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DAM-L NGOS LAMBASTE WORLD BANK FOR IGNORING DAM GUIDELINES/LS (fwd)
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Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 08:26:48 -0800
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: Lori Pottinger <lori@irn.org>
Subject: NGOS LAMBASTE WORLD BANK FOR IGNORING DAM GUIDELINES/LS
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Inter Press Service, March 23, 2001, Friday
HEADLINE: NGOS LAMBASTE WORLD BANK FOR IGNORING DAM GUIDELINES
BYLINE: By Gumisai Mutume , DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Mar. 23
Nearly 100 non-governmental organizations have criticised the World Bank
for refusing to adopt guidelines recommended by the groundbreaking World
Commission on Dams report last year which were aimed at limiting the
construction of destructive large dams.
The World Commission on Dams (WCD), an independent body which the Bank had
a hand in establishing, announced in November that priority be put on
optimizing existing water and energy facilities rather than on new large
dam projects and that all decisions to build new dams be based on
agreements with affected communities.
At the report's release, Bank President James Wolfensohn described it as
impressive, saying it showed that common ground could be found "among
people of good faith coming from very diverse starting points."
But, now the World Bank is singing a different tune, saying it will only
use the guidelines proffered by the WCD as reference points rather than
adopt them as rules governing its operation.
"We believe that the position which the World Bank and its representatives
have taken on the WCD is ill-advised, disappointing and in parts
inappropriate," notes a letter sent out to Wolfensohn this week by a
network of 87 organizations and movements from 30 countries.
"If the Bank simply builds its position on the views of dam- building
governments it should refrain from being an honest broker, but should make
it clear that it represents one interest group in a conflictive debate,"
says the letter initiated by Swiss-based NGO, the Berne Declaration, and
the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.
The NGOs charge that following the release of the report a Bank task-force
studied it, management consulted with a number of governments supporting
big dams and came up with the new stance, even though the Bank together
with the World Conservation Union were behind the establishment of the WCD.
The WCD consisted of 12 prominent figures representing diverse views on big
dam construction, including those of activists. It was headed by South
African government minister Kader Asmal. Its objectives were to review the
development effectiveness of large dams and develop international standards
for planning, designing construction and decommissioning of dams.
After two years of study, WCD concluded that large dams have largely failed
to provide as much electricity, as much water or control as much floods as
their backers claim. Instead they have produced massive forced
resettlements, environmental degradation and most often benefited those at
the top at the expense of poor rural communities.
The WCD therefore recommended that no dam be built without the agreement of
affected people, that comprehensive and participatory needs assessments be
developed before new dams were built and periodic reviews be done on
existing dams to assess their safety and where necessary decommission some.
Furthermore, ways of paying reparations for those who suffered from big dam
constructions had to be found.
The WCD estimates that between 40 and 80 million people have been displaced
by large dams (defined as being higher than 15 meters), and in India and
China alone, as many as 58 million people could have been displaced between
1950 and 1990.
Responding to questions on whether the Bank would adopt the WCD guidelines
its senior water specialist John Briscoe said "no we are not going to
comply with them, the majority of our borrowers say they are not
implementable and the chairman of the commission himself, Asmal, says the
guidelines are not meant to be binding."
"We will use it as a reference but not as a set of conditions to be
complied with," says Briscoe noting that the Bank is an institution
governed by its shareholders and borrowers -- some 182 governments. "Every
borrower we have consulted says forget it, these guidelines are not
realistic."
Some of the Bank's biggest clients such as India and China have
categorically stated they will not respect the findings of the WCD. China
is among the Bank's 10 largest borrowers that accounted for 62 percent of
the Bank's total lending in 1999.
The Bank itself holds the reputation of being the largest single source of
financing for large dam construction around the world, even though its
involvement has waned in the face of intense public pressure.
According to the WCD, the Bank has provided an estimated $ 75 billion (in
1998 dollars) for about 540 large dams in 92 countries including many of
the world's largest and most controversial projects.
In the late 1970s the Bank averted its eyes from the massacre of 400 Maya
villagers by Guatemala's military government. Residents of the village of
Rio Negro were refusing to leave their ancestral homes to make way for the
construction of the Bank-funded Chixoy Dam.
The Bank's silence over the massacre was only broken in 1996 when human
rights groups exposed the atrocities. An internal Bank investigation
subsequently absolved the Bank of responsibility, but affected communities
are still seeking reparations from Washington.
Patrick McCully, campaigns director of the California-based International
Rivers Network says how the Bank treats the WCD report will influence
whether or not other international organizations engaged in big dam
projects integrate the recommendations into their own polices.
"While the Bank says it is building fewer dams now, it is still an
important actor and its policies are viewed as the international standard
by other development agencies," says McCully.
In their letter, the NGOs called on the Bank to adopt the recommendations,
establish independent reviews of its planned and ongoing dam projects and
provide reparations to communities harmed by its dam projects.
"If the Bank does not implement the consensus recommendations which were
reached by the WCD, but uses dialogue only to deflect opposition, NGOs will
likely distrust any future multi-stakeholder process promoted by the Bank,"
says Christine Eberlein of the Berne Declaration.
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--
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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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