28 January 2000
Dams at Davos
Water and Conflict, Water and Peace

DAVOS, Switzerland - Controversies about large dams "are rooted in the complex trade-offs between who pays for, and who benefits from a development initiative," the Chair of the World Commission on Dams told journalists Friday. Professor Kader Asmal is in Davos to participate in five sessions during the World Economic Forum in Davos, including one on large dams and another on water as a potential source of conflict.

Earlier in the 20th century, large dams (those over 15m in height) were considered "symbols of man's technological might in harnessing nature to service humankind's needs for electricity, irrigation and flood control," said Professor Asmal during a press briefing. "Tourists would visit large dams to find out how high, how long they are, how many bags of cement went into them.

"Now, for their critics, dams have become symbols of the technological arrogance that eschews the magnitude of the negative impacts of large dams. The World Bank estimates that four million people are displaced annually by dams, and there are myriad ecological impacts on flora and fauna. These are not things society generally knew or cared about 50 years ago."

The inability of dam proponents and opponents to agree on the benefits and costs of dams led the two sides to foster the creation of the World Commission on Dams in 1998. Its role is to research and make recommendations on tough social, environmental, economic, and institutional questions surrounding dams, and to investigate alternatives to dams. The WCD will issue its report later this year. The 12 Commissioners are from wide-ranging backgrounds, including business, environment, sociology, engineering, and government. The Chair, Professor Asmal, is currently South Africa's Education Minister; he was post-apartheid's first Water Affairs and Forestry Minister from 1994-99.

Asked about water as a potential source of conflict between and within nations, Professor Asmal commented that "this concern has been created in part by agencies that need a different crisis each year to headline their annual reports. In my experience shared water issues actually can be the basis of initiating greater cooperation between states.

"Take as an example the Indus River Treaty between India and Pakistan. Despite all the conflict between those two nations, they have always respected and observed that treaty. It has never been broken. Similarly, in the Middle East Israel and Jordan have worked out arrangements for sharing Jordan River waters. We in Southern Africa are working to pre-empt regional difficulties through negotiations on shared river basins such as the Orange.

"As to whether domestic instability may result from water crises in mega-cities of the developing world, let me put it this way: if people are rioting, it won't just be over water.When water becomes a matter of conflict it is a sign of more fundamental problems in society. In the case of dams achieving a balance between economic, social, and ecological objectives requires a new approach. In the WCD we are hoping to demonstrate that public policy objectives can be agreed if all stakeholders have access to the negotiating process. Top-down policy declarations are of little relevance in the 21st century where open and democratic societies must acknowledge the role of the private sector and civil society in decision-making."