|
|
|
 A Message from the Chair
By Kader Asmal, WCD Chair- 55-Member WCD Forum to gather in Prague
Building the consultative process
- WCD Work Programme in
action
Surveys of 150 Dams and reviews under 5 themes
- Make your submission
How to contribute to the WCD process
News Items
The WCD forges links with NGOs & Governments
- Case Studies Underway
Focal dams case studies in Brazil, Pakistan, USA and
Zambia/Zimbabwe
Message from the Chair
Can you trust an independent Commission, when so much is at stake?
The stakes are indeed high, in view of the WCD’s potential impact on billions of
dollars of investment capital, on the work of hundreds of NGOs, on the long-term energy
and water resource management options of sovereign nations, on communities affected by
dams and their campaigns, and on the corporate strategies of major utilities and private
sector corporations.
Our final report, due in less than 17 months, will
significantly influence public policy and perceptions on the future of dams as a
development option. Some regard this prospect as a threat, others as a long-awaited
opportunity.
When opponents and proponents of dams agreed jointly
in April 1997 to establish the WCD, they did so because both realised that an independent
review of the issues was required – hard-headed analysis as input into the escalating
conflicts over dams. The WCD process was painstakingly designed around two concepts:
independence from any vested interest and balance in terms of the perspectives represented
on the WCD. We, the 12 WCD Commissioners, were not invited to serve as neutral arbiters
but rather as respected individuals whose integrity as a collective body would yield an
honest review of the facts and of lessons learned from the past. The Commissioners’
agreement on criteria for future decision-making should carry legitimacy well beyond the
power of formal decrees or institutional affiliations.
Independence and transparency are essential elements
in the search for truth and common ground. This independence may not sit well with all
those in the debate, however. There may be a lack of trust in a process that one does not
control, and a suspicion then that someone else must be controlling it! There have been
concerted efforts from certain quarters, from both sides of the debate, to contain the
WCD. Perhaps these attempts reflect a realisation that the Commission has but one agenda
– finding a better way through which competing interests and values can inform
decision-making on dams and their alternatives. This is a mandate we intend to fulfill.
Professor Kader Asmal
Chair, WCD
Newsletter Contents 
55-MEMBER WCD FORUM TO
GATHER IN PRAGUE
Building the consultative process
The WCD was initiated through a consultative process that began at
a workshop in Gland, Switzerland in 1997 and it is the continuation of that process that
defines the Commission as a unique exercise in global public policy-making. The WCD Forum
is an essential part of maintaining consultation around the world, across the divisions in
the dams debate. The Forum brings together a broad spectrum of pro- and anti-dam interest
groups, many of whom played key roles in the WCD’s creation. These include utilities
and indigenous people, economists and social activists, environmentalists and engineers,
as well as lending institutions and aid agencies that often are approached to fund dams.
The Forum offers a consultation
model that works at a somewhat different level than other forms of consultation. It is
seen as a ''sounding board" for the work of the Commission. It is a mechanism for
maintaining a dialogue between the WCD and the respective constituencies of the Forum
members. The Forum members could assist in building ownership of the WCD’s work among
their constituencies. Acceptance of the Commission’s final report will only be
assured if it is based on consultation with those constituencies.
The first meeting of the Forum will
be held March 25-26 in Prague, Czech Republic. The first day will be a closed session of
working group meetings and a plenary. Day Two will be open to observers, including the
media, and starts with a panel discussion on a key international waterway, the Danube.
(The largest river in Central Europe, the Danube and its basin include 17 countries and
its waters are used by 80 million people. Between 1950-1980, 69 dams were built along the
Danube.) That discussion will be followed by a keynote address by Prof. Richard Falk of
Princeton University, U.S.A., who will speak on human security and the right to
development.
List of forum members
Newsletter Contents
The Work Programme
SURVEYS OF 150 DAMS AND REVIEWS UNDER FIVE THEMES
The WCD Work Programme consists of four integrated parts that will form the
knowledge base that will be the foundation for the Commission’s final report. While
the case studies (see below) are very detailed examinations of the ‘dam
experience’ in individual locales, both the 150 Dams Cross-Check Survey and
the Thematic Reviews are more ‘across-the-board’ studies giving a broad
view on the global dam experience. Finally and most importantly are the submissions
the WCD will receive from interested parties via the post, e-mail and through
presentations at the many consultations that the Commission and its consultants will
undertake.
150 Dams Cross-Check Survey: In addition to the
8-10 in-depth case studies, the WCD also will conduct a wider survey of an additional 150
dams, primarily using data available from a variety of sources. This analysis is a
cost-effective way of expanding the scope of the Commission’s knowledge base beyond
the very specific examples of the case studies. It will yield conclusions on frequencies
(e.g. the percentage of dams that achieved their project objectives) and trends over time
(e.g. the percentage of projects that included environmental impact assessments.) It will
offer insights into the nature and evolution of dam building and operation worldwide, over
time.
The ‘Thematic’ Reviews are designed to
document experience and lessons learned on topics central to the debate on large dams and
their alternatives. These thematic reviews will articulate the empirical results obtained
from the case studies, the 150+ large dams cross-check survey and the submissions, and
serve to fill in crucial gaps in the knowledge base. The reviews will also be
forward-looking and analyze state-of-the-art of perspectives, practices and approaches to
these key topics.
Seventeen papers will be written under the five
themes, which are:
- Options Assessment: This theme will
address the assessment of, and trade-offs between dams and other options that may deliver
services usually provided by dams (e.g. electricity generation, irrigation, flood
management and water supply, etc.). The list of options to be reviewed includes, inter
alia, solar, wind and biomass generation, water and energy conservation, biotechnology
to develop less thirsty crops, and restoration of wetlands to discourage flooding.
- Environmental Issues: This theme area
will focus on environmental factors that have not been fully assessed in the past
experience with large dams, and/or involve high levels of scientific uncertainty. Issues
to be examined include dam-related changes to ecosystems and the ecological functions of
rivers, environmental restoration, and dams in the context of global warming and global
change.
- Economic and Financial Issues:
In this review, WCD will examine the adequacy of current practice in economic and
financial analysis to determine the overall economic development rationale for a dam and
how, in future, policymakers can take into account emerging issues such as: the treatment
of non-monetised natural and cultural values and externalities and the need for improved
risk analysis. Secondly, it will examine trends and options in financing large dams.
- Social and distributional
issues: This theme asks the central question, "Who pays the price and who
reaps the benefits of large dams?" Issues to be examined include: social equity;
rights to natural resources; impacts on project affected people, vulnerable groups, women
and indigenous people; cultural aspects; dynamics of displacement; and, experiences on
resettlement, restoration of livelihoods, reparations and development.
- Institutional processes: This
thematic area will draw together experience on decision-making processes and related
institutional arrangements needed to implement practices identified under the previous
four themes areas. One important aspect is to provide the rationale and example processes
for fully incorporating economic, social and environmental criteria for decision-making
around dams and their options, in transparent and participatory
Newsletter Contents
WCD CASE STUDIES UNDERWAY
While the thematic studies and the 150 Dams
Cross-Check Survey paint a global picture of dams issues, each WCD case study serves as a
very detailed snapshot of a particular ‘dam experience’ in an important river
basin. The WCD has announced four of its anticipated eight case studies, which will
include local consultations. (A pilot study to establish case study methodology is nearing
completion in South Africa.)The focal dams/river basins were chosen to ensure a suitable
mix on the basis of geographic location; the dam's age, function, reservoir size and
magnitude of its impacts; the lessons each dam offers in terms of development
effectiveness; and the level of availability/accessibility of information.
|
THE
TARBELA DAM AND INDUS RIVER BASIN, PAKISTAN
The Indus River irrigation scheme is the largest in the world
and irrigates about 60 per cent of Pakistan’s 20 million hectares of cultivable land
in an otherwise arid- to semi-arid region.. More than 150 million people live in the basin
defined by the 3180-kilometer-long Indus and its five main tributaries. The dam has
installed generating capacity of 3478 megawatts, a major contribution to the
country’s energy supply.
The Tarbela dam fits the bill as one of the
world’s 45,000 ‘large-scale’ dams: it is 143 meters high, has a reservoir
area of 243 square kilometers and hydroelectric generating capacity of 3478 megawatts. As
with many dams, reservoir siltation is emerging as a significant problem. The dam was
completed in 1976 and required the acquisition of 34,000 hectares of land and 20,000
houses. At least 80,000 people required resettlement, a major social impact of the dam. |
|
KARIBA DAM
AND ZAMBEZI RIVER, ZAMBIA & ZIMBABWE The 2650-kilometer Zambezi River cuts a swathe across five
African countries, from Angola on Africa’s west coast to Mozambique on the Indian
Ocean, and along the way it forms the border between land-locked Zambia and Zimbabwe. The
Zambezi is best known for its 107 meter-drop at Victoria Falls.
At 5,500 square kilometers, Kariba’s
reservoir is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. The dam was built toward the
end of the British colonial era to fuel development of the region’s famous
Copperbelt. Further construction boosted Kariba’s installed generating capacity to a
total of 1300 megawatts.
However, dam construction necessitated
displacement of 57,000 local people. The reservoir also displaced wild animals, some of
which were moved to new reserves under the highly-publicised "Operation Noah".
In addition to social and environmental issues, the study will explore economic questions,
particularly the benefits and perils of building a dam around development of a single
commodity (copper) and the use of dams as tourist attractions and for fisheries. |
| GRAND
COULEE DAM AND THE COLUMBIA/SNAKE RIVER BASIN, U.S.A. When completed in 1942, Grand Coulee was the largest
hydro-electric dam in the world and remains the largest in North America. It was
considered proof of America’s unrivalled power to harness nature and was dubbed
‘The Eighth Wonder of the World’. With installed hydro-electric production
capacity of 6,800 megawatts, the Grand Coulee powered economic growth in the U.S.
north-west.
Half a century later, however, many people
are concerned with the dam’s environmental impacts, particularly on salmon species
whose migration is blocked by dams; loss of wilderness; high levels of agricultural
pollution in the basin; and the effects of basin developments on the lives of indigenous
people. Farmers and those shipping goods by water from the interior to the West Coast
continue to laud the benefits of the dredged-out Columbia River system, while others
criticise the cost to taxpayers of subsidising that system. |
| TUCURUI
DAM AND AMAZON/TOCANTINS RIVER BASIN, BRAZIL The Amazon is the largest river basin in the world
and most of Latin America’s assumed hydro potential lies there. For much of this
century, Brazil’s leaders and its urban poor looked to the Amazon for economic
salvation, through exploitation of its hydropower for industrial growth, its timber for
export, and its land for cattle-raising. Completed in 1984, the Tucuruí was the first
large dam built in a tropical rainforest and its 2,875 square-km. reservoir is the largest
man-made lake ever built in such a zone. It has an installed generating capacity of 4,200
megawatts, enough to fuel energy-hungry aluminum plants which added value to
domestically-mined bauxite.
In the last several decades, however, the cost of
such exploitation in the delicate Amazonian environment has become a matter of vociferous
debate. The dam's impacts are said to occur at several levels: in local terms, in changing
the lives of indigenous people and vulnerable ethnic minorities, destroying the habitat of
unique fish, animals and plants, and displacing 40,000 people; in regional terms, by
affecting downstream water quality and fish populations, by creating a vast reservoir in
which disease-bearing mosquitoes breed, and in encouraging migration into the area; and in
global terms, through the loss of unique species of flora and fauna of unknowable value to
the world. |
Newsletter Contents
Members of the diplomatic corps stationed in South Africa meet with the WCD |
WCD MEETS DIPLOMATIC CORPS
On March 1, approximately 50 members
of the diplomatic corps stationed in South Africa listened to a presentation on the WCD
delivered by the Chair, Professor Kader Asmal, and Secretary-General Achim Steiner. Most
of the audience represented countries of the south.
Noted Professor
Asmal: "It is significant that there is considerable representation on the WCD from
countries of the South and that its headquarters are based in the South. I would urge
southern governments to play a full role in the work of the Commission. The manner in
which the Commission performs its duties may well be an example for current efforts to
reform the manner in which the United Nations conducts its business." |
| PROFESSOR TOEPFER
COMMITS UNEP TO A CLOSE PARTNERSHIP WITH WCD As Executive Director of the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Professor Toepfer has made strategic
partnerships with other organisations a priority in his effort to promote UNEP's role as a
global voice on the environment.
At a meeting with the WCD
Chair, Professor Asmal, it was agreed that UNEP would share with the Commission its
information and database on freshwater issues. Climate change, the Kyoto protocol on CO2
emissions, and the Clean Development Mechanism, all of which will have a major impact on
future energy strategies, also provide a focus for cooperation. |
WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY CONGRESS AND WCD TO CO-OPERATE
The link between archaeology and dams is not
necessarily obvious, but the inundation of areas rich in archaeological treasures is a
major concern in the creation of dam reservoirs. One need think only of the preservation
of major artefacts undertaken when the Aswan Dam was built in Egypt.
In January 1999, the World Archaeology
Congress (WAC) -- the world's largest gathering of archaeologists and other professionals
interested in the history and cultures of the world – met in Cape Town, South Africa,
home also to the World Commission on Dams. The WAC called on its members to collaborate
with the Dams Commission. At a special gathering, representatives of WAC and WCD agreed to
work together in preparing a review paper on the issue of dams, archaeological sites and
cultural heritage.
GERMANY'S DEPUTY MINISTER FOR DEVELOPMENT
CO-OPERATION VISITS WCD
During a recent visit to Cape Town, Uschi Eid,
Germany's Deputy Minister for Economic Co-operation and Development, spent an afternoon
with the WCD Chair and staff to receive a full briefing on the Commission. She was
accompanied by a delegation of senior administration and agency officials as well as
journalists. Ms. Eid welcomed the WCD as an innovative and timely initiative addressing
major issues of concern in the sustainable management of water resources and ecosystems,
and reiterated her Ministry’s support for the WCD.
WCD ESTABLISHES REGULAR BRIEFING MEETING WITH NGO
NETWORK
Since December 1998, WCD staff meet on
a monthly basis with Lianne Greeff of South Africa's Environmental Monitoring Groups
(EMG). An environmental NGO based in Cape Town, EMG has been designated as a focal point
by a global network of NGOs interested in dam-related issues and the work of the WCD. The
meetings provide the WCD with an opportunity to share and disseminate information to NGOs
as well as receiving from NGOs their timely feedback and input into our work programme.
The network also will assist NGOs in other parts of the world to prepare submissions to
the WCD. |
Newsletter Contents
PLAY A PART IN THE WCD:
MAKE YOUR SUBMISSION
Submissions/representations are one means of reaching out to the
global community involved in dams, to learn from their experiences. The WCD seeks written
submissions through the WCD web site, in addition to receiving them by regular mail and
via email. The WCD will receive submissions through its stakeholder consultation process.
- Submission content
Your
communication may pertain to specific dams or river basins. The submission may also deal
with the subjects such as energy, water supply and flood control alternatives;
displacement, resettlement and rehabilitation; sustainability, development effectiveness
of dams; decommissioning; the policy and institutional framework for decision-making in
the project and planning cycle etc. For an expanded description of issues in the proposed thematic
reviews and case studies please look at the work programme section available on
the WCD web site or contact the WCD.
Some guidelines to follow
Please read the list of proposed case studies and thematic reviews in the WCD work
programme and identify potential linkages with your submission to ensure it reaches the
relevant focal point within the WCD.
Even if your submission concerns a theme, dam or region not directly addressed in the work
programme, please do send it.
The Commission appeals for brevity and focus in external submissions. The recommended
length is between 5-10 single-spaced pages. However, attachments/annexes can be included.
Photographs and videos to illustrate an issue may be sent but are not essential.
The official working language of the Commission is English, and submissions should be in
this language wherever possible. Submissions sent in any other language must be
accompanied by a two-page abstract in English. Should the financial situation allow the
Commission to work simultaneously in other languages in future, notification will be
posted here.
- How to make a submission
Please visit submissions page for further guidelines and instructions on sending your submission to the WCD by post, fax or email.
Newsletter Contents
Copyright © 1998-2001 The World Commission on Dams
|
|
Home
