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A watershed in global governance? An independent assessment of the World Commission on Dams (Executive Summary)∗

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Navroz K. Dubash ,
Mairi Dupar ,
Smitu Kothari  and
Tundu Lissu
Navroz K. Dubash
Affiliation:
World Resources Institute, 10 G Street, NE (Suite 800), Washington, D.C. 20002 USA front@wri.org
Mairi Dupar
Affiliation:
World Resources Institute, 10 G Street, NE (Suite 800), Washington, D.C. 20002 USA front@wri.org
Smitu Kothari
Affiliation:
Lokayan Social Action Group, 13 Alipur Road, Delhi 110054 India lokayan@vsnl.com
Tundu Lissu
Affiliation:
Lawyers' Environmental Action Team (LEAT), Mazingira House, Mazingira Street, Mikocheni Area, P. O. Box 12605, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania leat@twiga.com
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Extract

In mid-2000, Medha Patkar, a leader of one of the best-known social movements in India, and Goran Lindahl, the Chief Executive Officer of one of the world's largest engineering firms, participated in a meeting together in Cape Town. The two came from different worlds. Patkar was weak from undertaking a hunger strike to protest a dam on the Narmada River in western India. Lindahl arrived at the last minute on his private jet. Before their meeting, Patkar animatedly described the recent protests, showed Lindahl pictures of the villagers, and narrated their experiences.

Type
Harrison Symposium I
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , March 2002 , pp. 42 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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References

1.See, for example, WCD Newsletter No. 3, June 1999. Online at: www.dams.org/newsletters/newsletter3.htm (23 August 2001). External audiences have echoed this framing of the WCD. SeeBaur, Jörg and Rudolph, Jochen, “A Breakthrough in the Evolution of Large Dams? Back to the Negotiating Table,” D+C Development Cooperation, No. 2, March/April 2001, p. 9–12. Online at: www.dse.de/zeitschr/de201-3.htm (23 August 2001); Seckler, David and Steiner, Achim, “More Crop per Drop and Dams on Demand? Implications for the 21st Century.” Report given at the ODI-OAS Meeting Series, 9 February 2000. Online at: www.oneworld.org/odi/speeches/water3.html (23 August 2001).Google Scholar
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