Day
of Action Against Disasterous Dams
15 March 2004
In this column we discuss "bad
dams" particularly how these have impacted on poor communities. All over
the world, dams force people from their homes, submerge fertile farmlands,
forests and sacred places, destroy fisheries and supplies of clean water,
and cause the social and cultural disintegration and economic impoverishment
of communities.
Financiers of large dams
Yesterday, 14 March 2004 was
the International Day of Action Against Large Dams and for Rivers, Water
and Life. This year’s celebrations coincided with the 60th anniversary
of the World Bank and IMF, the biggest financiers of large dams. The World
Bank and IMF-financed large dam projects have left a bad legacy among poor
communities who have suffered displacements without adequate reparation
and lost their rights over their resources and lives.
It therefore serves as an opportune
time, that while we celebrate the inception of this noble institution,
we raise our concerns around its professed intent of meeting the needs
of the poor majority. These concerns equally apply to all financiers of
these mega projects.
Water storage in Africa
Water storage in Africa averages
about 21 cubic metres per capita, with some countries having as low as
4 cubic metres. It thus seems a rational idea to build dams. Further, it
would be folly to ignore the contribution that dams have made in terms
of development. However, it is important to note that in many instances,
an unacceptable and often unnecessary price has been paid to secure benefits
brought by dams. People have been displaced and not adequately compensated.
Dams have also caused great environmental damage and in most cases they
have been too costly to construct than anticipated. Overestimated benefits
and underestimated costs seem to be a more used equation in the dam industry.
There has been major injustice displayed in dam construction. The Kariba
Dam of Zimbabwe, Inanda Dam in S.A. and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project
(LHWP) are but a few of what may be loosely called "bad dams," where people
have been taken for granted under the guise of development.
Lesotho Highlands Water
Project
The LHWP is one of the most
massive infrastructure projects funded by the World Bank in sub-Sahara
Africa. Maseru is sometimes in dire need of water while all their water
is taken to South Africa to feed Gauteng residents and run industries.
Basotho will ever be cursing those who signed that dreadful treaty. In
Inanda, people after 15 years of promised double-storey houses, are still
sheltered in tin-houses. These houses are very cold in winter and in summer
they are jumbo ovens.
LUSIP financiers
We therefore call upon the
World Bank and the IMF, regional financiers such as the Development Bank
of Southern Africa (one of LUSIP financiers) to finance only "good dams,"
dams that address the needs of the poor majority, dams which are relevant
to meeting the water supply needs of rural people. Unfortunately what we
have been seeing is a deprivation of the poor of their water resources
for the benefit of agribusiness. Most dam projects are thus irrelevant
to the needs of the masses without access to water. It is also a cause
for concern that dams in Swaziland are far from addressing the problem
of food security the country is facing. Farmers are indirectly forced to
venture in sugar cane farming as lending institutions see such as viable.
Alternatives to dams
We also call upon the bank
to finance other alternatives to dams. Dams may be an option to solve the
water crisis, but one of many. Dams do not make water but only collect
the available water. The celebrated Maguga Dam, which was expected to fill
up in the year 2002, according to record, has never exceeded 28% of its
capacity. There are several other options, small-scale affordable technologies,
water-harvesting techniques. Water demand management seems to be a promising
option also.
Where the construction of a
dam is inevitable, the guidelines as put forward by the World Commission
on Dams should be followed. Damn the bad dams!
Watch this column for subsequent
articles addressing water and disasters in Swaziland.
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