External report

Lots, Says Longtime Resettlement Expert and Former WCD Commissioner The following is an excerpt from the new book The Future of Large Dams: Dealing with Social, Environmental, Institutional and Political Costs by Ted Scudder (Earthscan, 2005). Scudder is a well–known anthropologist who has worked on resettlement issues on large dams for nearly 50 years, and has been an expert advisor on a number of World Bank dams. He was also one of the 12 commissioners on the World Commission on Dams. Here he reflects on the World Bank’s resettlement record. A range of structural an

Executive Summary On November 12, 2002, the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam approved the construction of the Son La Hydropower Project, requiring the largest resettlement of people in Vietnam’s history. By 2010, 91,000 people or 18,968 households in the three provinces of Son La, Lai Chau and Dien Bien are expected to be resettled. Most of these people will be moved between 50 to 100 kilometers away from their current homes and without access to the Da River (Black River) -- a source of livelihood for most of them. Dam construction formally started on December 2,

Update on China's energy industry reforms and the Nu, Lancang and Jinsha hydropower dams The purpose of this research paper is to provide a brief update on what is happening in Yunnan – looking at the Nu, Lancang and Jinsha rivers – and then situate this within the wider context of China’s changing political economy. There are two key messages this report seeks to deliver. First, there is a need for China to revisit the energy policy, including the hydropower component, in the light of the new direction signalled by the New and Scientific Development Concept announced in 2003 by Chi

It is proposed that one or two of Mphanda Nkuwa’s four electricity–generating turbines would be operated intermittently to provide for peak energy demands in South Africa, Mozambique’s large neighbor. This operating practice would cause daily fluctuations in river levels downstream, ranging in magnitude from 0.5 to 2.8 meters depending on proximity to the dam. The impacts of these changes in river level would be felt for over 100 miles downstream and affect thousands of people dependent on the river for their livelihoods. The Mphanda Nkuwa Environmental Impact Assessment warns,

04-10-02: It is nearly done. The builders of the San Roque dam have to lay on only 25 meters more of earth and gravel, and the dam will practically be finished.The spillway of the 200-meter high dam will still need some work. But it constitutes only a small part of the kilometer-long structure. Already, two mountains have been bridged. The gap through which the Agno river used to flow has been completely plugged. Since dam construction began in 1998, the Agno has been flowing through two diversion tunnels. Construction engineers say that these tunnels, too, can be plugged even before

A risk assessment reveals that Mphanda Nkuwa Dam, proposed for the Zambezi River in Mozambique, could leave thousands worse off. The study, by a geographer with expertise in disaster mitigation, reveals how the risks of this large hydro dam would be borne disproportionately by those with the least power to influence how the project is developed. Author James Morrissey states, "Given the current compensation plan, the apparent indicators of political risk and level of local participation, this project represents a developmental initiative which is neither just in terms of the level of r