ABSTRACT
Worldwide, a total of forty-nine large-scale reservoirs have been planned for the 1980s. However, as governments begin to realize the adverse effects of dam construction on the natural and human environments, they are changing their policies by scaling down or abandoning altogether their proposals for dam construction. The Soviet Union, for instance, has stopped dam construction planned for the four northward-running rivers to transfer irrigation water to the sprawling plain in the south. Brazil has scrapped its plan to build dams on the Amazon River, while countries such as Malaysia, India, and Australia have all put their dam construction projects on hold.
