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During and after colonialism, numerous
dams and related water works have been constructed in Africa.
One of the leading examples is the Akosombo
Dam on the Volta River in Ghana. This dam, while flooding a significant
fraction of the country, was originally seen as providing the
basis for regional economic development. Promoted first by the
British, and subsequently after independence by Ghana's government,
which saw the project as central to asserting the nation's leadership
within its region, the dam eventually went ahead when it was
tied to construction of an aluminum smelter by the American company
Kaiser Aluminum, which obtained extremely favourable terms for
purchasing electricity. The project has since had a wide range
of damaging economic and environmental impacts on Ghana, while
providing few benefits.
The first large dam in Africa was the
Kariba, built in the late 1950s by British colonial authorities
(with the assistance of the World Bank) on the River Zambezi,
between what is now Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam was built to
provide power for copper mines, while providing little benefit
to those living nearby. Since then, several other projects have
been built or proposed in this area of southern Africa.
Another area of activity has been in
the development of large-scale irrigation projects in the Sahel.
Most often, these projects -- often justified on the basis of
combatting desertification -- take over large supplies of water,
for the benefit of relatively few farmers. Examples of these
projects can be found in the Lake Chad basin, and on the Senegal
River. These projects have often been accompanied by extensive
corruption, local protests, and highly unequal access to water.
According to Thayer Scudder, "The primary effect to date
of river basin development in tropical Africa has been to transfer
the resources of rural riverine habitats to the urban, residential,
commercial and industrial sectors." (quoted in Pearce, The
Dammed, pp. 252). They have also diverted scarce economic resources
away from more useful investments. For example, according to
Fred Pearce, "state irrigation schemes soaked up three-quarters
of Nigeria's considerable capital expenditures on agriculture
during the early 1980s, while at the end of the decade 94 per
cent of Nigeria's irrigation was still done by small projects,
one of which received a penny from the government's irrigation
agency." (Pearce, The Dammed, p. 174).
A feature shared by most African dam
projects is that they have usually been designed by engineering
experts from elsewhere, who have rarely remained on site long
enough to observe the impacts of their work. As such, they represent
leading examples of the process of African development conceptualized
as a series of interventions from outside the continent, with
funding, expertise, and often, the demand for hydropower, coming
from elsewhere. The persistent view has been of development being
imposed on a region, stimulating economic progress through the
conversion of natural resources into commodities through which
the people of that region can participate more effectively in
the world economy.
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"The first dam of
the World Bank-funded Lesotho Highlands Water Project is nearing
completion. The estimated US$8 billion, five-phase project is
designed to divert water from the southwesterly flowing Orange
River to the northern industrial Transvaal region in South Africa
through a series of dams, tunnels, and pumping stations. Sluice
gates of the Katse Dam closed on Oct 20, 1995, despite the fact
that critical social and environmental problems affecting some
20,000 Basotho people remain unresolved. The resettlement scheme
was rated one of the worst in Africa, due to inadequate compensation
for lost land and increases in health problems including AIDS
(the project got a rating of "3" for its resettlement
program in the 1995 World Bank report, "Resettlement Remedial
Action Plan for Africa". A 3 indicates serious or potentially
serious problems. A 4 is the lowest rating). Critical environmental
studies were not completed before construction began.
"Katse Dam has also triggered
reservoir-induced earthquakes, damage from which has led to increased
social and resettlement problems. IRN is working with groups
in Southern Africa, Europe and North America to pressure project
funders to halt work on future phases of the project until unresolved
issues with the first phase are addressed. The World Bank is
currently assessing its role in future phases of the project,
and may decide by June 1997 whether or not to provide a loan
for Mohale
Dam, the second dam in Phase 1."
The International Rivers Network has
highlighted the significance of Lesotho's Highlands Water Project
(description from www.irn.org): |
Sources:
o Adams, W. M., Wasting the
Rain: Rivers, People and Planning in
Africa, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992).
[Highly useful survey of river development in Africa.
Particularly strong in its analysis of the place of dams in the
development process, as a form of expert intervention from
outside.]
o Derban,
L. K. A., "Ghana's Kpong Dam - Case Study of the
Environmental Impact," (Sadler 1987), II: 502-518.
o Mung'ong'o, Claude, "Pangani
Dam Versus the People," pp. 105-118;
and Ann Danaiya Usher, "Pangani Power Struggle: Nordic dam
builders on a Tanzanian river," pp. 119-132; both in: A.
D.
Usher, ed., Dams as Aid: A political anatomy of Nordic
development thinking, (London: Routledge, 1997).
"Nordic countries assist Pangani Falls redevelopment,"
Water
Power & Dam Construction, 1993, January: 17-22.
o
Okeke, Osita C., "Environmental Aspects of Water Resources
Development in Nigeria," J. Environmental Hydrology,
1995, 3(1): 28-35.
o Pearce,
Fred, The Dammed, pp. 122-128, 167-181, 252-256, 272-281 [profile
of the Akosombo project in Ghana; of irrigation projects in the
Sahel, and on the River Senegal, and of hydroelectric projects
on the Zambezi River.]
o
Scudder, Thayer, "River Basin Projects in Africa,"
Environment, 1989, 31(2): 4-9, 27-32. [Comprehensive survey
of these projects, arguing for need for radical change in approaches
to river development in Africa.]
o
Tsikoane, Tumelo, "Water and Politics: Lesotho's Highlands
Water Scheme may deprive that country of not only its water but
its culture as well," Cultural Survival Quart., 1993,
17(2): 48-50. |