3. The Role of ICOLD

The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) was founded in 1928 to provide a forum for discussion and for the exchange of knowledge and experience in dam engineering for engineers and others concerned with the development of water resources. Its objectives are to encourage improvements in dam engineering in all its aspects, and in all phases of the planning, design, construction and operation of dams and associated works.

At Congresses and Symposia as well as in specially appointed Technical Committees, the Commission gathers relevant information, and addresses questions concerning technical, environmental, social, economic and financial aspects of dam development, with particular emphasis on overall safety and compatibility with the environment, and then disseminates the results to its members.

With a present total of 85 member countries, ICOLD leads the profession in ensuring that dams are built and operated safely, efficiently, economically, and with a minimum environmental impact. For more than 20 years, ICOLD has been particularly concerned to enhance the profession's awareness of the social and environmental aspects of dams and reservoirs, and to broadening its perspective in such a way that these aspects receive the same attention and conscientious treatment as the technical aspects. As early as 1973, this concern was expressed as follows [I. Chéret, General Report on Question 40, 11th Congress on Large Dams, Madrid, 1973]: "The real problem to be solved is the question whether dams are useful or detrimental, whether they improve our environment as a whole and man's well-being or whether they spoil it, and appreciating in each case whether they should be built or not, and according to what characteristics."

To reflect the growing concern for the environment, a Committee on the Environment was formed in 1972 and has been renewed four times since. In a number of Technical Bulletins [See Annex C) ] this Committee has addressed many environmental problems related to dams, including socio-economic, ecological and geophysical effects as well as water quality. In June 1980, ICOLD published a comprehensive matrix in Bulletin No. 35 as a guideline for the identification and evaluation of all conceivable effects of individual dams on the specific parts of their environment. Since 1973, environmental issues related to reservoirs have been the subject of papers, communications and discussions at eight ICOLD Congresses [See Annex D) ].

In the future, ICOLD will intensify its activities to harmonize the development of water resources with the conservation of the environment and with regard for the people affected by a project. It will advance the growth of our understanding of environmental interactions and progress in the methods available to control them by the collection, analysis, evaluation and publication of actual experience, including the elaboration of guidelines based on such experience. It will encourage the application of environment conscious criteria and objectives, as well as the establishment of an adequate legal and institutional framework tailored to every country's specific conditions and needs. It will provide its members with up-to-date information on the current norms of environmental care and the state-of-the-art in dealing with environmental issues.

In addition, ICOLD will collect and review relevant technical papers, recommendations and instructions issued by other international organizations, and make them accessible to its members. This service will also apply to the official directives for conducting environmental impact assessments in general which have been issued in many countries, and which could serve as examples in others.

Wherever appropriate and mutually beneficial, ICOLD will collaborate with other international organizations and associations. It will assist them in maintaining a vigorous exchange or transfer of technology and knowledge to enable all countries to profit from the current state-of-the-art.