Water is life. Its flow through ecosystems and the rhythms of seasonal
precipitation shape the livelihoods of the majority of the world’s population.
Fulfilling basic water, food and energy needs of a growing population is a
major challenge, not only for Nepal, but also for other countries, in South
Asia and around the world. The difficulty in meeting the demand for water
underscores the fact that water is crucial for national and local economies,
for the biological functions of human beings, plants and animals, and for
overall ecological processes. Government and private agencies as well as social
and environmental groups, agree on the fundamental importance of water and on
it being a prerequisite to maintain a standard of living. Their views about how
the need for water should be met, however, often differ. The result can be a
negotiated compromise
or, in the worst cases, impasses-ridden contestation. The need for and
utility of dams, particularly large ones, is a major topic of dispute among
various stakeholders in water resources planning, development and use.1 In the 1980s
and the 1990s, this debate became highly visible in the international arena. Advances
in information technology promoted alliances among groups spread across the
globe; together they ran campaigns raising questions about local projects.
These debates slowed the pace of construction of large dam projects and raised
public awareness about their social and environmental costs. Two opposing views
emerged. In one view, large dams are necessary for the water resource
development required to fulfil water and energy needs of the present as well as
growing population in the future. The other view is that the social and
environmental costs associated with large dam construction are too high and
that their performances are poorer than promised.