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DAM-L PR: WCD Releases Report, Dam Critics Call for Moratorium (fwd)
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subject: PR: WCD Releases Report, Dam Critics Call for Moratorium
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International Committee on Dams, Rivers and People
PRESS RELEASE
Embargoed 10am GMT, 16 November 2000
Contact:
Patrick McCully, International Rivers Network +44 (0)774 892 1420 (mobile)
Peter Bosshard, Berne Declaration +41 79 478 9194 (mobile)
Nicholas Hildyard, The CornerHouse +44 (0)777 375 0534 (mobile)
Critics Demand Dam-Building Moratorium, Reparations for Past Damage
Major New Report Confirms Social, Economic, Environmental Harm From Dams
Dam critics are marking today's release of the report of the World
Commission on Dams by challenging the funders of the dam industry,
including the World Bank and export credit agencies, to halt all support
for dams until the commission's recommendations are fully implemented. The
groups are also demanding reparations for social and environmental damage
caused by dams. Indian writer and activist Arundhati Roy lends her support
to the call from non-governmental organizations.
"The World Commission on Dams report vindicates much of what dam critics
have long argued. If the builders and funders of dams follow the
recommendations of the WCD, the era of destructive dams should come to an
end", says Mr Patrick McCully, campaigns director of the California-based
International Rivers Network.[1]
"Had the planning process proposed by the WCD been followed in the past,
many dams would not have been built", concludes IRN's Patrick McCully.
Among the ongoing and planned projects which are clearly in breach of the
WCD guidelines are China's Three Gorges dam, the dams on India's Narmada
river, the Ilisu dam in Turkey, San Roque in the Philippines, Bujagali in
Uganda, Ralco in Chile, the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, and dams in
the Brazilian Amazon and the Uruguay River Basin in the far south of Brazil.
"Speaking as someone whose farm is to be flooded by a dam, the key
recommendations of the WCD are that no dam should be built without the
agreement of the directly affected people, and that reparations are needed
for those who have suffered because of past dams", says Mr Sadi Baron,
Coordinator of Brazil's Movement of Dam Affected People (MAB).[2]
"For planners and engineers of big dams their past mistakes have served
only to add to the majestic arc of their 'learning curve'", says Ms
Arundhati Roy, the Booker Prize-winning author from India and supporter of
the Save the Narmada Movement (Narmada Bachao Andolan - NBA). "It is time
for them to get off their learning curve, which has devastated the lives of
millions of people, and actually learn", adds Roy, who lends her support to
the calls of the anti-dam movement at a press conference in London today.[3]
"The World Bank and export credit agencies play a key role in dam building
and must act on the WCD's recommendations", says Mr Peter Bosshard of the
Swiss NGO Berne Declaration. "NGOs are calling on them to place a
moratorium on funding dams until they have adopted the WCD guidelines, and
to review all ongoing projects in the light of the new recommendations."[4]
more over . . .
"It is time for the iron triangle of governments, dam industry and funders
to cease building dams until they have incorporated the WCD's
recommendations into their policies and practices", says Ms Liane Greeff of
South African NGO Environmental Monitoring Group.[5]
An NGO declaration published today calls on public funding agencies to halt
all support for large dams until they have fully adopted the WCD
recommendations and established mechanisms to provide reparations to those
who are suffering the impacts of past dams. Under the title, 'From
Commission to Action', the declaration also calls for a suspension of all
large dams that are currently being planned or under construction until
they have been subjected to participatory reviews as advocated by the WCD.
The declaration has been endorsed by more than 100 NGOs.
McCully, Baron, Bosshard and Greeff are members of the International
Committee on Dams, Rivers and People (ICDRP), which is comprised of human
rights and environment groups and peoples' movements from 13 countries.
ICDRP member groups pressured the World Bank to establish an independent
review of dams and have closely followed the WCD process.[6]
The World Commission on Dams is an independent body sponsored by the World
Bank to review the performance of large dams and make recommendations for
future planning of water and energy projects. It is comprised of 12
Commissioners from a wide spectrum of backgrounds ranging from Göran
Lindahl, CEO of engineering giant, ABB, to Medha Patkar, leading activist
with India's Save the Narmada Movement.
The WCD's final report provides ample evidence that large dams have failed
to produce as much electricity, provide as much water, or control as much
flood damage as their backers claim. In addition, these massive projects
regularly suffer huge cost-overruns and time delays. Furthermore, the
report shows that:
…* large dams have forced 40-80 million people from their homes and lands,
with impacts including extreme economic hardship, community disintegration,
and an increase in mental and physical health problems. Indigenous, tribal,
and peasant communities have been particularly hard hit. People living
downstream of dams have also suffered from increased disease and the loss
of natural resources upon which their livelihoods depended;
…* large dams cause great environmental damage, including the extinction of
many fish and other aquatic species, huge losses of forest, wetland and
farmland; and
…* the benefits of large dams have largely gone to the already well-off
while poorer sectors of society have borne the costs.
Based on these findings, the commission recommends that:
…* no dam should be built without the agreement of the affected people;
…* comprehensive and participatory assessments of the needs to be met, and
alternatives for meeting these needs should be developed before proceeding
with any new project;
…* priority should be given to maximizing the efficiency of existing water
and energy systems before building any new projects;
…* periodic participatory reviews should be done for existing dams to
assess such issues as dam safety, and possible decommissioning;
* mechanisms should be developed to provide social reparations for those
who are suffering the impacts of dams, and to restore damaged ecosystems.
###
All those quoted above will be available at a press conference at Queens
and Holyrood Rooms, International Hotel, 163 Marsh Wall, Canary Wharf,
9-10am, Thursday, November 16, 2000.
Case studies analysing how individual dam projects fare against the WCD's
recommendations, briefing papers on the WCD and the World Bank and Export
Credit Agencies, and excerpts from the WCD report are available at
www.irn.org/wcd.
Notes:
1. International Rivers Network (IRN) is a Berkeley, California-based human
rights and environment group which works to support the rights of
dam-affected communities and promote sustainable and equitable means of
water and energy management. IRN is a member of the WCD Forum. www.irn.org
2. The Brazilian Movement of People Affected by Dams (Movimento dos
Atingidos por Barragens - MAB) represents tens of thousands of Brazilian
small farmers who have been displaced or are threatened by dams in Brazil.
The movement is currently fighting to get reparations for 30,000 families
displaced by dams and still waiting for proper compensation. MAB is a
member of the WCD Forum.
3. The Save the Narmada Movement (Narmada Bachao Andolan - NBA), the
world's largest and best-known anti-dam group, is comprised of tens of
thousands of villagers from the valley of the Narmada River and their
supporters from around India. They have led a 15-year-long non-violent
struggle against dams on the Narmada. The NBA is a member of the WCD
Forum.www.narmada.org
4. The Berne Declaration is a Swiss NGO with 16,000 members. It has helped
to coordinate international NGO campaigns on large dams such as Ilisu
(Turkey) and Bakun (Malaysia) since 1968, and is a member of the WCD Forum.
www.evb.ch Peter Bosshard can be reached in London on mobile no. +41 79 478
9194.
5. The Environmental Monitoring Group is based in Cape Town, South Africa,
and has been acting as a liaison between the WCD secretariat and global and
regional networks of NGOs and communities affected by large dams.
6. Other ICDRP members present in London at the ICDRP's press conference
and the launch of the WCD are:
Mr Pedro Arrojo, Coalition of People Affected by Large Dams and Aqueducts
(COAGRET), Spain www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/1839/1qec.htm
Ms. Joan Carling, Cordillera Peoples' Alliance (CPA), Philippines (WCD
Forum member)
Mr Göran Ek, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC)
www.snf.se/english.cfm. Can be reached in London on mobile no. +46 70 759
48 68.
Ms Tonje Folkestad, Association for International Water and Forest Studies
(FIVAS), Norway www.solidaritetshuset.org/fivas/Nyforsideeng.htm
Mr Nicholas Hildyard, The Cornerhouse, UK www.icaap.org/Cornerhouse. Mobile
no. +44 (0)777 375 0534
Mr. Chainarong Sretthachau, Southeast Asia Rivers Network (SEARIN),
Thailand www.searin.org
Mr Antonio Tricarico, Campaign to Reform the World Bank, Italy
www.unimondo.org/cbm/
Ms Birgit Zimmerle, World Economy, Ecology & Development (WEED), Germany
www.weedbonn.org.
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