04-01-2013, 04:46 PM
A Comparative Survey of Dam-induced Resettlement in 50 Cases
Thayer Scudder with the Statistical Assistance of John Gay
1A Comparative Survey.pdf (Size: 420.56 KB / Downloads: 63)
Introduction
This expanded chapter includes all 18 original tables. The Qualitative Analysis of ten
case studies has been deleted since that was retained in the published version of The
Future of Large Dams. Two contrasting points are emphasized. The first is to reinforce
and quantify to the extent possible the conclusions of the World Commission on Dams
that the estimated global total of 40 to 80 million dam resettlers “have rarely had their
livelihoods restored” (WCD 2000: 129). Furthermore, unacceptable resettlement
continues today as shown by dams that have been completed during the past ten years.
On the other hand, analysis of individual cases shows that there are indeed a range of
available opportunities which have the potential for helping a majority of resettling
households to become project beneficiaries. Such opportunities were sufficient in three of
44 cases analyzed in this chapter to raise the living standards of the majority and to
restore them in another five cases. Even cases with unsatisfactory outcomes included
high potential opportunities that if combined with others could have improved outcomes.
If large dams are to remain a legitimate development option, major efforts must be made
to plan and implement the necessary resettlement policies. That will not be an easy task.
In addition to lack of opportunities, major reasons why the record to date remains
unsatisfactory and unacceptable include lack of planning and implementation capacity,
lack of funds, and lack of political will on the part of governments and project authorities.
Also important is lack of participation on the part of resettlers.
Introducing the 50 Dam Survey.
Lack of information provided by project authorities and governments on dam-induced
resettlement is the major reason why it has been so difficult to assess outcomes. That
conclusion applies even to attempts by the World Commission on Dams and the World
Bank to generalize about the nature of the resettlement process. While WCD initiated a
Cross-Check Survey of 150 dams to broaden its database, in only 68 (54 percent) of the
123 replies received from project authorities was resettlement even mentioned and in
only 12 of those 68 cases (18 percent) were “valid resettlement data” received. 1 As for
World Bank surveys, they too were inadequate for purposes of analysis since they were
restricted to a still smaller number of Bank-financed projects.
The Design of the 50 Dam Survey and the Nature of the Data Base
The 50 dam survey dealt primarily with households that were physically displaced by
dam construction and reservoir formation since data were virtually nonexistent for those
displaced by such associated project works as roads, transmission lines and irrigation
canals or those who lost their land and other natural resources to the reservoir and the
dam site but not their homes. For coding purposes 185 data items were listed. The first 42
dealt with such general issues as location, dam and reservoir size, date of completion and
dam purpose, number of resettlers, nature of host government and the project authority
and supporting institutions including donors, financial costs and source of funds, and
NGO involvement. The next 24 items dealt primarily with resettlement policy issues
including the extent to which attempts were made to reduce the numbers of resettlers,
synchronization of resettlement with the construction planning and implementation
timetable, political will and institutional and staff capacity to implement resettlement
policy, and nature and adequacy of funding and monitoring.
Data Sources and Biases
Data Sources
Lack of data constrained my survey to 50 large dams. They are listed in Table 2 along
with host country or countries, date of completion, numbers of resettlers, stage reached at
the time of last data collection, and outcome. Bearing in mind the inability of the World
Commission on Dams to obtain adequate data from project authorities, I concentrated on
dams where specific research had been completed on the resettlement component. Three
sources were especially important. Covering the largest number of projects, one source
included publications and reports on the resettlement process by environmentalists,
historians, and social scientists. They included 12 Ph.D. dissertations. The second source
was a series of reports in 1993, 1998 and 2001 by the World Bank’s Operations
Evaluation Department on the resettlement component of nine World Bank-financed
projects. The third source was six WCD case studies of specific dams.
Characteristics of Resettling Communities
The total number of resettlers from the 50 projects is estimated at nearly 1.5 million, the
majority of whom in 26 cases (54 percent) are categorized by the various researchers as
indigenous or tribal people, or as belonging to other ethnic minorities. 6 The situation
varies from country to country, however. While applying to case studies in most
countries, including Canada, India, Mexico, and the United States, the disproportionate
number of minorities does not apply to China. Nor would it apply to Korea and Japan if
case studies from those relatively homogeneous countries had been included. Data
analysis does not indicate that outcomes worsen as the percentage of minority people
increases, or that their homelands are intentionally sought for siting dams. Rather their
predominance in the sample is due more to the location of acceptable dam sites in rugged
terrain that has been colonized by minorities or into which they have been pushed over
the years.