What's in a Title?
Plenty, when you have to practice what you preach

One deadline day before going to press, WCD's publisher, Earthscan, had everything it needed in the edited document.

Except for one minor thing.

A title.

Late that night, under pressure, the WCD's leadership agreed upon their favourite, then woke and instructed the Secretariat to forward it to the printer immediately.

But that was the old approach, exactly the kind that the WCD Report said needed to evolve. So despite a down-to-the-wire schedule, and the opportunity costs involved, Commissioners and Secretariat spent the next 48 hours soliciting and analysing dozens of alternative titles from everyone affected by the Report's outcome.

These ranged from the musical genre, Beyond Troubled Waters, to the recreational, Negotiating the Rapids to a variation on fly-fishing literature: A River Runs Into It.

Some were pithy. Others were clever. Most do not bear repeating.

But all options were put through WCD's rigorous rights-and-risks approach, weighing the right of free speech by all individuals against the risk of embarrassment, poor sales, and causing offence by and to the Commission.

The WCD process was transparent. Proposals were accountable. Compliance came through incentives (credit) or sanctions (ridicule). It took a bit longer, but the ultimate decision rested on free, prior and informed consent of all.

No, Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making is not exactly dramatic, heroic or colourful. There is no high-blown rhetoric, no muse or metaphors at play, no multi-purpose, or double entendres. It is not inspirational in scope; nor religious in reference.

Indeed, its strength is that it derives, endemically, from the Report alone, from no other previous work. It is practical, clear, direct and responsive to a specific need. The title adapts to the work, not the reverse.