DEVELOPMENT: World Commission on Dams Hearing In Colombo

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Dec 9 1998 (IPS) - Experts and grassroots groups from South Asia are meeting here this week for the first of a series of regional hearings of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) to review all dams and options at the world level.

The two-day regional hearing, starting Thursday, was earlier planned in India in September but was suddenly cancelled by the government.

New Delhi cited a case pending in India’s Supreme Court on the controversial dam project on the Narmada river as reason for backing out, but the WCD responded by reiterating the integrity and commitment of the global forum.

The 12-member WCD, an independent group constituted earlier this year and based in South Africa, is committed to review the impact of projects on local communities through public hearings.

India’s massive Sardar Sarovar Dam project, a part of the giant 3 billion dollar Narmada Valley Project, is one of the cases up for review before the WCD from the region. Other projects are from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The WCD is the result of a workshop held in Gland, Switzerland in April 1997, hosted by the World Bank and IUCN-World Conservation Union, where dam proponents and opponents came together to address the contentious debate surrounding dams. The workshop recommended that an independent commission be established.

The WCD describes itself as an “independent international commission under the auspices of a wide array of representatives from governments, civil society, the private sector and international organisations.”

Headed by Prof. Kader Asmal, a law professor and currently Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry in South Africa, the commission’s members include Indian activist Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, better known by its acronym, NBA.

The commission’s mandate is of an “advisory nature”, said Achim Steiner, WCD secretary general in a statement.

“It will thus not respond to petitions or calls for intervention that may be directed towards it. Its own observations and recommendations will be synthesised after the widely consultative process which begins in Colombo,” he added.

Across the world an estimated 800,000 dams were built up to 1997 and another 1,700 are under construction to support irrigation, power generation and urban and industrial water supply, according to the WCD.

But the cost and impact of large dams have become bones of contention in national and international fora. “The recognition that many of the indirect and actual costs were never taken into account in the original planning efforts and continue to be underestimated, in many cases, has contributed to current scepticism and fuelled the growing opposition to dams,” a conference document stated.

The Indian case will be presented by Sripal Dharmadhikary of the NBA, a coalition of groups united against the multi-purpose dam project in central India. Construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam in India’s western Gujarat state has been delayed by several years of litigation in the Supreme Court by the NBA.

On the Sri Lankan side, two dams built in the central hill region are slated for review. Lalith Mediwake, a geographer, will discuss the adverse social effects of the Victoria dam – the country’s biggest – both as a scientist and affected person. Mediwake is among those uprooted by the scheme.

Environmental scientist Hemantha Withanage is taking up proposed development activity in the Kotmale dam area, which he says is ill-advised, and will cause soil erosion and displace people.

Government officials from Sri Lanka and other parts of the region are expected to respond to the allegations of ill-planned development in constructing dams in South Asia.

“Opponents of big dams in Sri Lanka will press for the need to listen to local communities before the launch of such development,” a local organiser of the hearing, said.

After the public hearing, the WCD commissioners will hold a two-day private meeting and make field visits to Sri Lankan dam sites where they will meet with dam authorities and displaced communities.

The stated objective of the regional hearing – to be conducted world wide – is for the Commission to hear directly from different interest groups including people’s organisations,

policymakers, academics and project developers.

The WCD will review both broad issues like water and energy policy implications and the more specific issues of resettlement, economic and environmental assessments as well as differing technology options.

At the end of its mandated two years, by mid-2000, the Commission will formally submit a report with recommendations to the international community as well as to the president of the World Bank and the director general of the IUCN.

The report is expected to propose internationally acceptable criteria and guidelines for planning, designing, construction, operation, monitoring and decommissioning of dams.