Large Dams in Multilateral Banks' Pipelines

By: 
International Rivers
Date: 
Thursday, February 6, 2014

As part of the United States' 2014 budget bill, the U.S. Treasury instructed the U.S. Executive Director at each multilateral development bank to oppose any investment in large dams. What constitutes a large dam? Both the World Commission on Dams and the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) use the same definition:

A large dam is any dam 15 meters or higher; or between 5-15 meters high and with a reservoir volume capacity of 3 million cubic meters or greater.

International Rivers monitors proposed investments in large dams that are currently awaiting board approval at the IFC, the IBRD, the ADB, the IADB, and the AfDB. To see the details of any of these investments, consult our database, below.