Worldview

Dams as a Development Option

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Dams have long been valued by many as key agents of development. They irrigate, they generate power.		Photo courtesy of People and the Planet
But many believe the cultural and ecological costs are too high and the dams are not really the most effecient means of achieving desired benefits.
Host Jerome McDonnell has spoken with a number of individuals who have devoted their careers to the question of dams. Here are their stories, critiques, and the impact of some of the most controversial dam projects.

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	Do the benefits out-weigh the ecological and social costs of large dam projects?
Audio	Case 1: Brazil's Santa Isabel Dam Glenn Switkes, Director of the Latin America Program for International Rivers Network (based in Brazil) www.irn.org World Commission on Dams Report (requires Adobe Acrobat) WBEZ is not responsible for the content of external sites 2.25.02
Audio	Case 2: Portugal's new dam Joanaz de Melo, Professor at the University of Lisbon, represents environmental NGO's on the Dam Works Committee - a governmental committee monitoring the Portuguese dam project 2.25.02
Audio	Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Large Dams Projects Dr. Jan A. Veltrop, consulting engineer, commissioner for the World Commission on Dams 1.26.01
Audio	Environmental Dam Controversy in Turkey Radio Netherland's Penny Young 11.09.00
Audio	Narmada Dam Controversy Patrick McCully, International Rivers Network 11.7.00
Audio	Medha Patkar One of the founders of non-violent dam resistance movement Narmada Bachao Andolan 11.26.99	Medha Patkar submerged Photo courtesy of narmada.org
Audio	Arundhati Roy, author of bestselling, Booker Prize-winning novel The God of Small Things and The Cost of Living, discusses the development of dams and nuclear weapons in India 11.02.99
Audio	Use of Dams in India and the United States Andy Kirshell of the BBC 4.13.99

 

For more information: WBEZ is not responsible for content of outside links

International Rivers Network World Commission on Dams Harza Engineering Company Friends of River Narmada U.S. Society on Dams International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD)