[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l Declaration of southern African dam affected/LS
The following declaration was the result of NGO-sponsored hearings for
dam-affected people, held in early November in Cape Town. The information
from this hearing has been submitted to the World Commission on Dams (which
chose not to hold a Southern Africa hearing itself due to budget
constraints).
Southern African Hearings for Communities
Affected by Large Dams, Cape Town, November 1999
Final Declaration
Voices of Affected Communities
The history of large dams and affected communities in Southern Africa has
been one of broken promises and incalculable losses:
- We lost our livelihoods and cannot regain them;
- Our land where we grew food was taken from us and not replaced;
- Our homes were demolished or drowned;
- Our livestock were taken from us;
- We lost control of our natural resources,
- Our wildlife have disappeared;
- Our cultural values, functions and roots have been destroyed;
- Our ancestors’ graves have been buried under deep water, and
- The lives of some of our community and family members were violently taken
from us.
Large dams have also caused:
- A decrease in our standard of living,
- A decrease in our level of health,
- Costs for resources we previously used freely,
- Increases in HIV/AIDS, crime and other urban problems, and
- Conflicts in our communities where there once were none.
In our experience, the history of large dams is one of broken promises.
Large dams have been built:
- with inadequate community participation,
- with too few jobs going to local people,
- with inadequate education and information dissemination, and,
- with inadequate compensation and resettlement resources, especially land.
We have been forced to move against our will without knowing when or where
we would be going, and without a way for our concerns or objections to be
heard.
We have not been treated with dignity, nor with respect for our customs, our
ancestors or our children. We have shouldered the burden of large dams, but
we have enjoyed very few of the benefits. In short, large dams have been
devastating to many of our communities.
To ensure that these past injustices are rectified we urge the following:
- Claims of past injustices should be addressed by Human Rights Commissions
where applicable;
- Governments should compensate us for outstanding losses and damages caused
by large dams;
- The issue of compensation and reparations for outstanding losses and
damages must be addressed by governments, the Commonwealth and the Queen of
England for Kariba Dam injustices; and
- An independent institution should be created to address all outstanding
claims and broken promises.
To ensure that in the future, communities are treated in a just, equitable
and dignified manner we make the following requests:
- Dams must be seen as a means to development, not an end in themselves.
- Affected communities must be allowed to participate as equal partners in
the process. This means the following:
- Communities become “shareholders” of dam projects, resulting in benefits
accruing directly to communities through such mechanisms as trust funds;
- Communities, including end-user communities, are involved in the
decision-making process before the decision to build has been made;
- A process is established to facilitated negotiated agreements on key
aspects of projects, including compensation, resettlement and
benefit-sharing.
In order to facilitate effective participation of communities in the
decision-making and implementation process, and to increase openness and
transparency, the following must be done.
- Empower communities, including informing them of their rights;
- Increase the involvement of local and international NGOs and the media;
- Facilitate the development of community committees;
- Strengthen other existing locally based structures;
- Provide capacity building and training programmes, including those related
to home construction;
- Make available to the public all project documents, including budgets; and
- Provide funds for community and NGO participation.
In order to ensure that projects are implemented properly and promises are
not broken, Government, project authorities and other project developers
must take responsibility and enter into binding and enforceable contracts
for compensation and resettlement programmes. These contracts must be
properly negotiated and agreed upon with affected communities.
Resettlement and compensation issues must be resolved to the satisfaction of
communities before construction begins. For ongoing commitments of
government, project authorities and other project developers, milestones of
progress must be established and sanctions imposed if not met. As long as
they continue to stand, dams must be monitored, including dam safety and
impacts on community health and sanitation.
Communities must be treated with dignity and respect in the resettlement and
compensation process:
- A rigorous and thorough social and environmental impact assessment must be
done.
- Families must be kept together.
- Ancestors’ graves must be moved with families.
- Facilities such as health and education must be in place before
resettlement begins.
- Land of suitable quality and quantity must be made available.
- Compensation must be adequate and fair, and based on the concept of “a
structure for a structure”.
- Institutions and processes for making and addressing claims must be
created, and community representatives must be part of these institutions.
On the broader level, communities request the following:
- International law must be created to enforce just compensation,
resettlement and benefit-sharing.
- An independent body must be created to address future ongoing and future
dam issues.
- A moratorium on new dams should be instituted until the World Commission
on Dams has published its findings, criteria and standards.
The Southern African Hearings for Communities Affected by Large Dams were
hosted by Environmental Monitoring Group, International Rivers Network and
Group for Environmental Monitoring. For further details contact: Liane
Greeff, Environmental Monitoring Group, Box 18977, Wynberg, South Africa;
Tel: +27 +21 761 0549; Fax: +27 +21 762 2238; Email: liane@kingsley.co.za
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::