10 November 1999
World Commission Hosts Cairo Meeting On Large Dams in Africa/Middle East

For the first time in Africa and the Middle East, governments, companies, NGOs, academics, and utilities involved in the debate over large dams will meet to discuss the economic, social, and environmental impacts of dams. The World Commission on Dams will hold its Africa/Middle East Regional Consultation on Dams on 8-9 December 1999, at the Meridien Le Caire Hotel in Cairo, Egypt.

Those attending the meeting will debate the positive and negative impacts of dams in the Africa/Middle East region. The Cairo meeting is one of a series of regional consultations that will help the WCD prepare its final report, to be issued by mid-2000. The consultation will open with statements from Professor Kader Asmal, Chair of the WCD, and Mr. Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme which is supporting this WCD consultation as part of a broader partnership on a range of issues of mutual interest. Mr. Mahmoud Abu Zeid, Egypt's Minister of Public Works and Water Resources, also will address the meeting.

The WCD also is preparing 10 case studies of individual dams around the world. In the Africa/Middle East region the dams under study are the Kariba Dam on the Zambezi River in Zambia and Zimbabwe, and the Aslantas Dam on the Ceyhan River in Turkey.

An important debate

Of the estimated 800 000 dams around the world, approximately 45 000 are considered large (over 15 meters in height). Another 1 600 large dams are under construction worldwide in an industry whose annual turnover is estimated at $50 billion or more. Dams provide developmental and security benefits by providing irrigation, water supply, flood control and hydropower. However, dams and reservoirs also can mean the loss of plant, animal, and aquatic biodiversity, as well as having significant human impacts: an estimated four million people are displaced globally each year by dam projects.

From 1970 to 1979, 5 415 dams were built worldwide, doubling the number constructed in the 1950s. But the pace of dam building has fallen dramatically since the mid-1980s, due to concerns about the financial, social, and environmental impacts of dams, among other reasons.

In the African region there are at least 1 272 large dams, whose main purpose is irrigation, followed by water supply. South Africa has the most dams in Africa (539), followed by Zimbabwe (213) and Algeria (107).

In the Middle East there are at least 793 large dams whose main purpose is irrigation, followed by flood control; in this region Turkey has the most reservoirs (625), followed by Iran (66), Syria (41), and Saudi Arabia (38).

The World Commission on Dams

WCD was established in 1998 at the behest of pro- and anti-dam interests who wanted to break the stalemate that had developed between them regarding management and development of dams as a key aspect of water resource management. The two sides first met in Gland, Switzerland in 1997, in a meeting brokered by the World Bank and the IUCN-The World Conservation Union (an umbrella organisation of over 800 NGOs and government agencies involved in environmental issues).

At Gland, the two sides agreed to help set up an independent, non-partisan commission on dams that would conduct a global review of the development effectiveness of large dams; assess alternatives to dams; and establish criteria and guidelines for the assessment and implementation of future dam projects and their alternatives. It should be noted that the WCD does not have a mandate to intervene in or adjudicate current controversies over dams. The WCD's work will end with the publication of its final report in mid-2000.

The Commission & Secretariat

The Commission is chaired by Professor Kader Asmal. A renowned anti-apartheid fighter and human rights lawyer in the UK where he lived in exile, Professor Asmal returned to South Africa in 1994 to join President Nelson Mandela's cabinet as Water Affairs and Forestry Minister; his water legislation is world-renowned for bringing a human rights and grassroots development agenda into the management of water resources. In June 1999 Professor Asmal was named Minister of Education but continues to chair the WCD. The Commission's other 11 members are eminent persons from various regions of the world and from government, the NGO sector, academia, and industry. The Commission secretariat is in Cape Town, South Africa.

For further information, please contact:
Nadia Romani, Magicx Communications
3, Abu El-Feda St., Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt
3, Abu El-Feda St., 14th floor, Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt
Tel: +202 342 1711/340 2676/ 341-3662/341 3664t
Fax: +202 341 3663t
E-mail: magicx@gerarcham.com