Dams as Power, Dams as Aid
Repercussions of Dams in Japan & Japanese Aid to Southeast Asia

Date: February 12, 2005. 13:30-15:30
Place: Campus Plaza Kyoto (2 minutes from JR Kyoto Station)
Tickets: 4,000 yen (covers participation in all APG Kyoto Workshops on
Feb 12)

Workshop Overview
Japanese financing of dams has led to destruction of communities and
ecosystems in both Japan and countries in Southeast Asia. In Japan,
while dam development is on the decline, there are still some large
and unnecessary dam projects in progress. The impacts of Japan’s dam
development are not, however, limited to its own borders. Japanese
official financing, (including bilateral ODA and multilateral aid
through international financial institutions) has contributed to the
resettlement and impoverishment of thousands of people and destruction
of the natural environment in Southeast Asia as well. Presentations
will be made on specific dam projects in Japan, the Philippines and
Laos. We hope this will be food for thought for what needs to be done
in order to move away from reliance on this destructive form of power
production.

Program:
i) International Networks Address Destructive Dams
Masahito Ujiie (Suigen-ren; Water Resource Development Issues Network-Japan)
--Introduction to Rivers Watch East and Southeast Asia (RWESA) and its
network in Japan
--Introduction to the World Commission on Dams (WCD) and its
Recommendations

ii) The Village that Defeated a Dam Plan?The Success Story of Kitouson
Village
Megumi Fujita (former Mayor of Kitouson Village)
--How Kitouson Village fought against and successfully stopped the
Hosokouchi Dam Project.

iii) Dams in Southeast Asia and the role of Japanese financing
a) San Roque Dam (Philippines): Report on the problems facing local
communities affected
by this dam constructed with loans from Japan.
Presentation by Hozue Hatae (FoE Japan.)

b) Nam Theun 2 Dam (Laos): Explanation of the threats to the
livelihoods of thousands of villagers by this dam project now being
considered for financing by the World Bank.
Presentation by Aviva Imhof (International Rivers Network) and Satoru
Matsumoto (Mekong Watch)

iv) Panel Discussion / Question and Answer

About the Organizers
　This workshop is being organized by Rivers Watch East &
Southeast Asia-Japan (RWESA-J). RWESA is a network of NGOs from 12
countries in East and Southeast Asia that are taking up
environmental and social issues resulting from river
development/destruction. RWESA’s Japanese members make up RWESA-J.
Namely, FoE Japan, JACSES, Mekong Watch and Suigen-ren.
contact us

[Note: After this workshop, a seminar on the Nam Theun 2 dam
project in Laos will be held in the same building from 16:00.
Activists from NGOs in the US, Thailand and Laos are being invited
to speak at this seminar organized by the ODA Reform Network.]