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dam-l Epupa concerns-LS


The following appeared in The Namibian11 Feb 98. (There's been very little
since this; sorry it;'s just now getting to you. NOte the "LS" in title;
I'll try to do this on all emails to the Listserv so you'll know it's not
urgent or in need of a reply. -Lori
>
>Govt urged to revisit Epupa concerns
>
>THE Wildlife Society of Namibia has expressed concern that not everything
>possible has been done to ensure that the environment and people dependent
>on the Kunene River were prominently considered at all stages of the
>feasibility study done on a proposed new hydropower scheme on the lower
>Kunene River.
>
>In a just-released statement, the Society also expressed its concern that
>the environmental assessment part of the Epupa feasibility study was
>incomplete from both the social and environmental perspective.
>
>It called for more time to be granted for input and research on the
>proposed scheme, because the feasibility report was not easy to read and
>serious social, ecological and financial shortcomings remained.
>
>The Society asked that recent progress on alternative energy sources should
>be reassessed and incorporated into the study, and once completed the study
>should be submitted for an independent international scientific review.
>
>According to the Society, the scheme would cause unmitigatable social and
>ecological losses.
>
>It criticised the study as lacking a detailed scientific assessment of the
>ecological water requirements of the river itself. The Society said it
>agreed that there was a risk of decreasing water flows, while Kudu gas
>could offer a viable alternative as a new power generating source, the
>statement added.
>
>The review of the study by the International Rivers Network (IRN), done at
>the invitation of Earthlife Namibia, highlighted serious shortcomings in
>the environmental feasibility study, the Society noted. Some of these were
>issues that had been raised by the Wildlife Society at a public workshop in
>February 1994 and submitted a year later for inclusion in the original
>terms of reference for the feasibility study - but, the Society said, the
>IRN review revealed that the concerns had still not been fully taken into
>account.
>
>February 11, 1998

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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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