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Response to the Final Report:
World Health Organisation
Risks, rights and negotiated agreements
The World Commission on Dams launches its report World Health Organisation - 30 November 1999 The global launch of the much-awaited report of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) took place in London on 16 November 2000. The 405-page document entitled Dams and Development: a new framework for decision-making, saw the light of day two-an-a-half years after the idea of an independent commission on dams was framed at a World Bank/IUCN workshop in Switzerland.
After a first introductory chapter giving the basic statistics on water, development
and large dams, the report is divided into two parts: a global review of large dams and a second part entitled The Way Forward. The latter comprises four chapters:
- Enhancing human development: rights, risks and negotiated outcomes
- Strategic priorities - a new policy framework for the development of water and energy resources
- Criteria and guidelines: applying the strategic priorities
- Beyond the Commission - an agenda for change
The Commission
"Let no-one say that the World Commission on Dams has not been all-inclusive" were the words with which the WCD chair, Professor Kader Asmal, Minister of Education of the Republic of South Africa, opened the launching ceremony. The all-inclusiveness is reflected in the composition of the Commission itself: academia and private sector, North and South, environmentalists and energy utility managers, consulting engineers and communities displaced by reservoirs - they all had a voice in the Commission and their interests were reflected by the choice of Commissioners, who were designated in their personal capacity. A 68 member Stakeholder Forum served as a sounding board and advisory group through which WCD achieved a reconciliation of positions, interests and opinions previously held to be irreconcilable. Four Regional Consultations, eight in-depth case studies of specific large dam projects, seventeen thematic reviews of social, environmental, economic, financial and institutional issues, and a comprehensive global "cross check" survey of 125 dams provided the evidence on which the Commission based its conclusions and recommendations.
The launching ceremony
The all-inclusiveness of the WCD process was again reflected in the diversity of dignitaries and audience attending the launching ceremony.
The main speaker, Nelson Mandela, the former President of the Republic of South Africa, lauded the leadership of Professor Asmal in chairing the WCD. He equalled the struggle for sustainable development to the struggle for political freedom: they can grow together or they can unravel each other. Mr Mandela emphasized the value of the report in that it stresses the need for more accountability in the process of dam planning, construction and operation, without putting the blame for past failures on anyone in particular. Mr Mandela also reminded everyone that the picture is not all bleak and that dams had brought great benefits too. Although millions have suffered, millions more have made great gains in terms of water and electricity not available before. "The problem is not the dams," he said, "It is the hunger. It is the thirst. It is the darkness of a township. It is the townships and rural huts without running water, lights or sanitation."
HRH Prince Willem-Alexander, Crown Prince of the Netherlands highlighted, in his speech, the all-inclusiveness of the WCD process as well. He also pointed out the WCD recognition of the need to consider alternatives to dams to achieve the same or better benefits, and the right of those affected by dam projects to be among the beneficiaries. The value of the WCD report, according to the Prince of Orange, lies in the generic applicability of its principles in the broader development framework and he was keen to promote the extension of these principles to the field of integrated water resources development and management.
The President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, coincided with the previous speaker in that he felt the five core principles formulated by the WCD apply to all areas of development. They refer to critical decision points when water and energy options are considered:
- Needs assessment - validating the needs for water and energy services
- Selecting alternatives - identifying the preferred development plan from among the full range of options
- Project preparation - verifying that agreements are in place before tender of the construction contract
- Project implementation - confirming compliance before commissioning
- Project operation - adapting to changing contexts.
Dr Wolfensohn expressed understanding for those who might think that the 26 points of good practice, in chapter 9 of the report, would raise the bar for dam development higher and make the planning process more difficult. In his view, however, the transparency of the proposed framework, in fact, makes decision-making easier !
The IUCN Director-General, Dr Maritta Bieberstein Koch-Weser subscribed to the new approach proposed by the WCD report: look at all options, look at all risks, look at all costs and look at all vulnerable groups in the planning of a dam. Rather than a verdict on dams, the WCD leaves all stakeholders with the obligation and challenge to consider adopting the WCD approach in the planning of new dams. Dr Koch-Weser pointed in particular to the economic and financial evidence in the WCD report: cost over-runs of dams have ranged from 50 to 250% ! And, as she pointed out, loosing money is one thing, irreversibly loosing some of the world's ecosystems is another! "After this report", she concluded" we can no longer say We did not know".
What is the way forward ?
Following are excerpts from the second part of the report:
Access to water provides a graphic illustration of competing [interests,] needs and development objectives and the reason why equity and justice considerations emerge as key issues. Riparian communities with longstanding use rights and economies that depend on local resources have an immediate interest in maintaining current use patterns and assuring fulfilment of their future needs. However, in a context of national policies, meeting development needs may require sharing water resources. To balance these needs societies will have to negotiate a framework for equitably sharing the resource. […] The Commission acknowledges that today's perspective on development reflects the benefit of knowledge that may not have been available to past decision-makers. Nonetheless, it is clear that the positive contribution of large dams to development has, in many cases, been marred by significant social and environmental impacts which are unacceptable when viewed from today's values. In this connection the WCD policy framework looks as follows:
- Normative Development Framework
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
- Universal Declaration on the Right to Development (1986)
- Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992)
- WCD Core Values and Shared Understanding
- Core values: Equity Efficiency Participatory Decision-making Sustainability Accountability
- Rights and Risks Approach
- A tool for negotiated decision-making
- Agenda for Implementation
- Strategic Priorities and Policy Principles
- WCD Criteria and Guidelines
The WCD's findings clearly illustrate that development choices made on the basis of cost and benefit trade-offs neither capture the complexity of considerations involved, nor can they adequately reflect the values societies attach to different options in the broader context of sustainable development.
Various types of rights may be relevant in the context of large dam projects: constitutional rights, customary rights, rights codified through legislation, property rights or the rights of developers and investors. In spatial and temporal dimensions, one can distinguish the rights of local, basin, regional and national entities, the rights of riparian countries or the rights of present and future generations.. Regarding the purpose of rights, one can distinguish rights to material resources such as land and water, and rights to spiritual, moral or cultural goods.
The Commission [therefore] proposes that an approach based on "recognition of rights" and "assessment of risks" […] be developed as a tool for future planning and decision-making.
The notion of risk adds an important dimension to understanding how and to what extent a project may impact on rights. The traditional practice is to restrict the definition of risk to that of the developer or corporate investor in terms of capital invested and expected returns. In contrast to such voluntary risk takers, a far larger group often have risks imposed on them involuntarily. These risks may affect their individual well-being, livelihoods, quality of life, even their spiritual world view and their very survival.
The Commission encountered considerable experience and good practice in implementing a rights-based approach […] . It requires a legal and procedural framework that provides for a free and informed negotiating process; the framework must provide for arbitration, recourse and appeal mechanisms ensuring equitable adjudication in cases where negotiated settlements are not achievable. Negotiated agreements become part of the project compliance framework.
The Commission lists seven strategic priorities for an equitable and sustainable development of water and energy resources:
- Gaining public acceptance
- Comprehensive options assessment
- Addressing existing dams
- Sustaining rivers and livelihoods
- Recognizing entitlements and sharing benefits
- Ensuring compliance
- Sharing rivers for peace, development and security
All seven strategic priorities are supported by a key message and policy principles. They form the basis of the WCD Criteria and Guidelines presented in chapter 9 of the Report. The criteria refer to critical decision making points: for each point a detailed description of the process and its indicators is presented.
Strategic Priority 1: Gaining Public Acceptance
1. Stakeholder analysis
2. Negotiated decision-making processes
3. Free, prior and informed consent
Strategic Priority 2: Comprehensive Options Assessment
4. Strategic Impact Assessment for environmental, social, health and cultural heritage issues
5. Project-level impact assessment for environmental, social, health and cultural heritage issues.
6. Multi-criteria analysis
7. Life-cycle assessment
8. Greenhouse gas emissions
9. Distributional analysis of projects
10. Valuation of social and environmental impacts
11. Improving economic risk assessment
Strategic Priority 3: Addressing Existing Dams
12. Ensuring operating rules reflect social and environmental concerns
13. Improving reservoir operations
Strategic Priority 4: Sustaining Rivers and Livelihoods
14. Baseline ecosystem surveys
15. Environmental flow assessment
16. Maintaining productive fisheries
Strategic Priority 5: Recognizing Entitlements and Sharing Benefits
17. Baseline social conditions
18. Impoverishment risk analysis
19. Implementation of the mitigation, resettlement and development action plan
20. Project benefit sharing mechanisms
Strategic Priority 6: Ensuring Compliance
21. Compliance plans
22. Independent review panels for social and environmental matters
23. Performance bonds
24. Trust funds
25. Integrity pact
Strategic Priority 7: Sharing Rivers for Peace, Development and Security
26. Procedures for shared rivers
This results in the above 26-point set of guidelines for good practice under the five strategic priorities. Each of the 26 points is then elaborated in detail to serve as guidance to project proponents, planners and decision-makers.
Health in the WCD report
Specific consideration of health issues only appeared on the WCD agenda after a Forum Meeting in Prague early 1999. In September 1999 WHO and WCD jointly organized a consultation to prepare a formal input into the work of the Commission. This input, Dams and Human Health, was submitted early 2000. It focused on three issues: equity, economics and sustainability. Recognizing the health benefits of dams for some, WHO took a strong position for the health protection of vulnerable groups. The negative impact on the health status of such communities should be minimized through safeguards and mitigating measures. The hidden costs of dam development (or any other development for that matter) should not be passed on to the health sector. And sustainability should not only refer to natural resources, but should put the human being (and his health) central in the development process. The WHO report proposes proper health impact assessment and health risk management as an adequate method and procedure to address the health aspects of dams.
Health is implicit in most parts of the WCD report , whether it is through reference to well-being and quality of life, or in discussions of ecosystem health which is a key determinant for human health in many places. Several specific references to health are also made. In the discussion of the socio-economic impacts through the planning and project cycle, the health problems are mentioned of existing settlements in the construction phase (including malaria, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections) having their origin in the large influx of outsiders. Similarly, the gender bias is given prominence in the general impoverishment of communities and the social disruption, trauma and health impacts resulting from displacement.
Chapter 4 dedicates a special section to human health. This documents the spread of vector-borne diseases (malaria, schistosomiasis), the health consequences of toxic blooms in euthrophied reservoirs, pollution and food safety, malnutrition and psycho-social disorders related to dam construction and operation.
In the operational part of the report, health is recognized early on under Strategic Priority 4 (Sustaining rivers and livelihoods) in one of its policy principles: Decisions value ecosystems, social and health issues as an integral part of project and river basin development and prioritize avoidance of impacts in accordance with a precautionary approach. And under Strategic Priority 5 (Recognizing entitlements and sharing benefits) the first policy principle, recognition of rights and assessment of risks is the basis for identification and inclusion of adversely affected stakeholders in joint negotiations on mitigation, resettlement and development-related decision-making, singles out health impact assessment as a separate item in a comprehensive impact assessment approach. The detailed coverage of HIA reflects the recognition that health needs to be given a separate profile if it is to be considered in a cross-cutting manner rather than as a sectoral bullet point on an EA checklist. It also reflects the understanding that health is a resultant of both environmental and social determinants.
Impact assessment in the WCD report
Many of the problems of past dam project identified by the Commission find their origin in the absence of proper impact assessment procedures during the planning phase or inadequate compliance with impact assessment recommendations. The guidelines for good practice aim to change this situation. They take on board current thinking of impact assessment practitioners. The report recommends a comprehensive assessment of the nature and risks implied by a project, including environmental risks, social risks, health risks, impoverishment risks and cultural heritage risks. In this approach socio-economic, demographic and health-benchmark surveys of all adversely affected populations must be completed and publicly reviewed prior to drafting mitigation, resettlement and development plans.
The Commission recommends Strategic Assessment as a crucial step, because it covers entire sectors, programmes and policies. This facilitates project-oriented impact assessment. The report describes the elements of such an assessment in detail. The impact assessment process should culminate in a series of written agreements with those entities that are required to implement mitigation; development or compensation plans, or respond to impacts. The scope of these agreements must be fully defined prior to tendering for construction.
For shared rivers, the Commission recommends basin-wide impact assessment, with the following characteristics:
- A participatory, basin-wide scoping phase
- Consideration of submissions of riparian states and affected communities
- Review by an independent panel agreed upon by all potentially affected riparian states
Conclusion
The report of the World Commission on Dams is a landmark report for all development stakeholders. It pays due attention to the environmental and social aspects of dams, including the health problems associated with their development. It provides a roadmap for a leap forward in development planning, through its rights-and-risks concept.
The report deserves a strong endorsement by the relevant UN specialized agencies, most significantly through the ACC sub-committee on Water Resources. It has laid the foundations for a new approach to development in the coming decade, taking the Rio principles beyond their original scope into a more comprehensive and more participatory framework.
If the report meets with broad support from all development stakeholders, then the scene is set for truly sustainable development in the 21st century.
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