ABSTRACT
On occasion, history gets a rude shock. One report that belies such jaundiced prejudices of global observers is the report of the World Commission on Dams (WCD), Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making, released in November 2000. The WCD staff developed an extensive review of river basins as a planning framework, drawing on the work of a generation of geographers, including the work of Gilbert F. White. The commission dorew two lessons from its review of the development effectiveness of the world's large dams. The first lesson was predictable, that dams have brought significant benefits to publics throughout the world, and that a large cost, often unrecognized owing to its diffuse social and environmental impact, was also incurred. The second lesson was that the most successful dams historically shared three characteristics: They reflected a comprehensive approach to integrating social, environmental, and economic dimensions of development.
