Response to the Final Report:

Institute of Civil Engineers (UK)

Press Release, November 20 2000

Dam specialists at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) today expressed concerns that the response to the report by the World Commission on Dams (WCD) has ignored key issues and the full scale of the problem that the world faces has not been correctly assessed.

Rodney Bridle, Chairman of the British Dam Society at the ICE said: “Nelson Mandela summarised the issues of the report, but there was little reporting of the scale of the problems we face. By 2050 an extra 3 billion people will need reliable water, food and electricity supplies. Dams will in many instances, after careful examination, be the only feasible alternative to alleviate poverty, hunger and deprivation on such a large scale.

“If the report is used to stop new dam construction, millions will be deprived of hope and subjected unnecessarily to prolonged misery. We must use the advice given in the report to ensure that the processes, implementation and effectiveness of dams are improved and that the infrastructure built in conjunction with every dam is planned effectively to ensure that it satisfies the needs of all populations. The displaced will then also substantially benefit from the project and environmental damage will be limited.”

The ICE will be considering how to integrate advice from the report, creating effective and enlightened implementation processes for dam projects throughout the world. The ICE Water Board and the British Dam Society are organising an event in February 2001 at which distinguished speakers from all points of the dam spectrum, including WCD, will explore the report´s role in furthering UK international development policies, ethical international commerce in water resources development and further water resources development in UK.