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DAM-L Bosshard Presentation at WCD Forum Meeting/LS (fwd)



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Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 09:27:35 -0800
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From: Lori Pottinger <lori@irn.org>
Subject: Bosshard Presentation at WCD Forum Meeting/LS
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Sorry for cross postings!

Third WCD Forum Meeting, Spier/Cape Town, 25-27 February, 2001

Statement of Peter Bosshard, Berne Declaration

Four years ago, I had the chance to attend the Gland seminar which
resulted in the creation of the World Commission on Dams. I must
admit that like NGO colleagues, I had some doubts about whether we
should accept the invitation to attend the seminar. It was not that
we were opposed to a dialogue with the dam industry. Rather, we were
sceptical if the World Bank and the dam industry would feel committed
to the outcome if a new consensus on large dams was reached, and we
did not want to become part of a mere alibi process.

As it turned out, Gland was the start of an extremely interesting
process  the start of the first joint effort which involved the World
Bank, other funders, governments, the dam industry, academics, NGOs,
and movements of dam-affected people. Contrary to what an earlier
speaker has said, NGOs always wanted ICOLD to be part of the process
and the industry association certainly was.

Dam conflicts continue to exist, and throughout the WCD process, a
lot of mutual mistrust persisted. "I still think that, if the
Commission were to come out with an objective report (?), these
fundamentalists will reject it as well!", our friend Theo Van
Robbroeck said at ICOLD's annual meeting in 1999. Mind you, ICOLD's
honorary chairman was not referring to the industry associations, but
to the NGOs.

Indeed, NGOs and movements had many problems with the WCD process,
and to some extent with the final report: The preparation of the
report was strongly influenced by industry consultants. NGOs and
popular movements often found it difficult to make their voices
heard, and in some cases  such as the Tarbela case study the
consultants reviewed the performance of their own projects and
companies. And like industry, the NGOs would have preferred that the
WCD could have reviewed current practices with ongoing projects. Yet
the Commission was prevented from looking at the controversial dam
projects on the Yangtze, Narmada and Euphrates rivers  prevented by
the very governments which are now the shrillest critics of the WCD's
report.

In spite of many problems, the NGOs remained involved in the WCD
process. Like many other groups, the Berne Declaration welcomes the
WCD report as the most independent and comprehensive evaluation of
large dams to date. I should add that I have great personal respect
for all the Commissioners who came from very different backgrounds
and still managed to prepare a consensus report. Like Jean-Etienne
Klimpt from Hydro-Qu?bec, I believe that the Core Values and the
Guidelines of the WCD report could be extended from water and energy
planning and dams to other sectors as well.

Still, the fundamentalist faction to which Theo Van  Robbroeck
referred in 1999 exists. It is not the NGOs, but some representatives
of industry associations and governments who have rejected the WCD
report outright. Patrick McCully has summarized their reactions.

More importantly, we have also seen many constructive and encouraging
responses  from national dam industry associations (such as those
from Britain and the Netherlands), international organizations (such
as the African Development Bank, UNEP and the WHO), export credit
agencies (such as those in the US, France or Norway), and bilateral
donors (such as DFID or BMZ). Here we have an emerging coalition for
the implementation of the WCD report. Like the International Rivers
Network (IRN) or the Cordillera Peoples' Alliance (CPA), the Berne
Declaration is interested in being part of a structured follow-up
process. I believe that the proposal which GTZ has commissioned
provides a good starting point for the discussion of such a process
a process, I should add, which may of course not go back behind or
put in doubt the consensus reached in the WCD report.

Like Himanshu Thakkar, I must express my surprise about the position
which the World Bank has so far chosen to take. Officially, we have
heard that the Bank is still consulting its member governments and
has not taken a final position on the WCD report. Unofficially, we
hear from many sources that Bank representatives are busy lobbying
behind the scenes against the new report. I find these activities
totally inappropriate and unacceptable, and certainly incompatible
with the role of an "honest broker" which John Briscoe has quoted
from the "Financial Times". Like other NGOs, I believe that through
its behaviour, the Bank has disqualified itself from co-ordinating a
follow-up process to the WCD as suggested by the Industry Group.

If the World Bank does not reconsider its position vis-a-vis the WCD
report, it will run into problems which go beyond large dams and the
water and energy sectors. Throughout the Commission's life, the Bank
has applauded the WCD process as an example for a multi-stakeholder
dialogue which sets the model for the future. It has been one of the
main stakeholders in the process, and has had plenty of opportunities
to make inputs into the debate. If it does now not feel committed to
implementing the recommendations of the Commission, many NGOs will
not be interested in engaging in other dialogues with the Bank in the
future. In this sense, the WCD report, and the responses to it, are a
test-case for the future of the multi-stakeholder approach.

Whatever the World Bank decides to do, we already have an impressive
coalition for the implementation of the WCD report. I call on all
actors to adopt the Commission's Guidelines, and to engage in a
structured follow-up process. Such a process can provide a forum for
debate and for planning specific steps for the implementation of the
WCD Guidelines. At the same time, a follow-up process may obviously
not put the consensus of the most thorough and comprehensive
evaluation of large dams in question. We call on all actors to take
the main lesson of the WCD report to heart  the experience, as Joan
Carling of the CPA has put it, that "there are no shortcuts to sound
and equitable development processes and projects".

-- 
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
       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
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