Dam Scientists

Abstract

Dams are one of the most impressive symbols of human power over nature. They have been a distinctive feature of development in the 20th Century in most of the world, often sparking contestation and local resistance against local environmental and social consequences. Environmentalist movements, particularly in Western countries, contributed to a slowdown in the construction of dams during the 1970s and 1980s, but in the 1990s, dam construction was again back on the scene in the framework of debates over climate change and the production of clean energy. The discussion on the relationship between development, the need for clean energy and environmental protection revolves around one central question: can we still consider dams as an effective tool for  development in the 21st Century despite all the environmental and social drawbacks that their construction and operation entail?
This workshop aims to reflect on the actors influencing the relationship between environment and development in different historical and geographical contexts by focusing on scientists and technical experts. To what extent have scientific knowledge-production activities in international organizations, construction companies, consultancies and social movements influenced the decision-making process and public opinion about dam construction and its relation with environmental concerns?
The workshop is organized in the framework of the research project "Inventing the Global Environment: Science, Politics, Advocacy and the Environment-Development Nexus in the Cold War and Beyond", coordinated by prof. Sara Lorenzini.

Programme

Monday 17 April 2023, h. 10:45-17:30

10:45-11:15 - Welcome

• Stefano Schiavo (Director of the School of International Studies, University of Trento)
• Sara Lorenzini (School of International Studies, University of Trento)
• Guido Zolezzi (Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, Università di Trento)

11:15-12:30 - Keynote speech

• Yasir Mohamed (Associate Professor of Hydrology IHE Delft, Former Minister of Water and Irrigation of Sudan)

12:30-14:00 - Lunch Break

14:00-16:00 - Panel 1 Asia

• Ramya Swayamprakash (Grand Valley State University): Interpreting Rivers for Dams: Indian Hydro-Engineers, Rivers and Knowledge Creation 1930-1980
• Arunabh Ghosh (Harvard University): Small Hydropower, Renewable Energy, and Rural Development in the People’s Republic of China, 1950s-1980s
• Covell F. Meyskens (Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey): Transforming the Yangzi River into a Hydropower Engine for China and the World
• Ramachan A. Shimray (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai): Indigenous People, Dam and Resistance Movement at the Indo-Myanmar Border

Discussant: Sofia Graziani (University of Trento)

16:00-16:30 - Coffee break

16:30-17:30 - Panel 2 Latin America

• Frederik Schulze (University of Muenster): The Quest for Environmental Knowledge: Biologists and Dam-Building in the Brazilian Amazon (1970-1990s)
• Nathalia Capellini (University of Geneva): Environmental Management and Dam Construction during Brazil’s Military Regime (1964-1985)

Discussant: Louisa Parks (University of Trento)

Tuesday 18 April 2023, h. 9:00-12:30

9:00- 11:00 - Panel 3 Africa

• Sara de Simone (University of Trento): Science-based decision-making over large dams: reflections on the case of Gibe III (Ethiopia)
• Emanuele Fantini (IHE Delft Institute for Water Education): Whose Reinassance? Picturing Water, Dams and Development in Ethiopia
• Alessandro Iandolo (University College London): Damming West Africa: The Politics of Hydroelectric Energy in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali, 1957-1968
• Yacob Arsano (Addis Ababa University): Upstream-downstream Imperatives on Trans-boundary water Development

Discussant: Sara Lorenzini (University of Trento)

11:00-11:15 - Coffee Break

11:15-12:15 - Panel 4 Europe

• Sebastian De Pretto (University of Berne/University of Innsbruck): Negotiating Resettlements: The Power of Experts in Building Dams and Displacing Alpine Communities in Switzerland and Italy, 1945-1970
• Francesco Magno (University of Messina): Envisioning a Socialist River: Romanian-Bulgarian Projects of Damming the Danube, 1968-1989

Discussant: Umberto Tulli (University of Trento)

12:15-12:30 - Concluding remarks

Sara Lorenzini (University of Trento)