United Nations Environment Programme

LONDON, November 16, 2000 -- World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn today welcomed the release of the World Commission on Dams' final report Thursday in London. The report has been two years in the making since the World Bank and World Conservation Union (IUCN) initiated the setting up of the Commission and its dams review process in 1998.

"This impressive report shows that there is common ground that can be found among people of good faith coming from very diverse starting points," said Wolfensohn. "The World Bank firmly believes in this process of reaching out and encouraging dialogue and consensus building."

Wolfensohn spoke at the launch of the World Commission Report in London, where he was joined by former South African President Nelson Mandela, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, and IUCN Director General Maritta von Bieberstein Koch-Weser. The Commission's Chairman, Kader Asmal, who is also South Africa's education minister, said he was pleased that the World Bank played such a major role in convening the Commission and supporting its independence.

Wolfensohn said, "Dams offer huge benefits but sometimes at a large cost. The Bank is currently funding less than 1 percent of dam projects worldwide within strict environmental and social guidelines. Our involvement in large dams has been decreasing and is focusing more on financing dam rehabilitation and safety and much less on financing new dams. This report will help guide our work in the future and I will immediately pass it to the Bank's shareholders. The critical test for us will be whether our borrowing countries and project financiers accept the recommendations of the Commission and want to build on them."

Wolfensohn said that he would now carry the report back to Washington so that its conclusions and recommendations could be fully studied by Bank staff and by the 182 governments that are the Bank's shareholders.