What is Sustainable Development?
Sustainable development is not a new concept; the Ancient Indian king Asoka believed that humans could exploit the earth’s natural resources without consequences. He further advocated that any trees that were cut down should be replaced: this was probably the first attempt at something akin to a sustainable development policy. In the modern world, the first attempt to discuss or define sustainable development and its implications was not conducted until 1983. The first organisation to undertake the work was the Brundtland Commission, an organisation set up by the General Assembly of the United Nations not only to discuss the philosophy, but to discuss its implications and feasibility in the modern world.
This Commission first used the phrase ‘sustainable development’ and defined it thus: “to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. As a result, political ecologists and environmentalists now use the term ‘sustainable development’ in order to discuss the need for change in the way that humans use and relate to the natural world. This means that good management of the environment and its resources are needed in order to maintain the planet for future generations. Indeed, the question of sustainable development is further complicated by the potential problem of rapid world-wide population growth. For example, it is projected that by the end of this century, the world population will be between 8 and 12 billion, that is, roughly double its present figure of 5 billion. Therefore, possibly the biggest demands that humans now make, and will with increasing pressure continue to make, on the natural environment is for energy.
Large Dams and Sustainable Developmen
Large dams have been built, or are planned, on many – it not most – of the world’s major river systems. Rivers are dammed in order to create a huge body of water which will then create hydroelectric power by turning turbines as it is allowed to pour down in a controlled way through the dam. However, hydroelectric projects can be massively controversial. The sheer scale of world-wide damming projects could constitute a “substantial interruption to the planet’s hydrological cycle”; the long-term effects of which are yet to be fully seen, though in the short-term, the alternation of a natural flood cycle can have a dramatic effect further down-steam. Moreover, dams often completely destroy the wetland areas often found around river deltas. Wetlands often support a stunning range of life, and their loss can lead to substantial land degradation, and the subsequent exposure of the surrounding land to increased risk of flooding. The flooding of areas such as wetlands and other fertile ground can destroy not only animal habitats, but can force large numbers of humans to resettle: In India, around 21 million people have been forced to relocate as a direct consequence of dam-construction since the early 1960s.
Not only do dams have the potential to wreak large-scale environmental damage, but the efficiency of dams as a source of non-carbon emitting hydroelectric power must also be called into question. Dams often silt up at a rate 10 to 20 times higher than that predicted, thus severely reducing the capacity of the dam to produce power. For example, The Aswan dam on the Nile disrupted the famous annual flooding of the Nile, for many millennia a vital support to that region’s agriculture and fishing. The dam prevented 100 million tonnes of rich alluvial material, previously carried by the river, from being deposited on the shores of the Nile. This material was trapped behind the dam instead, where it silted up the reservoir rather than being put to use as fertiliser for the Nile flood plains.
However, since dams are one possible source of ‘green’ energy, they are not to be completely discounted out of hand. Dams generate hydroelectric power with little or no emission of one of the most damaging green-house gases, namely, carbon dioxide. Therefore, dams have the ability to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels (which all are a limited resource and so will one day run out) and so our reliance on these as our main source of energy. Moreover, they are generally a very safe form of technology; though there are occasional dam failures, these are rare (though catastrophic when they do occur). Despite the many problems as discussed above which are associated with large dam projects, there are some engineering solutions to prevent some of these. For example, siltation can be reduced by designing gates which let out flood water, and so-called ‘silt traps’, which have the aim of slowing down the siltation rate, can be built. The effect on the habitats of wetlands and flood-plains under the sphere of influence of a dam can be reduced by controlling the release of water so it is let out in gradual stages rather than damagingly all at once.
Though such mitigating measures can go to some lengths to minimise the environmental impact of dams, many dams still pose significant long-term threats to the environment, and as such, may not be considered as falling within the definition of ‘sustainable development’ as outlined above. It is now necessary to look at a specific dam case study, the Ilisu dam, in relation to the question of environmental damage and sustainable development.
About the Ilisu dam
The proposed site of the Ilisu dam will be situated on the Tigris, over a region currently occupied by the Kurdish ethnic group, in Turkey. This is only a distance of 65 km upstream from the borders with Syria and Iraq – two areas of the world which in recent years have seen much political turbulence. This calls into question the very safety of the dam as a sole possession of the Turkish nation state, since the two main rivers of this region, the Euphrates and the Tigris are not big enough to accommodate the demand for water posed by these three countries. As such, the ownership of the water supply in the Middle East is an issue with significant political ramifications; with the potential to cause conflict if one country successfully blocks another country’s water supply.
The Ilisu dam is planned to measure 1820 metres long and 135 metres high, with a reservoir covering a surface area of 313 square kilometres and containing up to 10.4 billion cubic metres of water. The Ilisu power station is expected to produce 3800 GWh of power per year, mainly providing energy for Turkish nationals, whom their government states suffer from an energy shortfall and so require energy from hydroelectric power stations in order to supplement this need. The Ilisu dam is expected to cost $2 billion or over, taking into account financing costs.
The original building project was projected to start in 2000, and take place over the next 7 to 8 years. However, the dam project attracted a lot of controversy due to the potential it had for creating wide-spread environmental damage, loss of archaeological data and relocation of those who lived in the prospective area of the new dam. As a result, in 2002 a large campaign, undertaken by the people of the historic settlement of Hasankeyf (one of the key areas threatened by the dam; if it were built, it would be completely submerged) and other environmentalists and sympathisers in Europe brought about the forced withdrawal of the British construction company, Balfour Beatty and other European-based construction companies, to withdraw from the project. However, in only April of this year, Siemens, a German civil engineering company, bought another company which has a contract to build the Ilisu dam, and plan to start work as soon as possible. This is despite the intense local and world-wide environmental opposition to the project, and despite the successful prevention of the project back in 2002, after it had been generally discredited.
What is the role of Technology to the Ilisu da
Is there any possibility for solution to such a messy conflict, which involves not only issues of sustainable development, but also those of politics and good international relations? One possible solution could be sought via technology, ironically the very thing accused of bringing about the advent of large-scale dam engineering projects such as the Ilisu dam. One of the main advantages of hydroelectric power is that the production of water can be directly linked to demand. This is because water can be stored during times of low demand, and then released later to generate electricity when demand is much higher. This is a significant advantage, when combined with the negligible emissions that dams produce, such that to abandon dam technology completely seems not to be the right answer. The future of hydroelectric power is therefore most likely to be found in small hydroelectric power projects. Small hydroelectric plants have a lower power generation capacity than large dams (of which Ilisu is a typical case study) but have vastly reduced environmental and social impact, and thus are not so controversial nor have such serious political knock-on effects. Small hydroelectric plants (with a power generating capacity of only around 10 MW) are far better suited to small communities in industrialised countries, such as those that obtain in the Kurdish occupied regions of south east Turkey, the proposed area for the Ilisu dam.
What can we learn from the Ilisu dam for the future
Clearly, we need to rethink the way our lifestyles and economies are sustained in the rich countries of the world. If there is to be any possibility of supporting the energy, water and food demands of an ever-increasing world population, then development most certainly does need to be ‘sustainable’. Within that context, then finding clean sources of energy, of which hydroelectric power plants, made possible by dam technology are only one, though potent, example. However, it seems that many of the world’s largest dam projects have been built with little, if any, consideration made of the environmental and social impact they will have. This utter carelessness has no doubt brought about greater environmental damage than if conventional fossil fuel power stations had been built instead. Still, it would be entirely unfair to abandon dam technology completely and to brand it as environmentally unsustainable, and it is not the intent of this essay to argue for this. Rather, dam technology would seem to be most appropriate when on a small-scale, and when the environmental and social impact of dams has been seriously and fully taken in account.
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