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dam-l (Fwd) WCD to Study Kariba Dam and Zambezi River Basin in Zambi
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 11:31:29 +0100
From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
Subject: WCD to Study Kariba Dam and Zambezi River Basin in Zambia and Zimbabwe
To: irn-safrica@igc.org
Sorry for cross postings...
>20 Mar 99
> World Commission to Study Kariba Dam and Zambezi River Basin in Zambia
>and Zimbabwe
>
> The World Commission on Dams is pleased to announce the WCD's
> independent study of the Kariba Dam and related aspects of the Zambezi
>River Basin.
>
> This is one of up to 10 case studies of dams in major
> river basins around the world to be undertaken by the
> Commission in preparation of its June 2000 final
> report. The report will provide a framework for future
> decision-making on dams, which epitomize the many
> conflicts at the heart of debates over sustainable development.
>
> However, it should be noted that the Commission is
> not judicial in nature and will not adjudicate on
> disputes over dams. The WCD case studies will
> underpin that final report by illustrating 'lessons
> learned' in terms of the myriad impacts -- positive and
> negative -- of dams on people, the environment, and economies.
>
> The might of the 2650-kilometer Zambezi River is legendary. It cuts a swathe
> through Africa from Angola, which borders the Atlantic, to Mozambique on the
> Indian Ocean, and along the way it forms the border between land-locked
> Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Zambezi is best known for its 107 meter-drop at
> Victoria Falls, so named by English explorer David Livingstone in 1855. The
> local Tonga people called the falls 'mosi-a-tunya' or 'smoke that thunders'.
>
> In 1956 the white minority governments of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia),
> Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (now Malawi) decided to
> dam the Zambezi below Victoria Falls at Kariba. The principal aim was to
>produce hydropower to fuel development of the region's Copperbelt. Otherwise,
> electricity would have been generated by burning coal.
>
> "Building a dam is often the single most important decision a country
>will make in the span of four or five decades," said Professor Kader
>Asmal, Chairperson of
> the World Commission on Dams and South Africa's Minister for Water
>Affairs and Forestry. "One such dam can cost hundreds of millions of
>borrowed dollars and
> the decision to proceed is based largely on projections. Understanding where
> such planning has gone right and wrong will help the WCD formulate
>guidelines
> on how it should be carried out in future."
>
> Completed in 1959 with a reservoir surface area of 5,500 square
>kilometers, the Kariba Dam is one of the largest man-made lakes in the
>world and its
>installed generation capacity today is 1300 megawatts. After Zambia gained
> independence in 1964 and relations soured with the white government in
> Rhodesia, Zambia built two dams of its own near Kafue which, together with
> Kariba, provide 50 per cent Zimbabwe's and Zambia's electricity.
>
> While hydropower benefited the two nation's economies as well as urban
> dwellers whose homes have electricity connections, it came at the cost of
> displacing 57,000 people, mostly belonging to the Tonga ethnic group. In
> many cases resettlement was involuntary, there were some violent
> confrontations, and many parties argue that the living conditions of those
> resettled deteriorated significantly after their move. The WCD will look
>closely at the history of resettlement around Kariba, as well as recent
>initiatives
>by the Zambezi River Authority and the Zambian government to redress grievances
> surrounding dam-related eviction.
>
> The reservoir also displaced wild animals, some of which were moved to new
> reserves under the highly-publicised "Operation Noah", under which lions,
> elephants and other animals threatened with inundation were moved to
>new game reserves.
>
> Other social and environmental aspects of the dam under review include its
> impact on fisheries and food supply in the two land-locked countries;
>loss of
> flora as well as fauna; and the dam's effect on the health of riverbank
> communities, particularly claims that the dam decreased the incidence of
>certain illnesses while increasing that of others.
>
> "Another interesting aspect of Kariba is that it affords the opportunity
>to study a dam managed jointly by two governments and a river basin shared
>by eight
> countries," said Achim Steiner, WCD Secretary-General. "The role of dams in
> utilising shared river basins is an important issue, given the close
>coordination and partnership required by the nations involved."
>
> The WCD Kariba study also will examine the long-term benefits and perils in
> investing in a huge dam principally to develop a single commodity (copper).
> That production made Zambia one of the most promising countries in Africa in
> both the pre- and post-independence eras. More recently, copper production
> and markets have become unpredictable, as have the annual flows of the
> mighty Zambezi which, in the early 1990s, were inadequate to keep the hydro
> turbines turning and Zimbabwe was forced to turn to coal generation as a
> back-up. Another economic impact under study will be that of tourism, as
>Kariba is a major attraction. For example, over 10,000 people visited in
>September
> 1998 to see three of the floodgates opened for 30 minutes.
>
> Parties involved in the Zambezi River Basin who wish to make submissions on
> this case study should visit the WCD Website at www.dams.org, call the
> WCD in Cape Town at Tel 27 21 426 4000 fax 426 0036 or write the
> WCD at PO Box 16002, Vlaeberg, Cape Town 8018, South Africa.
>
> For media enquiries, please contact Kate Dunn at WCD kdunn@dams.org Cell
> phone: 27 83 326 8825.
>
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Dianne Murray, Coordinator/Webmistress
Dam-Reservoir Working Group; Ottawa, Canada
Dam-Reservoir Impacts and Information Archive
http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/dams