Lessons learned from the World Commission on Dams

The World Commission on Dams was an independent international body created under initiatives of the World Bank and the World Conservation Union in order to address environmental and social impacts of large dams. It published its final report in November 2000 after 2.5 years of extensive studies, public hearings, and discussions. The report included recommendations that were expected by some to become internationally acceptable standards for the planning, assessment, design, construction, operation, and monitoring of large dam projects. However, to date, none of these recommendations have been either officially accepted by major international financial institutions, including the World Bank, or by a large number of national governments, including China and India, which are the world’s top and third largest dam-building countries. Several factors have prevented their broad acceptance: (1) the World Bank lost its stake in the development of policy as the original scope of the review expanded from solely Bank-funded projects to cover all large dam projects in the world; (2), the World Bank was neither included in the secretariat nor did it provide Commissioners, thereby providing the Bank with an excuse not to accept the recommendations; (3) the Commission had the heavy tasks of carrying out both scientific study and developing policies, under serious time constraints, resulting in premature recommendations that were difficult to apply in the real world; (4) the character of the final recommendations was not clearly explained in the report, giving stakeholders unrealistic expectations.

Aspects Behind Differences in Two Agreements Adopted by Riparian Countries of the Lower Mekong River Basin

Basin countries of the Lower Mekong River Basin in 1996 signed a new agreement about use of the shared water resources, which superseded the previous agreement in 1975. The new agreement is less binding for riparian countries in terms of use of water in the main stream and major tributaries. The difference reflected the changes in socio-economic and political settings. Following lessons were obtained out of the case: (a) A collaborative scheme may not function as expected when it is established by strong stewardship of donor countries. (b) The pace and character of the negotiation process towards implementation of a collaborative scheme is endogenous to the broader political and economic context of the basin countries. (c) An agreement among basin countries may be sustained only on a delicate balance of economy and political power among riparian states.     

Perception Gaps among Stakeholders Regarding the WCD Guidelines

In the World Commission on Dams (WCD) two-part report "Dams and Development," Part I reports fact-findings on large dams, and Part II proposes 26 guidelines for dam development projects. The WCD, however, has not succeeded in proposing a set of practical guidelines. As a model for global governance of a controversial environmental issue it also failed. Consequently, a large gap has emerged among the report's evaluations by various stakeholders. Most of the environmentally concerned non-governmental organizations (NGO) appreciated the guidelines and demanded their adoption by governments and financial institutions. Some governments and dam construction companies, however, were negative and/or skeptical, particularly concerning the guidelines' applicability. These groups feel that the following aspects have not been adequately clarified: 1) coverage of the guidelines; 2) whether the 26 guidelines should be considered as one entity; and, 3) whether all parties should have veto power. To make the guidelines widely acceptable and realistic as a model of global governance in the environmental fields, the authors recommend a review of the report and guidelines with the aims of: 1) clarifying the character of the report and guidelines; and, 2) examining the practicability of the guidelines.     

Political Bias and Methodological Failure in Assessing Environmental Impacts of Development Projects: Comparative Analysis of the High Aswan Dam and Calaca Thermal Power Plant Development Projects

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) by various sectors for development activities still needs operational guidelines to avoid failures. The High Aswan Dam in Egypt and the Calaca Thermal Power Plant in the Philippines were examined to delineate lessons. Three sorts of methodological failures were identified in these cases, although they differ in many aspects. They are (1) preoccupation with the previous case, (2) oversimplified assumptions about cause and effect, and (3) lack of a holistic viewpoint. These cases were also influenced by political biases, which led to inappropriate assessment methodologies and, subsequently, to erroneous conclusions. Care should be taken to avoid these universal failures in carrying out an assessment.