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World Commission on Dams
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In April 1997, world experts on dams gathered at the headquarters of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in the small Swiss town of Gland. They were there to discuss a World Bank Operations Evaluation Department review of 50 large dams, and break the impasse in an increasingly polarized debate on the positive and negative impacts of large dams.
In the late 1990s, there were an estimated 800,000 dams around the globe, some 45,000 of which were higher than five-storey buildings. In the preceding decade, virtually every proposed dam project became the subject of environmental, social or political controversy, such as the Narmada dam in India and the Three Gorges dam in the People's Republic of China (PRC).
The Gland workshop started inauspiciously with the dam champions and the dam critics trading accusations and disputing the contents of the papers that they had each prepared for the workshop. But by the first afternoon, constructive discussions were underway and at the conclusion of the second day, a decision was made to seek support and funding for the establishment of a high-level commission to look into the role of dams and their alternatives.
Thus, the World Commission on Dams (WCD) was conceived.
Thirteen months after the Gland Workshop, 12 commissioners, chosen through a global search process that accounted for regional diversity, expertise, and stakeholder perspectives, began their work. Kader Asmal, then South Africa's Water Minister, served as the Commission's chair.
The WCD spent two entire years addressing one of the most contentious issues of economic development. The dams debate contains many elements of the broader issues of growth, technology, equity—to name a few— that characterize the big debates about how best to help bring about a fairer world for all.
The challenge to the WCD was to find a shared set of criteria for deciding when and if a dam is the best option to meet development needs and, if it is, for deriving the benefits from dams while minimizing the negatives. The WCD set out to review the development effectiveness of large dams and assess the alternatives for water resources and energy development.
The WCD assessed case studies of 8 large dams around the world, plus country reviews on India and the PRC. A survey of 125 large dams was developed, along with 17 thematic reviews on social, environmental and economic issues, on alternatives to dams, and on governance and institutional processes.
The WCD studies revealed that large dams built to deliver hydropower tended to perform close to, but still below, targets for power generation. They generally met their financial targets, but demonstrated variable economic performance relative to targets.
One third of the countries in the world rely on hydropower for more than half of their electricity supply, and large dams generate 19% of electrical power overall. Yet while dams play an important role in meeting people's needs, the WCD found that 40-80 million people have been displaced by reservoirs in the last 50 years.
Ecosystem impacts were generally found to be more negative than positive for dams in general. They have, in many cases, led to significant loss of species and natural habitats. The WCD found out that all reservoirs sampled by scientists emit greenhouse gases from rotting vegetation and carbon inflows from the catchment area, but that the level of emissions is variable. Clearly, more research was needed to demonstrate the capacity for hydropower to offset climate change.
The WCD concluded that there was a need to look at proposed water and energy development projects in a much wider setting than had been typically done in the past. This should reflect full knowledge and understanding of the benefits and impacts of large dam projects and alternative options for all parties.
The WCD consultation process was one of the most remarkable aspects of the Commission's work. Regional consultations in Cairo, Sao Paulo, Colombo, and Hanoi brought together a vast array of participants from very different perspectives. They ranged from grassroots anti-dam protestors, to multinational dam construction firms to government officials and representatives of multilateral development banks.
The WCD's final report, appropriately named "Dams and Development" was launched in a blaze of publicity by Nelson Mandela in London in November 2000. It offered a new policy framework with fundamental departures from the approach much of the world was currently using.
Five core values were proposed to inform the planning of future dams. Armed with these values, an approach was recommended based on recognizing rights and assessing risks-particularly "rights at risk." The commissioners considered that this should be the basic tool guiding future dam projects, developed seven strategic priorities for this new approach, and identified five critical decision-making points when water and energy options are considered.
| Core Values | Strategic Priorities | Critical Decision-Making Points |
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Each of the five decision points represents a commitment to actions that govern the course of future conduct and the allocation of financial and other resources to dam projects.
In bringing the work of the Commission to a close, Kader Asmal said, "Decisions about power generation must be shared between the powerful and the powerless. We hope that the work of the World Commission on Dams will prove to have helped redress that balance."
While many from different sides of the debate welcomed the Dams and Development report, others perceive it as constricting if it were taken as a checklist of requirements to be complied with and conformed to. Within three months from the report's launch, battle lines appeared to have been redrawn. And the dams debate continues today.
Now, six years later, the Commission's work still stands as a model of comprehensive international decision-making and consultation. The remarkable knowledge base that the WCD assembled and made public has proved invaluable to practitioners and researches alike. The multi-stakeholder approach has been copied in addressing other controversial issues.
There have also been efforts to apply the WCD's guidelines at the project level in certain countries and the prospects of improved outcomes in these instances look promising. While very wide differences of perspective still exist, the Commission's report and recommendations stand as a key reference point in any discussion of past, current, or prospective dam investments.
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