Ten years after the landmark World Commission on Dams (WCD) report, activists say the guidelines charted out by the document remain India's best roadmap towards ensuring that future dams minimise social and environmental impacts.
The most comprehensive guidelines for large dams that protect the rights of river-dependent communities were outlined by the WCD in 2000. The commission had assessed the development effectiveness of dams in an independent, participatory process, and established what has come to be regarded as the gold standard for dam building.
"The report not only remains relevant after 10 years, its relevance has increased. It has stood the test of time in that its recommendations have remained relevant, and it has also been foresighted in highlighting and arguing for issues that at that time were thought by many not to be so important. Green house gas emissions of dam reservoirs is one such example," says Shripad Dharmadhikary of Manthan Adhyayan Kendra.
Reiterates Himanshu Thakkar, "The WCD report remains the most relevant, appropriate, acceptable, democratic way for planning and decisionmaking in power and water resources development and management. It also came out of a most open, inclusive process in which all parties, including India's water resources establishment had a chance and participated fully." Thakkar is with the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (SANDRP).
And the democratic and inclusive process is what has been missing quite often in India. SANDRP documents these issues in its quarterly newsletter called Dams, Rivers and People.
The WCD principles encompass basic values of human rights and sustainable development that are essential to minimising negative impacts of large dams on people and the environment. Certain WCD principles have also been incorporated into various international and national laws and policies. Important recommendations include:
- The need to assess all available options for meeting water and energy needs before proceeding with a dam project;
- Demonstrating public acceptance and requiring free, prior and informed consent of affected indigenous peoples;
- Fixing problems from existing dams before building new ones;
- Managing downstream impacts and environmental flows;
- Sharing benefits with affected people; and
- Ensuring compliance with project agreements.
It's about the people too, as Dharmadhikary points out, "The recommendation of making mandatory the free and prior informed consent of indigenous populations for any project is another issue. Even after 10 years, the report remains the only one to come out of a multi-stakeholder, participatory process in which along with others, the dam affected people too had a significant voice."
Ravindranath of River Basin Friends chips in, "The WCD report has not created any difference or impact in the Indian power policy. But it has educated the dam activists by and large. The Indian government has been adamant not to endorse the WCD guidelines. And now, with dams also coming under clean development mechanisms (defined by the Kyoto protocol), it is doubtful that the government will ever consider the WCD recommendations."
But the socio-economic realities of 2010 are different from those of 2000. What about policy changes needed to take the WCD principles into the next decade?
Thakkar helps contextualise the report, "Some of the issues related to climate change impacts were also part of the report. However, new facts and analyses about the impact of climate change on water, energy and related aspects may need some changes in the WCD analysis. Moreover, some of the new available techniques of generating power from flowing water without use of dams could also be added in the available options. The need for greater participatory compliance may require more stringent mechanisms."
