ABSTRACT
Public sector agencies are limited in their capacity to handle resettlement. In India and Indonesia, the irrigation department was initially responsible for resettlement; in Thailand, Brazil, China, and Togo, it was the power generating authority. In Brazil, if land compensation based on nearby resettlement had been considered earlier, the analysis could have led to something other than the high-cost, high-risk irrigation schemes that were negotiated. The most enterprising resettlers do best on own and reduce the economic and management burden of the resettlement operation. The emerging concept of resettlement as a development opportunity rather than a burdensome obligation is a step in the right direction. Countries should shift the emphasis from restoration to improvement of income and living standards, opening the way for those displacees who are motivated and capable of moving from their valleys to take a new place in the regional or national economy—as an integral part of the project's developmental objectives.
