Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams

Patrick McCully

Bloomsbury Academic, 2001 - Business & Economics - 359 pages

Entirely updated in the light of the recent World Commission on Dams Report, and responding to it, this new edition of Patrick McCully's now classic study shows why large dams have become such a controversial technology in both industrialized and developing countries. The book explains the history and politics of dam building worldwide and shows why large dams have become so controversial. It details the ecological and human impacts of large dams, and shows how the 'national interest' argument is used to legitimize uneconomic and unjust projects which benefit elites while impoverishing tens of millions, describes the technical, safety and economic problems of dam technology, the structure of the international dam-building industry, and the role played by international banks and aid agencies.

It tells the story of the rapid growth of the international anti-dam movement, and recounts some of the most important anti-dam campaigns around the world. McCully shows how the dam lobby and governments have reacted to criticism by cosmetic 'greening' of the dam-building process, and through state repression outlines the alternatives to dams, and argues that their replacement by less destructive alternatives requires the opening up of the industry's practices to public scrutiny.

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a vvery good book again i like so much ....

Contents

• Acknowledgements: viii
• Introduction to the Updated Edition: xv
• The Power and the Water: 1

About the author

Patrick McCully is campaigns director of the California-based International Rivers Network. He is also an associate editor of The Ecologist and a contributing writer for Multinational Monitor. Since 1992 he has worked with activists in India opposing the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada River. He is co-author of two books, Imperilled Planet (1990) and The Road to Rio: An NGO Action Guide to the Earth Summit (1992).
Patrick McCully is campaigns director of the California-based International Rivers Network. He is also an associate editor of The Ecologist and a contributing writer for Multinational Monitor. Since 1992 he has worked with activists in India opposing the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada River. He is co-author of two books, Imperilled Planet (1990) and The Road to Rio: An NGO Action Guide to the Earth Summit (1992).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams; Political Economy of Capitalism
• Author: Patrick McCully
• Edition: 2, illustrated
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2001
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Jan 28, 2010
• ISBN: 1856499022, 9781856499026
• Length: 359 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Economics / General