Environmental Science & Engineering - www.esemag.com - September 2003
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Time to Dam Right!
More than 1000 international
government and industry
specialists involved in dam
construction gathered in
June, in Montreal, for the congress of
the International Commission on
Large Dams (ICOLD), where the
World Wildlife Fund is calling on
ICOLD members to implement the
guidelines of the World Commission
on Dams (WCD) to ensure that the
environmental damage caused by
dams is reduced.
Dams are amongst the most
destructive developments affecting
freshwater ecosystems, threatening
wildlife and people. Large dams also
have displaced between 40 to 80 million
people globally. There are already
45,000 large dams (more than 15
metres in height) and ICOLD has
called for a doubling of this number.
Such a dam building bonanza would
have disastrous socio-economic and
environmental consequences.
In Canada, large dams have impacted
significant portions of many watersheds.
WWF-Canada’s recently
released study, The Nature Audit
(which measured Canada's efforts to
conserve biodiversity), found that
dams are having significant consequences
for biodiversity in some parts
of Canada. Two of the largest dams are
in Québec (La Grande Rivière and the
Manicouagan River).
In November 2000, the independent
World Commission on Dams (WCD)
released a report suggesting that many
dams have caused unacceptable and
often unnecessary social and environmental
costs. The WCD made recommendations
for a new approach to
decision-making on dams, stressing in
particular the need to gain public
acceptance and carrying out comprehensive
needs and options assessments.
ICOLD, which represents the
majority of governments and companies
involved in dam planning and
construction, has so far refused to
endorse the findings of the WCD,
instead denouncing the WCD report as
unbalanced, even though one of the
WCD Commissioners, Dr. Jan Weltrop,
is ICOLD's honorary president.
“Dams have caused widespread
environmental damage. By demonstrating
how to build better dams in the
right locations, the WCD has shown a
way forward,” said Dr. Ute Collier,
WWF’s Dams Initiative Leader. “It is
high time that ICOLD takes action to
change its practices in line with the
WCD's recommendations”.
One of the key themes discussed at
the ICOLD congress is the financing
of hydropower dams. WWF warned
ICOLD members that many financial
institutions, in particular commercial
banks, are becoming increasingly cautious
about financing potentially controversial
dam projects. WWF believes
that if dam projects followed the WCD
guidelines, this would not only reduce
environmental and social costs, but
also lower the financial and reputational
risks for potential lenders. WWF is
advising financial institutions to
screen dam projects according to
WCD guidelines which should ensure
that projects have won public acceptance
and are viable.
Contact: Dr. Ute Collier, e-mail:
ucollier@wwf.org.uk, or Sheree
Bond, WWF-Canada, e-mail: slbond@wwfcanada.org.
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