Debating dams: The World Commission on Dams 20 years on

Abstract

The World Commission on Dams (WCD) was a global environmental governance forum that worked between 1998 and 2000 to try to resolve long-standing controversies between supporters and opponents of large dams. Its objectives were to assess the development effectiveness of large dams and to develop best practice guidelines for large dam construction and management, based on an extensive review of scientific evidence and wide-ranging stakeholder consultation. This paper reviews literature discussing the WCD, to understand its influence on the debate on large dams and beyond. We find that its influence is debated within four main contexts: (a) interpretations of stakeholder responses to the WCD report and recommendations; (b) the persistence of the kinds of impacts of large dams that gave rise to the Commission's work; (c) the different visions for appropriate follow-up strategies; and (d) insights from the WCD experience in the context of global environmental governance. Within these four contexts, we identify diverse opinions and directions of post-WCD development and sources of disagreement on its merits and legacy, ranging from calls for its full implementation to dismissal and opposition. Commentators also differ in their assessment of whether the WCD sparked truly novel insights and propositions for dam decision-making or whether it simply represented one among many other elements in the broader debate on dams. Most commonly, the WCD's work is cited in the context of persistent negative social and environmental impacts of dams: neither the impacts nor the controversy over large dams have ended. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Planning Water Engineering Water > Sustainable Engineering of Water K E Y W O R D S dams, global environmental governance, hydropower, World Commission on Dams

In search of the good dam: contemporary views on dam planning in Latin America

“…We reviewed these and translated them into a 'statement format' that could be used with Q methodology. The WCD guidelines and principles focused on the processes and principles that should guide dam planning to ensure that outcomes maximised social benefit and minimised negative social impact (Schulz and Adams 2019). This applied focus makes them a suitable basis for the design of a Q set on methods for improving dam decision-making (as opposed to, e.g.…”

“…These challenges have generated considerable ongoing debate about the benefits and costs of large dams, dam planning and management, as well as ways to address negative impacts (Schulz and Adams 2019). Such debates are often characterised by polarisation.…”

“…The WCD's report marked a hiatus in the funding of large dam projects in the developing world. It undoubtedly heightened global awareness of the social and environmental impacts of dams, and its recommendations were selectively taken up (Schulz and Adams 2019). Yet its attempt to provide a new approach to dam planning and a set of techniques that would predict and avoid negative impacts was not globally successful.…”

“…Yet its attempt to provide a new approach to dam planning and a set of techniques that would predict and avoid negative impacts was not globally successful. Some have criticised WCD's report for overly focusing on the negative impacts of dams (Briscoe 2010), and controversies about dam construction have persisted (Schulz and Adams 2019). Although some have declared the era of large dams to be over (Magilligan et al 2016;Scudder 2017) there has been a recent resurgence of large dam construction, particularly for electricity generation (Erlewein 2014).…”

How Relevant Are Non-Use Values and Perceptions in Economic Valuations? The Case of Hydropower Plants

“…Noteworthy impacts of large projects involve large population displacements, and have in the past included human rights abuses during the pre-construction phases [27]. The accelerated construction of large dams in previous years, gave rise to a global debate under the World Commission on Dams [28] in the late 2000s, but that is still pertinent a decade later [29] and today [30]. One of the main recommendations from the commission as summarized by its secretary-general was that "decisions about whether a dam should be built and how it should be operated, or whether better alternatives exist, must reflect the multiple impacts and risks and benefits that such projects imply for different stakeholders."…”