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Our News
WWF outlines seven sins of dam building
Rome - On World Water Day, WWF launches a new report criticizing dam projects worldwide that continue to violate fundamental sustainability criteria. In the WWF report, “Seven Sins of Dam Building,” numerous dam projects under construction or planned are given a failing review by the conservation organization. Aside from the internationally controversial Belo Monte (Brazil) and Xayaburi (Laos) dams, European projects, such as in Austria and Montenegro, are also on the list. The conservation organization calls for better use of sustainability criteria when planning dams.
“There is usually a lot of noise around large dam projects such as the huge Belo Monte dam in Brazil, but there are also hundreds, if not thousands, of other projects worldwide, including in Europe and in the Mediterranean, which are still not properly planned and bear the same risks in terms of impacts on livelihoods and biodiversity, said Angela Klauschen from WWF Mediterranean.
The ‘Seven Sins’ outlined in the report include issues with dam location, neglecting biodiversity, environmental flows, social and economic factors, and risk analysis. WWF also notes that dam decisions often blindly follow “a bias to build” without considering better, cheaper, and less damaging alternatives.
In particular, scientific evidence and risk assessments too frequently lose out to one-sided political or economic agendas, according to the report. Subsequently, dams are still planned and built in ecologically high value areas and biodiversity loss is still too often not accounted for. Serious impacts, caused by a change in the natural water flow dynamics or the disappearance of wetlands, are still not given consideration.
G7 companies and engineers continue to not only push projects forward in emerging markets that are unacceptable by global standards, but also in the heart of the European Union and North America, reproaches WWF.
In this respect, the report features the case of the planned Morača dams cascade in Montenegro, which WWF has so far managed to halt. The project poses a threat to Lake Skadar, the largest lake on the Balkan peninsula. It is a designated Ramsar site critical for migratory birds and European waterfowl, which makes it one of the most important bird and fish habitats in the Mediterranean region. The planned hydropower cascade would critically change the seasonal variability of the lake's water level. Building the dams on the Morača River would drastically affect 90 per cent of 280 bird species and a fish population of bleak (Alburnus alburnus), which together with carps (Cyprinus carpio), account for 70 per cent of the total fish catch from the lake.
“In order to guarantee acceptable levels of social and environmental sustainability, dam installations and operations should be stringently checked against sustainability criteria as formulated under the World Commission on Dams or the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol. Insufficiently performing projects should be improved or halted,” added Angela Klauschen.
For further information:
Chantal MENARD – Communications Manager - WWF Mediterranean
cmenard@wwfmedpo.org – Tel +39 346 235 7481