Speech by His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange at the launch of Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making final report of the World Commission on Dams London, Cabot Hall, 16th November 2000
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Thirty to forty billion dollars a year. A new dam completed every two days. One fifth of the world's electricity generation. One third of the world's irrigated lands. Forty to eighty million people displaced. It is hard to come to terms with the scale of the issues when we talk about dams. There are few topics that are so important and that arouse such passions as big dams. This is why I was honoured to accept, during the Second World Water Forum, the invitation to speak today.
Few of us who were in the Hague in March will ever forget the demonstration by Spanish anti-dam activists at the opening ceremony. The same passions and divisions were also clear in the two sessions on dams, one in favour, the other more critical, during the Forum. Of all the many controversies in the world of water, big dams are the topic on which the divisions are most stark, the seeking of compromises the rarest.
These passions and divisions of mind are understandable. When we build a dam we modify the hydrological system and the living conditions of those living there in absolute terms - for good and bad. Proponents of dams will point to their success in generating cheap and non-polluting electricity, in producing cheap and abundant food, in providing water for drinking and sanitation, and as a protection from floods.
Opponents point to the masses of the displaced and shattered communities, to badly affected ecosystems and to the failure of many dams to realise the claims that were made for them. These claims and counter-claims are often contentious. In undertaking a comprehensive review of large dams, the Commission has done a service to us all in bringing some clarity and objectivity to this debate.
Personally I feel that better use could have been made of the extensive work during the Vision exercise on the daunting task of reconciling rising demands with limited water resources. Although we can, and many will, argue with the details of the Commission's analysis and conclusions, the launching of this report without doubt moves our understanding and discussions to a new level.
This is why the work of the World Commission on Dams, and the report that they are launching today, are so important. For the first time, the Commission provides us with an opportunity to bring some balance and consensus to this debate. They have defied the sceptics and, through working together, have shown that reasoned debate and compromise are possible.
Equally impressive is the scale of the consultations that the Commission has undertaken in just two years. Thousands of people in dozens of countries and representing hundreds of organisations and interest groups. In this open and extensive process, the Commission has paralleled the preparation of the World Water Vision and the Hague Ministerial Declaration, which provide a context within which the Dams Commission's report must be considered.
In emphasising transparency and legitimacy in both their work and as pre-conditions for future decisions on the development of dams, the Commission acknowledges the pleas made by so many participants in the Forum. Both the findings of the Commission and the way in which they executed their tasks echo core sentiments from the World Water Vision: that water is everybody's business, and that business-as-usual is not an option. The need and urgency for a change in approaches to big dams is clear, as is true for so many other aspects of water resources management.
For, as the Commission's report points out, this debate is not just about dams, but is about how dams are part of a wider system of managing that most precious of resources, water, and the users of that scarce resource. The concepts and principles set out in the Vision and Ministerial Declaration find many parallels in the Commission's report. To borrow some key phrases from the Ministerial Declaration, the challenge is to create water security, and to do this we must learn to share water, to meet the needs of all and, above all, to govern water wisely.
We look to all sides of this contentious issue to show the same balance and compromise that, I know, have been the hallmark of the workings of the Commission. Opposition to all developments at all times is not a tenable position and is inherently self-defeating. But to continually ignore the impacts of these developments is equally untenable.
We, of course, recognise that all countries, and especially developing countries, have a right to develop their resources for their own, often very urgent, needs. But, the principle that no-one can act solely for their own benefits if their actions affect others is one that is accepted in all aspects of life. As a global community we must expect that the same principles are applied to decisions on whether and how to develop large dams.
The Commission has done us all a great service in establishing such basic principles for the development of dams. We all need to study these principles and the guidelines provided for their application with great care. The Commission's report is full of detail and rich in ideas. I would just like to pull out three highlights that I think are of prime importance.
The first is that, despite the great complexity of detail, the dam debate is at its heart a simple one. Simple, that is, because we must ensure that those who are affected by dams are respected and get sufficient compensation; that dams contribute to the sustainable development of nations; and that they do not result in the degradation of ecosystems. This is a positive and profound message that we should all carry forward.
The second is the importance of transparency, inclusiveness and co-operation as fundamental principles that should characterise all decisions on large dams. In making these decisions, we must respect the rights of all and ensure that all risks are objectively assessed and addressed.
The third is the need to consider alternatives. Big dams have many virtues and have contributed to the development of many societies, but in many cases there are alternative ways to achieve the same benefits. These need to be given as much respect and thought as the dam option.
There are so many other points that I could have raised, but as the report points out this is not the end , just the beginning. The report needs to be studied in detail and used to advance this debate. It is an issue that must be carried into the wider international debates on water, environment and development.
The report does provide guidelines for deciding whether dams should be developed and for improving their development where they are needed. The significance of this became clear to me after the recent meeting on floods in Mozambique, where the need for measures to protect against such devastation that will in all likelihood include dams was clear and obvious. The approach set out by the Commission makes it possible to imagine these developments taking shape in new ways that will prevent many of the problems and controversies of the past.
These principles and guidelines need to be carried forward with a sense of urgency, to be used in practical settings where they are not seen as another set of restrictions, another bureaucratic impediment to effective action. Rather they can and must be used to improve existing, rather than add new, approaches and conditions.
I will work to ensure that the issues raised by the Commission's report remain a central theme in the discussions before and during the next World Water Forum in 2003 in Japan. Both Kader Asmal and I, as patrons of the Global Water Partnership, will strive to integrate it into the development of the Framework For Action, not least through the opportunity that the meeting of the Dam's Forum in February next year offers us to maintain the momentum established by the Commission.
I would like to finish by reiterating my thanks to the Commission, and to the many thousands of others involved, for this report. In its scope and depth they have done a great service to us all. It is now up to others, to all of us, to take their findings forward and ensure that the potentials of dams are realised in ways that do not bring with them the host of problems that too many have had in the past. In view of the increasing competition for water, it is time to act now. Let's move the dams discussion into the broader framework of integrated water resources management and make water, and therefore dams, everybody's business.