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dam-l Southern African Hearings for Communities Affected by Large Dams/LS
[Apologies if you have received this already, please distribute to your
press if possible]
Press Statement 10 November 1999
Southern African Hearings for Communities Affected by Large Dams
The Southern African hearings for communities affected by large dams, will
take place on November 11th and 12th at the Breakwater Lodge at the
Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa. Participants from most Southern
African countries will discuss and analyse the negative and positive
social, environmental and economic impacts that large dams have had on
their communities. This is the first time such an event has been organised
by Southern African civil society on a regional scale and brings together
representatives of the Himba, Tonga, Basotho, Zulu, Xhosa and Tswana
communities amongst others.
Kader Asmal, Minister of Education, who chairs the World Commission on Dams
(WCD), will host a reception for delegates on the evening of the 11th of
November. In addition, Ronnie Kasrils, Minister of Water Affairs and
Forestry, Justice Albie Sachs of the Constitutional Court and Joji Carino,
from the Philippines, a WCD Commissioner, will address the participants.
The Hearings are being hosted by the Environmental Monitoring Group (EMG),
the Group for Environmental Monitoring (GEM), and, the Botswana Office of
the International Rivers Network (IRN - Botswana), under the Patronage of
The Most Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.
They form part of a global process in which communities affected by large
dams have a chance to put their positions to the World Commission on Dams
(WCD). The World Commission on Dams was established in direct response to
growing public awareness and sustained international criticism of dam
building and is being asked to make the first ever comprehensive and
independent assessment of large dams. While attempting to establish
standards for future dam planning and construction, the WCD's mandate also
includes the WCD exploring issues of reparation for dam-affected
communities, the restoration of dam-affected ecosystems and the
decommissioning of dams. It will also recommend alternative approaches to
meeting the world's water, food and energy requirements. The WCD's
international Secretariat is based in Cape Town.
The Southern African Hearings aim to:
? Record, in the words of the people directly affected by large dams, both
the positive and negative consequences of building large dams in Southern
Africa;
? Develop a Southern African civil society submission to the World
Commission on Dams (WCD);
? Highlight issues of concern in the region regarding large dams;
? Facilitate communication and solidarity linkages between those who have
been affected in the past and those who may be similarly affected in the
future by proposed dams.
As Liane Greeff of EMG says with respect to South Africa, " we are trying
to find the answers to the questions of what happened to the communities
who lost their homes and their land to make way for Inanda Dam, and are
still waiting for compensation. The landless farm workers who lost their
livelihoods because of Gariep Dam. The floodplain communities who lost
their renewal waters of the Pongola River. The community divided by the
building of The Parys Dam. The communities of Gauteng who can't afford the
high cost of water from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project; and fishermen
whose sea harvests are depleted due to the loss of the estuarine fish
nurseries. The Hearings aim to ensure that the WCD's findings and
recommendations accurately reflect community concerns".
Contact: Noel Stott Tel: +27 - 21 - 7610549 / 0829571351 OR Karen Sack Tel:
+27 - 21 - 7610549 / 0829023408
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Karen Sack
Environmental Monitoring Group
P. O. Box 18977, Wynberg 7824
South Africa
Tel: +27 + 21 761 0549
Fax: +27 + 21 762 2238
e-mail: emgdams@global.co.za
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV>[Apologies if you have received this already, please distribute to your
press if possible]</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Press Statement 10 November 1999</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Southern African Hearings for Communities Affected by Large Dams</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The Southern African hearings for communities affected by large dams, will
take place on November 11th and 12th at the Breakwater Lodge at the Waterfront
in Cape Town, South Africa. Participants from most Southern African
countries will discuss and analyse the negative and positive social,
environmental and economic impacts that large dams have had on their
communities. This is the first time such an event has been organised by
Southern
African civil society on a regional scale and brings together
representatives of
the Himba, Tonga, Basotho, Zulu, Xhosa and Tswana communities amongst
others.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Kader Asmal, Minister of Education, who chairs the World Commission on
Dams
(WCD), will host a reception for delegates on the evening of the 11th of
November. In addition, Ronnie Kasrils, Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry,
Justice Albie Sachs of the Constitutional Court and Joji Carino, from the
Philippines, a WCD Commissioner, will address the participants.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The Hearings are being hosted by the Environmental Monitoring Group (EMG),
the Group for Environmental Monitoring (GEM), and, the Botswana Office of the
International Rivers Network (IRN - Botswana), under the Patronage of The Most
Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>They form part of a global process in which communities affected by large
dams have a chance to put their positions to the World Commission on Dams
(WCD).
The World Commission on Dams was established in direct response to growing
public awareness and sustained international criticism of dam building and is
being asked to make the first ever comprehensive and independent assessment of
large dams. While attempting to establish standards for future dam planning and
construction, the WCD’s mandate also includes the WCD exploring issues of
reparation for dam-affected communities, the restoration of dam-affected
ecosystems and the decommissioning of dams. It will also recommend alternative
approaches to meeting the world's water, food and energy requirements. The
WCD’s
international Secretariat is based in Cape Town.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The Southern African Hearings aim to:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Record, in the words of the people directly affected by large
dams, both
the positive and negative consequences of building large dams in Southern
Africa;<BR> Develop a Southern African civil society submission to
the World
Commission on Dams (WCD);<BR> Highlight issues of concern in the region
regarding large dams;<BR> Facilitate communication and solidarity
linkages
between those who have been affected in the past and those who may be similarly
affected in the future by proposed dams.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As Liane Greeff of EMG says with respect to South Africa, " we are trying
to find the answers to the questions of what happened to the communities who
lost their homes and their land to make way for Inanda Dam, and are still
waiting for compensation. The landless farm workers who lost their livelihoods
because of Gariep Dam. The floodplain communities who lost their renewal waters
of the Pongola River. The community divided by the building of The Parys Dam.
The communities of Gauteng who can’t afford the high cost of water
from the
Lesotho Highlands Water Project; and fishermen whose sea harvests are depleted
due to the loss of the estuarine fish nurseries. The Hearings aim to ensure
that
the WCD’s findings and recommendations accurately reflect community
concerns”.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Contact: Noel Stott Tel: +27 - 21 – 7610549 / 0829571351 OR
Karen Sack Tel:
+27 - 21 – 7610549 / 0829023408<BR></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>---------------------------------------------------------------------
----------<BR>Karen
Sack<BR>Environmental Monitoring Group<BR>P. O. Box 18977, Wynberg
7824<BR>South Africa<BR>Tel: +27 + 21 761 0549<BR>Fax: +27 + 21 762
2238<BR>e-mail: <A
href="mailto:emgdams@global.co.za">emgdams@global.co.za</A><BR>-------------
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IV></DIV></BODY></HTML>