Watershed in Global Governance? An Independent Assessment of the World Commission on Dams Executive Summary

This report analyses the World Commission on Dams (WCD) as a model for global public policymaking on contentious issues of environment, development and justice.The authors trace the WCD's roots in the history of global commissions and civil society organizing. They assess the elements of the WCD process that allowed dam builders and protesters to convene in the same room over two years and to produce a consensus report on the future of large dams. The authors examine the WCD's legacy both for the dams debate and, by implication, for future international efforts to address such controversial issues as oil, gas and mining, debt relief, biotechnology, food security, and trade and the environment.