Abstract
No other infrastructure has attracted more criticism than large reservoir-based hydropower and multi-purpose dams. Their detrimental social and ecological effects make them especially contentious, with opponents and proponents often unable to reach compromise solutions. In December 2000, the World Commission on Dams (WCD) proposed a new framework for decision-making in its report of the same name (WCD 2000), and this has become a landmark for sustainable practices.
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Notes
- 1.
For updates and NGOs’ views see the Belo Monte blog at International Rivers, http://www.internationalrivers.org/blogs/244/letting-the-xingu-run-freely. Accessed 29 July 2013.
- 2.
For more information on the consent and its form as recognized by the ADB in its 2009 Safeguard Policy Statement, http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/pub/2009/Safeguard-Policy-Statement-June2009.pdf. Accessed 29 July 2013.
- 3.
See also the website for the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol at http://www.hydrosustainability.org. Accessed 29 July 2013.
- 4.
Directive 2004/101/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 2004 amending Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community, in respect of the Kyoto Protocol’s project mechanisms (Text with EEA relevance).
- 5.
For a recent application of this model see Kelley (2008).
- 6.
Democratic rationale flows from the argument that people whose life and livelihood are (negatively) affected by a decision have a right to take part in the decision. The instrumental rationale, most applicable to contentious infrastructure projects like dams, is based on the argument that if different stakeholders are involved during the decision-making a decision is more likely to be acceptable for different stakeholders and projects are less likely to suffer delays from blockages. The management rationale is based on the argument that with more stakeholders in the decision-making much more information will be processed which would improve the quality of the decision.
- 7.
Rowe and Frewer’s (2005) information-flow model of public involvement defines public information as one way flow of information from the organizers of public involvement exercise to the participants; public consultation as one-way flow of information from the public to the organizers of public involvement exercise; public participation as a simultaneous two-way flow of information. The ideal case under this information flow-model is when maximum bidirectional flow of information takes place between the participants and the organizers.
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Scheumann, W., Hensengerth, O. (2014). Dams and Norms: Current Practices and the State of the Debate. In: Scheumann, W., Hensengerth, O. (eds) Evolution of Dam Policies. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23403-3_1
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