represas en el extranjero mediante garantías de créditos."

The Economic Times
New Delhi, 18 Nov 2000
World report on dams boosts Narmada project
"Contrary to expectations, the report by the World Commission on Dams released in London has come as a major boost to the Narmada dam project in India. The report, released here on Thursday, was expected to condemn the construction of big dams outright and call for a moratorium on building large dams. But the report stopped far short of condemning big dams and in fact acknowledged the contribution made by big dams."

London, 16 Nov 2000
A Barrage Of Criticism
"For the first time a comprehensive effort has been made to analyse the environmental, economic and social impacts of the world's 45,000 large dams. The World Commission on Dams has spent two years gathering data on 1,000 of them, soliciting the views of governments and non-governmental groups. This week South Africa's Nelson Mandela unveiled the result. The conclusion is bleak."

New York, 16 Nov 2000
Report finds dam projects cause more misery than benefit
"The report, which will be published today by the World Commission on Dams, recommends far-reaching participatory changes in the way dam proposals are evaluated. It paints a depressing picture of what has happened to various communities around the world after large, publicly financed dam projects led to enormous flooding, population resettlement and other adverse consequences."

New Delhi, 28 Nov 2000
Kalpana Sharma, A Message For the Judges
"The WCD report might not be the last word on dams. But it is important for a number of reasons. It is the first comprehensive survey of large dams. It presents a balance-sheet of the benefits and adverse impacts of these capital-intensive infrastructure projects. And it sets out criteria that could govern future decisions on large dams. Even if one were to dismiss some of the suggestions of the WCD as being unworkable within the political context that governs so many developmental decisions in many countries, including India, as a document that assesses the record of large dams it is invaluable."

Rome, 16 Nov 2000
Francesca Caferri, La Guerra Delle Dighe Popoli e dighe: i costi dello sviluppo nel rapporto della Commissione mondiale
"Novecento casi presi in considerazione in 56 Paesi, 17 pubblicazioni tematiche, 125 studi approfonditi ambientati in 56 Stati. Sono i numeri della Commissione mondiale sulle dighe (Wcd), che dopo due anni di lavoro condotto insieme a 68 organizzazioni di 34 Paesi ha presentato oggi a Londra il suo rapporto finale: il più completo studio mai effettuato sulla situazione delle dighe e sulla gestione delle risorse idriche ed elettriche."

Toronto, 17 Nov 2000
Alanna Mitchell, Report Laments Terrible Legacy of Hydro Dams
"The World Commission on Dams has set up an international protocol to weigh a proposed dam's good and bad points. As well, it urges governments to review the rules covering large dam projects and establish committees to solve problems left by dams built years ago."

Dakar, 23 Nov 2000
Ameliorer les effets des barrages sur les populations et l'environnement
"Les répercussions sociales négatives des barrages étaient - avant la création de la commis-sion mondiale sur les barrages - mal évaluées. C'est ainsi que 40 à 80 millions de personnes ont été déplacées à cause des barrages dans le monde."