NGOs
protest against World Bank position on World Dams report
The Berne Declaration
and the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People protest against
the World Bank's refusal to accept the recommendations of the World
Commission on Dams report. In a letter to President Wolfensohn which
was endorsed by 85 other groups from 30 countries, they say that if
the Bank does not comprehensively adopt the WCD's recommendations,
NGOs will hesitate to engage in other dialogues with the Bank in the
future.
* * *
In a letter to President James Wolfensohn, 87 NGOs and movements from
30 countries on 19 March protested against the position which the
World Bank has so far taken on the World Commission on Dams (WCD)
report. The groups, which were all involved in the WCD process, say
the Bank's response to the report has been "ill-advised, disappointing
and in parts inappropriate". After the high-level report was
published on 16 November, 2000, a Bank mission set out to consult
those governments which are most actively involved in building large
dams. As a result, the World Bank informed the WCD Forum in Cape Town
on 25 February that it would not adopt the WCD's new guidelines, but
would only use them as a non-binding reference point when considering
new dam projects. At the same time, the NGOs say, Bank representatives
are silently lobbying governments and other institutions to reject
the WCD's recommendations.
"NGOs certainly
agree that borrowing country governments have an important role to
play, and are interested in having an active dialogue with them on
the implementation of the WCD report", says Himanshu Thakkar
of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, one of the authors
of the NGO letter. "Yet if the World Bank simply consults the
water and energy ministries which build the largest dams, it should
refrain from pretending to be an honest broker, but should make it
clear that it represents one interest group in a conflictive debate",
Thakkar adds.
The NGO letter
points out that the World Bank was actively involved in the WCD process
from the very beginning, that the Bank has "quite likely had
more opportunities for inputs into the process than any other institution",
and that it has repeatedly "applauded the WCD as a model for
resolving conflict through dialogue". In their letter, the NGOs
call on the Bank to comprehensively adopt the recommendations of the
WCD, to establish independent reviews of its planned and ongoing dam
projects, to establish mechanisms for providing reparations to communities
that have been hurt by earlier dam projects, and to place a moratorium
on the funding of new dams until it has implemented the WCD guidelines.
The NGOs point out that many international financial institutions,
government agencies, scientific bodies and industry associations have
already come out in support of the WCD recommendations.
"The World
Bank's response to the WCD report is a test-case for the value of
multi-stakeholder dialogues to resolve social conflict", says
Christine Eberlein of the Berne Declaration, the co-author of the
NGO letter. "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 processes promoted
by the Bank", Eberlein adds.
The World Commission
on Dams was an independent body chaired by South African minister
Kader Asmal whose twelve prominent members represented the different
perspectives involved in the large dams debate. The Commission conducted
the first ever comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of large dams,
and published its consensus report on 16 November, 2000. In its report,
the WCD recommends, inter alia, that all water and energy projects
should be based on a balanced assessment of needs and options, that
all decision to build dams should be based on the agreement of dam-affected
communities, and that optimizing the existing water and energy facilities
should have priority over the building of new projects.
For further information:
.. Peter Bosshard,
Berne Declaration, finance@evb.ch, phone +41 1 277 70 07 .. Himanshu
Thakkar, SANDRP, cwaterp@vsnl.com, phone +91 11 747 9916 or 748 4654.
.. www.irn.org or www.evb.org for NGO comments on the WCD .. www.dams.org
(official website of the WCD)
The Berne Declaration
is a Swiss advocacy group with 16,000 members. Through research, public
education and advocacy work, it has promoted more equitable North-South
relations for more than 30 years. The Berne Declaration has been involved
in the WCD process from the beginning, and is a member of the WCD
Forum.
NGO
letter to the World Bank
Mr. James D. Wolfensohn
President, The World Bank 1818 H St., N.W. Washington, DC 20433
19 March, 2001
Follow-up to
the World Commission on Dams
Dear Mr. Wolfensohn
We wish to convey
to you our concerns about the response of the World Bank to the World
Commission on Dams report. The undersigned NGOs and movements of dam-affected
people have all been actively involved in initiating, supporting and
monitoring the WCD process. While regretting its many gaps and ambiguities,
they have welcomed the WCD report as the first comprehensive and independent
evaluation of the social, environmental and economic impacts of large
dams. They are also actively involved in the follow-up process to
the release of the report.
The World Bank
has played an active role in the creation of the WCD, in the selection
of its Commissioners, and in the preparation of the WCD's knowledge
base and report. Quite likely, the Bank has had more opportunities
for formal and informal inputs into the WCD process than any other
institution. Throughout the process, World Bank representatives (including
yourself) have applauded the WCD as a primary example of multi-stakeholder
approaches and as a model for resolving conflict through dialogue.
Given this active involvement, the Bank should certainly feel ownership
for the consensus report which has emerged from the WCD process.
At the London
launch of the WCD report on 16 November, 2000, you welcomed the new
report, and announced that the critical test for the World Bank would
be whether its borrowers and project financiers would accept the Commission's
recommendations. Since this time, a Bank-wide task-force has studied
the WCD report, and Bank representatives have visited a series of
governments to solicit their reactions to the report. At the third
WCD Forum meeting in Cape Town, we were informed that the World Bank
would not adopt the report's 26 guidelines, but would use the report
as a mere, non-binding reference point for decision-making on dam-related
projects. At the same time, we learnt from various sources that Bank
representatives are misinforming or even lobbying governments and
other institutions so that they reject the WCD report. Some institutions
which expressed positive views about the WCD recommendations reported
that they were strongly criticized by Bank representatives for doing
so.
We believe that
the position which the World Bank and its representatives have taken
on the WCD report is ill-advised, disappointing and in parts inappropriate.
The international network which monitors or fights large dams and
which has monitored the WCD process has always been driven by Southern
movements and NGOs. We therefore certainly agree that borrowing country
governments, along with other constituencies, have an important role
to play in the WCD process, and are interested in having an active
dialogue with them on the implementation of the report. When the World
Bank consults borrowing country governments, it should however go
beyond simply soliciting the views of some of the most ardent dam-building
bureaucracies in the respective countries. If the Bank bases its attitude
towards the WCD report solely on the position of the water and energy
ministries involved in building dams, it encourages actors who in
many cases defend vested interests and who have often been reluctant
to engage in a dialogue with other government ministries or civil
society. Finally, if the Bank simply builds its position on the views
of dam-building governments, it should refrain from pretending to
be an "honest broker", but should make it clear that it
represents one interest group in a conflictive debate.
When the WCD report
was launched, 109 NGOs and social movements from 39 countries, including
many of the undersigned movements and organizations, issued a call
entitled, From Commission to Action, to the World Bank and to other
public financial institutions. We called on the financial institutions
.. to immediately
and comprehensively adopt the recommendations of the WCD, and to integrate
them into their relevant policies; .. to establish independent, transparent
and participatory reviews of their planned and ongoing dam projects;
.. to establish and fund mechanisms to provide reparations to affected
communities that have suffered harm as a result of existing dam projects;
.. and to observe a moratorium on the funding of new dam projects
until they have fully implemented the recommendations of the World
Commission on Dams.
In the light of
the attitude which the World Bank has so far taken towards the WCD
report, we again urge you to take these minimum next steps, which
are based on the Commission's findings and recommendations. By doing
so, the World Bank could join the coalition of international organizations,
bilateral funders, national industry associations, companies, and
scientific bodies which have embraced the report so far and which
are now working towards the implementation of its recommendations.
We believe that
a failure by the Bank to amend its position on the WCD report will
have negative impacts beyond the water and energy sectors. The response
to the report is a test-case for the value of multi-stakeholder dialogues
to resolve social conflict. The Bank has itself made the WCD process
a model of consensus-building through a multi-stakeholder approach.
The fairness of the process has never been seriously challenged, and
the Commission has indeed managed to reach a new consensus. If the
World Bank does now not feel committed to this consensus, it indicates
that the multi-stakeholder approach was not meant to effectively resolve
the problems which brought about its creation, but to deflect opposition
or to buy time. If the Bank does not effectively adopt and implement
the WCD's recommendations, NGOs may be less inclined to engage in
future multi-stakeholder dialogues with the World Bank. We encourage
you to consider this general concern as the World Bank finalizes its
position on the WCD report.
We look forward
to your response, and thank you for your interest in the concerns
expressed in this letter.
Sincerely yours,
Christine Eberlein
Berne Declaration
Himanshu Thakkar South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People
This letter is
being endorsed by the following 85 groups from 30 countries:
Melanie Gillbank,
AID/WATCH, Australia Tim Fisher, Australian Conservation Foundation,
Australia Harun-ur-Rashid, Community Development Library, Bangladesh
Hossain Shahriar, Environmental & Social Development Organisation,
Bangladesh Majibul Haque Dulu, Jamuna Char Development Project, Bangladesh
Saleem Samad, Like-Minded Environmental Activists Group, Bangladesh
Hamidul Huq, Unnayan Shohojogi Team, Bangladesh Sadi Baron, Dam-Affected
People's Movement of Brazil Pamela Foster, Halifax Initiative Coalition,
Canada Gabriel Rivas-Ducca, COECOCEIBA-Amigos de la Tierra Costa Rica
Jose Daniel Jimenez , Consultoria en Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales,
Dominican Republic Helene Ballande, Amis de la Terre, France Roberto
A. Epple , ERN European Rivers Network, France André Pelissier,
SOS Loire Vivante, France Sharon Courtoux, SURVIE, France Wolfgang
Kuhlmann, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Regenwald und Artenschutz, Germany Iris
Weiche, Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilf, Germany Andreas Noack,
biz, Germany Bernhard Henselmann, EarthLink - The People & Nature
Network, Germany Rolf Künnemann, FIAN, Germany Jurgen Maier,
German NGO Forum Environment & Development, Germany Manfred Treber,
Germanwatch, Germany Heinz Peter Vetten, MANDACARU, Germany Hans Branscheidt,
medico international, Germany Niklas Reese, Philippinenbüro,
Germany Dario Jana, Red Internacional de Apoyo al Pueblo Pehuenche,
Germany Rudolf Fenner, Robin Wood, Germany Renate Domnick & Theodor
Rathgeber, Society for Threatened Peoples, Germany Heffa Schücking,
Urgewald, Germany Alex Flor, Watch Indonesia, Germany Birgit Zimmerle,
WEED, Germany Wolfgang Sachs, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Energy,
Environment, Germany Sophia Woodman, Human Rights in China, Hong Kong/China
M.K.Sukumar & Ashish Mandloi, Narmada Bachao Andolan, India Vimalbhai,
National Alliance of People's Movements, India Antonio Tricarico &
Jaroslava Colajacomo, Reform the World Bank Campaign, Italy Ikuko
Matsumoto, Friends of the Earth Japan Satoru Matsumoto, Mekong Watch,
Japan Masahito Ujiie, National Dam Opposition Network, Japan Reiko
Amano, NGO Association for Public Works Review & Nagara River
Citizen's Coalition, Japan Kazuyoshi Okada, Sagami River Camp-In-Symposium,
Japan Grace Akumu, Climate Network Africa, Kenya Argwings Odera, Sondu-Miriu
Advocacy Campaign, Kenya Fernando Melo, Promotora de Servicios para
el Desarrollo Sociedad Civil, Mexico Ulli Eins, Earthlife Africa Namibia,
Namibia Clement Daniels, Legal Assistance Centre, Namibia Wiert Wiertsema,
Both ENDS, The Netherlands Paul de Clerck & Monique de Lede, Friends
of the Earth Netherlands Rev. David Ugolor, African Network for Environmental
and Economic Justice, Nigeria Tonje Folkestad, Association for International
Water and Forest Studies (FIVAS), Norway Muhammad Nauman, Creed Alliance,
Pakistan Naeem Iqbal & Mishka Zaman, Pakistan Network of Rivers,
Dams, and People, Pakistan Khawar Mumtaz & Najma Sadeque, Shirkat
Gah,Pakistan Mushtaq Gadi, SUNGI Development Foundation, Pakistan
Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, Shaheen Rafi Khan & Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Sustainable
Development Policy Institute, Pakistan Oscar Rivas, Sobrevivencia/Friends
of the Earth Paraguay Joan Carling, Cordillera Peoples Alliance, Philippines
Jacek Bozek, Ecological and Cultural Association 'Klub Gaja', Poland
Juraj Zamkovsky, Friends of the Earth Slovakia & Center of Environmental
Public Advocacy, Slovakia Brian Ashley, Alternative Information &
Development Centre, South Africa Helene Epstein & David Hallowes,
Earthlife Africa Durban, South Africa Richard Worthington, Earthlife
Africa Johannesburg, South Africa Liane Greeff, Environmental Monitoring
Group, South Africa Quentin Espey, Group for Environmental Monitoring,
South Africa Phil Owen, SAWaC, South Africa John Taylor, Skuifraam
Action Group, South Africa Klas Ronnback, Miljoforbundet Jordens Vanner/Friends
of the Earth Sweden Göran Eklöf, Swedish Society for Nature
Conservation, Sweden Alex Sutter, Menschenrechte Schweiz MERS, Switzerland
Brigitte Anderegg, SOLIFONDS, Switzerland Shalmali Guttal, Focus on
the Global South, Thailand Hüma Ülgen Söylemez, Dogal
Hayati Koruma Dernegi, Turkey Alex Wilks, Bretton Woods Project, United
Kingdom Nicholas Hildyard, CornerHouse, United Kingdom Tom Griffiths,
Forest Peoples Programme, United Kingdom Kate Geary, Ilisu Dam Campaign,
United Kingdom Roger Moody, PartiZans, United Kingdom Geoff Nettleton,
Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links, United Kingdom Kay Treakle, Bank
Information Center, U.S.A. Korinna Horta, Environmental Defense, U.S.A.
Brent Blackwelder, Friends of the Earth U.S.A. Kate B. Showers, Institute
for Environmental Awareness, Inc, U.S.A. Patrick McCully, International
Rivers Network, U.S.A. Doug Norlen, Pacific Environment Resource Center,
U.S.A.
Individual endorsements:
Bina Srinivasan,
Researcher, India Scott Robinson, Anthropology, Universidad Metropolitana,
Mexico Munawar Hassan, Pakistan
cc. World Bank
Executive Directors , Ian Johnson, World Bank Vice-President for Environmentally
and Socially Sustainable Development , Prof. Kader Asmal, former Chair,
World Commission on Dams
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