Let The Consensus-Building Begin
Quotes from speeches at the official launch of the final report

Seated (L-R): Maritta Koch-Weser, HRH the Prince of Orange, Kader Asmal, Nelson Mandela, James Wolfensohn Standing: The WCD Commissioners

"Political freedom alone is still not enough if you lack clean water. Freedom alone is not enough without light to read at night, without time or access to water to irrigate your farm, without the ability to catch fish to feed your family. For this reason the struggle for sustainable development nearly equals the struggle for political freedom. They can grow together or they can unravel each other."
Nelson Mandela

"Dams offer huge benefits but sometimes at a large cost. This report will help guide our work in the future. The critical test for us will be whether our borrowing countries and project financiers accept the recommendations of the Commission and want to build on them."
World Bank President, James Wolfensohn

"Whilst recognising the benefits that dams have made to societies, significant is the assessment that dams have resulted in irreversible loss of species and ecosystems. After this report, we can no longer say, `We did not know.'"
World Conservation Union (IUCN) Director General, Maritta Koch-Weser

"The approach set out by the Commission makes it possible to imagine these developments being done in new ways that will prevent many of the problems and controversies of the past."
Second World Water Forum Patron, HRH the Prince of Orange

"The WCD has done the international community a great service through the compilation of closely argued analysis and concrete recommendations. It has done more: it has provided us all with a road map for moving forward in our shared responsibility to make all human rights a reality for all people."
UN Human Rights High Commissioner Mary Robinson