IS DAM SUCH A BAD WORD?A REVIEW OF THE PERCEPTION OF DAMS

摘要

We struggle with the perception of dams and their role and impact on society. Perhapsour struggle is misguided. We are well-versed with the famous dams around the worldand their socio-economic benefits, as well as current books and movies where dams arefrequently presented as impressive structures. However, the negative impacts of damshave also been increasingly brought to the forefront. For example, the unequaldistribution of benefits and associated corruption are two themes frequently tied to damsand their development. This perception is at the center of a recent book, The Last Flightof the Scarlet Macaw, One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird.Interestingly, the word dam is not in the title, but it is the proverbial windmill beingtilted. In these types of discussions, the intangible benefits of dam development, such asimprovements to health, sanitation, food production, and education are often overlooked.The complexity of how dams are perceived is presented through the eyes of threemembers of the World Commission on Dams in the book Deep Water: The Epic StruggleOver Dams, Displaced People and the Environment.The sustainability of dams is often mentioned in the same breath as the corruption thatcan be connected with them. This aspect is explored in the publication Dams andDevelopment by the World Commission on Dams and other publications and guidancedocuments by well-reputed organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, InternationalHydropower Association, and the United Nations, and even in the recently releaseddocumentary movie FLOW: For the Love of Water. Recognizing that dam developmentsare routinely constructed with essential planning and vision, the concepts of feasibility,planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance as a whole sometimes differfrom paper to reality. The dams community must recognize that the sustainable operationof new and existing projects must incorporate not only the requisite technology andscience but also must address the social improvement and public relations aspectsrequired to result in a successful, ethical, balanced, and sustainable project. This paperhighlights the efforts of a few organizations’ attempts to address corruption andsustainability and provides examples of the effects of corruption on sustainability asillustrated in the above publications. The authors wish to note that this paper is not afully-exhaustive report but merely an attempt to bring these issues to light so that we inthe dams community can remain vigilant and these concepts and challenges remain in theforefront to encourage discussion and innovation.