From vivek@EE.Princeton.EDU Fri Nov 17 15:23:41 2000
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 23:34:18 -0800
From: Vivek Tiwari 
To: Natural History of South Asia - General discussion and research
    
Subject: Fwd: Report Criticizes World's Dams

    [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ]
    [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set.  ]
    [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ]

Thursday November 16 2:14 PM ET
Report Criticizes World's Dams

By IAN PHILLIPS, Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) - Tens of millions of people displaced. Livelihoods wrecked.
Fragile ecosystems destroyed. Animal species made extinct.

Large dams have brought much-needed power and water to the world, but their
toll on the environment has been unacceptable, according to a report
released Thursday by the World Commission on Dams. The report proposed
strict new guidelines for future projects.

After two years of research focused mainly on nine major dams - including
Grand Coulee in Washington state - the commission said previous evaluations
of the possible damaging side effects of dams were ``few in number, narrow
in scope ... and inadequately linked to decisions on operations.''

Among its findings: 40-80 million people displaced worldwide and rarely
compensated by governments; an irreversible loss of fish and aquatic
species; and huge losses of forests and wetlands.

In a speech to environmentalists in London to mark the report's release,
Former South African President Nelson Mandela said Thursday that he wished
the findings had been available when he sanctioned the construction of some
of his country's 539 dams.

``There is a part of me that resented having to choose the lesser of two
evils - relocate some so that all may have water, or forgo a dam, thus
slowing human development,'' he said.

The 12-member commission was set up in 1998 by the World Bank and World
Conservation Union.

The body, which includes representatives from industry, dam owners,
governments and environmentalists, called for dam projects to sustain rivers
and livelihoods and for greater efficiency and accountability.

It also said alternative methods should be studied, that more effort was
needed to gain public approval, and that in-depth environmental impact
studies should be mandatory.

It proposed reviews of all existing large dams.

James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, which in recent years has
markedly scaled back its financing of dams, said he would present the
findings to the bank's 180 member nations. A decision on whether to
implement the guidelines when financing future projects is expected in
February.

``This report gives us a basis upon which we can move toward trying to deal
with the healing of the wounds,'' Wolfensohn said.

Half the world's dams were built for irrigation purposes and account for 12
to 16 percent of the world's food production, while others act as flood
defenses and to produce hydropower and water supply.

Dams account for 19 percent of electricity generated worldwide, and 24
countries generate more than 90 percent of their power from dams.

More than 100 non-governmental organizations called Thursday for a
suspension of all dam projects until they are reviewed in accordance with
the committee's report.

``If the builders and funders of dams follow the recommendations ... the era
of destructive dams should come to an end,'' said Patrick McCully of the
California-based International Rivers Network.

There are 45,000 large dams in the world, most built in the 1970s, when an
average of two to three new large projects were commissioned each day to
help meet escalating demands for water. China and India have half the
world's dams.

Construction has tailed off in recent years, but projects such as the Sardar
Sarovar Dam across India's Narmada River are still a source of controversy.
India's Supreme Court recently gave the go-ahead for work to continue,
dismissing widespread concerns the dam will flood villages and displace
hundreds of thousands of people.

In China, 10,000 villagers were recently moved away from the massive Three
Gorges Dam - a figure expected to climb to more than 1 million.

The best documented examples of disrupted fish migrations are from the
Columbia River in Washington state, where an estimated 5-14 percent of the
adult salmon population are killed ``at each of the eight large dams they
pass while swimming up the river,'' the commission said.

In addition to Grand Coulee, the other dams studied by the committee were
Pak Mun in Thailand, Aslantas in Turkey, Glomma-Laagen Basin in Norway,
Kariba in Zambia and Zimbabwe, Tarbela in Pakistan, Tucurui in Brazil, and
Gariep and Vanderkloof in South Africa.