121212 h kim_democratic governance for sustainable development_khagram

1. 2012-2 Global & intercultural identity
Toward Democratic Governance
for Sustainable Development
: Translational Civil Society Organizing around Big Dams
by Sanjeev Khagram
12 December 2012 Presented by Kim, Hyunjung(Physics 09)

2. Contents
Author Description
Introduction
The Rise of Domestic Opposition
The Building of Transnational Linkages
Taking on the World Bank
The Genesis of the World Commission on Dams
Summary

3. Dr. Sanjeev Khangram
Affiliate Professor, Public Affairs and International
Studies, University of Washington
Ph. D., Stanford University
Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum
Areas of specialization
: Civil Society, Corporate Citizenship, Cross-
Sectoral Networks, Global Governance, Human
Security, Impact Evaluation, Political Economy,
Sustainable Development, Transnational Studies

4. Dams
20% of global electricity generation
In 65 countries, hydropower produces 50% of electricity
In 25 countries, hydropower constitute over 90% of electricity
Worldwide, agricultural crops
> 30% of water from irrigation
1/17

5. Why do we need dams?
1. The needs of a growing global population
~ 1 billion people sill w/o adequate supplies drinking water
~ 2 billion people w/ no access to electricity
2. The need for better flood management: undeniable.
due to massive & destructive floods!!!
2/17

6. However, the Rate of Dam Construction
Worldwide is like…
Drastically decline
over 25 years
→ Technical/Financial/Economic factors behind this trend 3/17

7. What is the whole story?
1) Technical factor: The decreasing availability of sites for
big dams
ex) As of 1986, 95% of big dams -> 25 countries
having more than 100 dams. Only 2% were spread over
more than 150 countries where sites were still plentiful.
2) Financial & Economic factors: omitted in our book but
you can look up the reference 4/17

8. Translational civil society coalitions
A multitude of struggles & campaigns carried on worldwide
→ change the dynamics of big dam projects
Ex 1) Environmental NGOs from the 1st world(Int’l level)
→ slowing and halting global spread of big dams
Ex 2) Direct influence on local people(Domestic level)
→ social movements and domestic NGOs : reform/block the completing
of these projects in their own countries.
Result: Domestic successes & Subsequent internationalization of
environ/human/indigenous rights organization in the West 5/17

9. The Rise of Domestic Opposition
Transnational civil society advocacy efforts ~ a narrow
range of elite values and interests: not always true!
Why? Domestic opposition has been independently organized in
numerous countries outside the West.
- Example: India, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, Hungary, the
former Soviet Union, South Africa etc.
Case study: India(The Hirakud Dam, the Silent Valley project), The
Chico project in the Philippines, Brazil, The United States(the Echo Park
Dam, Grand Canyon) and Western Europe.
6/17

10. Case 1. The Hirakud Dam
: One of independent India’s first multipurpose projects
In 1940s, an anti-Hirakud campaign was waged ~ involving the full
range of lobbying & pressure: 30,000 villegers and townpeople even
protested in front of the state governor.
Such purely domestic campaigns : generally unsuccessful through 1960s.
Nevertheless, local opposition to big dams mounted during 1970s-1980s
and internationally highlighted.
By the end of the 1980s, a meeting of over 80 representatives called for a
moratorium on big dam project in an “assertion of collective will against
big dams.”
Domestic decision-making processes became more participatory and the results
of projects more socially just and environmentally sustainable. 7/17

11. Case 2. India was not unusual
1) The campaign of cordilleran 대산맥의 peoples in the Philippines against the
Chico River project in the mid-1970s
: worldwide for the confrontations between opposition and
government. → the World Bank eventually withdrew its funding
2) A nationwide movement of dam-affected peoples grew in size and
The end of the expansion years of big dam building & The growth of a
strength in Brazil
national environmental movement in the United States
: from domestic social and environmental policy reform to the broader
democratization process.
3) The States and Western Europe certainly contributed to the broader
decline of big dam building in most European countries in 1970s. 8/17

12. The Building of Transnational Linkages
During 1980s, focus shift from domestic movement to elsewhere
ex) Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and its
successor states, the Third World.
where demand: still high, funding: available, criticism: less organized,
democratic/environmental norms: less institutionalized.
More than ⅔ of new big dam starts occurred in the Third World.
These indigenous peoples, human rights, environmental and even
sustainable development NGOs consciously built coalitions with allies
all over the world.
The antibank campaign quickly gathered momentum. 9/17

13. International Rivers Network(IRN)
Motive to the establishment of IRN: Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas
Hildyard’s The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams
The Book further strengthened emergent transnational connections
: the first to systematically integrate the main arguments against big
dams & insist that the problem caused were largely inherent to tech.
The San Francisco Declaration(1988): New standards or common ground
on the issues of big dam projects, river basin management, and the
provision of water and power services.
⇔ International Commission on Large Dam(Dam Proponents)
10/17

14. The World Bank
The central international organization promoting big dam building around
the world since its founding, managing 50 to 70 % of world big dam funds.
The Bank’s initial loan to fifteen Third World countries was for big dam
projects. ex) India received $8.38 billion for building 104 dams.
→ Critical to the initiation and management of big dam projects.
* Even contributed to the creation of numerous dam-building bureaucratic
Overlapped with dam-cons, Strengthening its themes: involuntary
resettlement ofThird World. ex)from dam Electricity protection of
agencies in the communities Thailand’s projects, Generating
Authority, Colombia’s Interconexion Electrica SA.
indigenous peoples’ lands, accountability and transparency of bank.
Western-based conservationists’ campaign↑ against multilateral banks ⤴
11/17

15. The broader anti-multilaternal
development bank campaign
Antidam opponents compelled the Bank not only to reduce its
involvement in big dam projects and but also to adopt new
policies and mechanism for resettlement, environmental
management, indigenous peoples, information disclosure,
monitoring, and appeals.
The cumulative effect of transnational allied civil society
→ more than 60 % decline in Bank funding in these projects
→ the Bank’s first comprehensive review of big dams
Civil society critiques of the Bank’s review sparked the creation of
an independent World Commission on Dams. 12/17

16. The Genesis of the World
Commission on Dams
In April 1997, the World Bank and the World Conservation Union
gathered in Gland, Switzerland.
39 representatives of International for benefits from
governments development agencies big dams
Transnational civil Private Sector
due to reputational
society & financial risks
To push for an independent and comprehensive review of big dams.
At the Gland Workshop, the 39 participants unanimously agreed to this
demand of the WCD.
13/17

17. The World Commission on Dams
An independent international body composed of 12 commissioners
known for their leadership roles in social movements, NGOs, academia,
the private sector, and governments all over the world.
The unprecedented mandate of WCD: 1) Conduct a global review of the
development effectiveness of dams and assess alternatives for
sustainable water resources and energy management, 2) development
If it is successful, the WCD could pavefor decisionfor a wave
internationally accepted criteria and guidelines the way making in
the planning, design, appraisal, construction, monitoring, operation, and
of novel multistake-holder global public policy processes
decommissioning of dams.
in the twenty-first century.
The most innovative international institutional experiment in the area of
democratic governance for sustainable development today.
14/17

18. Associated organizations
15/17

19. In summary,
On this blue planet, less than 2.5% of our water is fresh, less than 33% of
fresh water runs in fluid, less than 1.7% of fluid water runs in streams
A number of human activities can impact on the water cycle: damming
rivers for hydroelectricity, using water for farming, deforestation and
the burning of fossil fuels. When people use water for irrigation, they are
taking water from streams or from the ground and, as a result, the water
table drops. It can take a long time for groundwater to be recharged. The
flow-on effect is a reduction in the amount of water in rivers or lakes,
which then impacts on the environment – animals living in the water
may find themselves affected.
16/17

20. Summary(Flow of article)
The Rise of Domestic Opposition in the mid 1950s-1970s
The Building of Transnational Linkages in 1980s
Taking on the World Bank in the 1980s-1990s
: the broader anti-multilateral development bank campaign
The Genesis of the World Commission on Dams in 1997
: representatives of governments, international development agencies, the
private sector, and transnational civil society.
 Toward Governance for Sustainable Development 17/17