17 November 2000
Report unlocks dams dilemma in Nov. 20 USA launch

George W. Bush of Texas had already declared his opposition to any breaching of the (four lower Snake River) dams. Gore side-stepped the issue, vowing " to bring all of the stakeholders together."

--New York Times

WASHINGTON, DC -- What happens next? Do dams help or hurt the US? Will they be torn down, or built up to meet new demands? Do salmon go extinct despite the Endangered Species Act? Can native tribes receive compensation for losses caused by dams? What happens to America's dams if some national leader were, in fact, "to bring all of the stakeholders together?"

Whoever wins, we'll soon find out. A comprehensive study established by dozens of these stakeholders has been busy preparing a definitive answer for the past two years. On Nov. 20 , the first comprehensive global and independent dams commission released its Final Report, Dams & Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making in Washington, DC.

"It doesn't matter if a nation is powerful or developing, North or South, dam building or dam decommissioning," said Kader Asmal, chairman of the World Commission on Dams. "Human water and energy needs only grow more pressing. Pressures only increase. Decisions only grow harder. The strength of our report is that it offers equal-opportunity criteria, guidelines and recommendations. One size fits all."

The impact of the Report will be felt nation-wide, not just the Northwest or the Snake River, with billions at stake in the outcome. There are 6,375 large (higher than 15 metres) dams in the US used, in diminishing order, for flood control, recreation, water supply, irrigation and hydropower. Dams were a powerful engine of industrial and agricultural growth in the US.

But all dams age. Some damage rare species, or grow unsafe. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave US dams a "D" and estimate that it will cost $1 billion a year for several decades to deal with the backlog. The Association of State Dam Safety Officals estimates the average life span of a US dam is 50. Right now, a quarter of all US dams are older than that.

Few Americans may have heard of the independent World Commission on Dams. But with pressure mounting on dams, and with that Report's comprehensive findings, guidelines, criteria and recommendations, few can ignore it, or look at dams the same way ever again.

For the Report is unprecedented not only in what it says, but in who is saying it. WCD's list of founders reads like a "Who's Who" in the North American dam world. But its partners, forum members and supporters often have approached dams from opposite sides. Until now.

The US Bureau of Reclamation. The Packard Foundation. Enron. The World Wildlife Fund. HydroQuebec. The National Wildlife Federation. Siemens. World Resources International. Harza Engineering. Worldwatch Institute. The Export/Import Bank. International Rivers Network. Manitoba Hydro. Mexico National Water Commission. USCOLD…are all part of the same global public policy network that shaped and reviewed the WCD.

What it Means for the US

With 13 percent of all dams world-wide, the USA has played a key role in all aspects of the Commission. The WCD completed the first impartial, comprehensive global assessment of large dams, including a technical, financial, economic, environmental and social "performance review" of the Grand Coulee Dam and Columbia Basin Project in the Pacific Northwest of the USA.

Three WCD Commissioners are US-based: Deborah Moore is an expert conservation scientist with Environmental Defense in San Francisco. Jan Veltrop is a civil engineer with a lifetime experience building dams in 40 countries, and honorary president of the dam industry-sponsored ICOLD in Chicago. Prof. Ted Scudder is the world's top anthropologist on dams and resettlement issues with 40 years of expertise, at California Institute of Technology. Total strangers when they started, now friends. Last week, they endorsed the Final Report.

That Report has no regulatory authority, yet it is expected to be widely used by lawyers, engineers, fisheries experts, CEOs, irrigation farmers, civil society organisation, aid agencies and government decision-makers alike. Why? Because those groups all helped shape it.

The WCD's work will matter as long as controversy over dams in the US rages on:

• More than 30,000 MW, in 650 hydro projects are up for re-licensing in the next 15 years.
  


• The Bureau of Reclamation decides undo $1.5 billion multipurpose Auburn Dam.
  


• Water tables fall across the US, like the Ogallala aquifer, even as consumption grows.
  


• Pacific Gas & Electric spends $25 million to remove five hydrodams on Battle Creek, and seeks to sell 174 dams, 68 power plants, 380 miles of canals, pipes for $2.8 billion.
  


• Five state and federal agencies, and a dozen tribes and civil society organisations get locked into stalemates over the four Lower Snake River Dams.
  


• Ventura County, State and Federal governments jointly undertake what may be the largest removal project in history of the world, at 190 foot Matilija Dam.
  


• California's highly regulated rivers must squeeze enough water and power for 15 million new residents arriving in the Golden State over the next two decade.

Key highlights from the report included:

• An assessment that dams have made an important and significant contribution to human development, but in too many cases, the social and environmental costs have been unacceptable and often unnecessary.
  
  


• A new framework for decision-making that moves beyond simple cost-benefit tradeoffs to introduce an inclusive 'rights and risks approach' which recognises all legitimate stakeholders in negotiating development choices.
  
  


• A set of core values, strategic priorities, and practical criteria and guidelines governing water and energy resources development in the future.
  
  


• A challenge to national governments, civil society groups, bilateral aid agencies and multilateral development banks and the private sector to change the way they view energy and water resources development.

The report provides the most comprehensive, global and independent review of dams to date. The WCD's Global Review examines the technical, financial and economic performance of dams as well as their environmental and social performance. Together with its assessment of potential alternatives to dams and the study of decision making processes, it offers unique insights into one of the most of the controversial development debates of our time.

Instead of a traditional cost-benefit approach, the Report offers a new, more inclusive "rights-and-risks" framework with seven strategic priorities to ensure the most efficient, sustainable, participatory, accountable and equitable decision is made every time, by everyone.

"To resolve pressures, we set the evidence before all, with nothing to hide," said Asmal. "We can't change facts, but we can change our assumptions and our ideologies, and our approach. No matter how much you know, or think you know, about dams, you can't come away from this Report unchanged, and hopefully for the better."

Key Findings of the Review of Large Dams

The World Commission on Dams conducted detailed reviews of eight large dams in Turkey, Norway, the United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Thailand, Pakistan, Brazil and South Africa. It also prepared country reviews for India and China, as well as a briefing paper on Russia and the Newly Independent States. A survey of 125 large dams was also undertaken, along with 17 thematic reviews on social, environmental and economic issues; on alternatives to dams; and on governance and institutional processes. It received 947 submissions and hosted four regional consultations in Colombo, Sao Paulo, Cairo and Hanoi where the Commissioners listened to people's individual experiences. All these inputs formed the core of the WCD Knowledge Base that served to inform the Commission on the main issues surrounding dams and their alternatives

The Commission found that:

• Dams deliver significant development services in more than 140 countries. On a global scale hydropower dams account for 19% of electricity generated and for an estimated 12 - 16 % of global food production. 12% of large dams supply domestic and industrial water, and large dams provide flood control services in more than 70 countries;
  


• Large dams display a high degree of variability in delivering predicted water and electricity services - and related social benefits - with a considerable portion falling short of physical and economic targets, while others continue to generate benefits after 30 - 40 years.
  


• Large dams have demonstrated a marked tendency towards schedule delays and cost overruns.
  


• Large dams have led to the loss of forests and wildlife habitat and the loss of aquatic biodiversity of upstream and downstream fisheries. The Commission found that efforts to counter the ecosystem impact of large dams had met with limited success.
  


• The negative social impacts reflect a pervasive and systematic failure to assess and account for the range of potential negative impacts on displaced and resettled people as well as downstream communities. Estimates suggest that some 40-80 million people have been displaced by dams worldwide while the livelihoods of many more living downstream were affected but not recognised. Mitigation, compensation or resettlement programs were often inadequate.

Alternatives to Dams for Water & Energy Resources Development

The Commission examined the alternatives for meeting energy, water and food needs and found that while there is far greater scope for utilising these no universal formula applies as local and national conditions are central to determining viable options:

• A number of environmentally and economically viable supply options are emerging, including wind and solar energy, recycling, and local water management. However, obstacles such as market, institutional, intellectual and financial barriers limit the adoption rate of alternatives.
  
  


• Improved system management, particularly in the irrigation sector but also through reduction in water losses, more efficient system management and an upgrading of distribution technology, can alleviate demand for new supply sources.
  
  


• Demand-side management has significant potential and provides a major opportunity to reduce water stress and power requirements.

Guidelines for Decision-Making in the Future

The Report argues it is not necessary to trade off one person's gain against another's loss. Rather, by negotiating outcomes through multi-criteria analysis -- technical, environmental, economic, social and financial -- the development effectiveness of water and energy projects will be improved, unfavourable projects will be eliminated at an early stage, and the options chosen will be what key stakeholders agree best meets the needs in question. Recommendations included:

• A set of five core values for future decision-making - Equity; Sustainability; Efficiency; Participatory decision-making and Accountability.
  
  


• A rights and risks approach for identifying all legitimate stakeholders in negotiating development choices and agreements.
  
  


• Seven Strategy Priorities for water and energy resources development: Gaining Public Acceptance; Comprehensive Options Assessment; Addressing Existing Dams; Sustaining Rivers and Livelihoods; Recognizing Entitlements and Sharing Benefits; Ensuring Compliance; and Sharing Rivers for Peace, Development and Security.
  
  


• A set of clear criteria for assessing compliance and 26 guidelines for review and approval of projects at five key stages of decision-making.

In order to achieve this new framework for decision-making, the Commission provides specific recommendations and responsibilities for key stakeholders in the debate. These reflect lessons learnt and offer guidance as to how a consensus on optimal use of water and energy resources can be achieved. Examples include:

• environmental flow requirements to sustain aquatic ecosystems
  


• integrity pacts for contractors and developers
  


• procedures for assessing claims of aggrieved parties and providing compensation
  


• financial incentives and sanctions to ensure compliace
  


• criteria for international financing of dams involving transboundary rivers
  


• guidelines and binding agreements for resettlement programmes.

The Commission's mandate expires with this launch on November 16. The WCD Forum will meet in February 2001 to determine further mechanisms for implementation.

Asmal concludes: "The WCD urges governments, NGOs, businesses, professional associations, aid agencies, utilities and affected peoples to practice what we preach because we preach only what we have practised ourselves. We listened to all sides. We reviewed alternatives. We balanced ideal against possible and made our decision to sign this report with confidence. We exclude only one development option: inaction."