Forwarded by Global Response.

---------------------------
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network,"

After the publication of the recommendations of the World Commission
on Dams (see www.dams.org/), the World Bank seemed to be pulling
back from Big Dam projects, based on economic, environmental and
human rights concerns. So it is disturbing to see the Bank stubbornly
promoting construction of a $530 million dam at Uganda's Bujagali
Falls, even after European development banks and the US Overseas
Private Investment Corporation dropped out of the project. Ugandan
environmental and rural development organizations are asking for
international support in their efforts to stop this dam and redirect
the Bank's attention toward developing renewable energy options that
would make electricity more affordable and accessible to the majority
of Uganda's citizens.

Please read this action alert and send a letter to the president of
the World Bank today. What happens in Uganda may set the course for
World Bank energy policy. Will it be back to megaprojects that
benefit corporations at the expense of the poor, or onward toward
renewable energy and sustainable, community-based development?

Thank you for your help in this campaign. --Paula Palmer

*************************************************************

GLOBAL RESPONSE ACTION ALERT #7/03

Stop World Bank Funding for Bujagali Dam / Uganda

Nov-Dec 2003

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"Big is beautiful again: in spite of their abysmal track
record, Big Dams are back in

style at the World Bank." - Peter Bosshard, Policy Director,
International Rivers Network

"The real issue in Uganda is not electricity but poverty." -
Save Bujagali Crusade

The World Bank should know better. Its own reports show
that after 50 years its top-down development schemes - aimed at
alleviating poverty - have left the people of Africa poorer. In
Uganda, a lush land that lies between the tropical forests of the
Democratic Republic of Congo and the dry plains of Kenya and
Tanzania, the average annual income is barely $300, and 95 percent of
the population lacks electricity.

So the World Bank and the Ugandan government come up with
the outdated solution of building a big dam. They claim the project
will double electrical output, stimulate industrial development and
bring electricity to Uganda's poor. Never mind that the Bank's own
study shows that only 7 percent of Uganda's population would be able
to afford electricity from the high-cost ($530 million) Bujagali
project. In addition, the dam would destroy Uganda's "national
treasure," the beautiful Bujagali Falls at the source of the Nile.
Whitewater rafting on the spectacular series of cascading rapids just
8 km from Lake Victoria generates $60 million a year in tourist
revenues, with great potential for growth if the falls remain wild.

There are so many environmental and economic problems
with the Bujagali Dam that the US Overseas Private Investment
Corporation and development banks in Germany, France, Sweden and
England have all dropped out. Corporate sponsor AES Corp abandoned
the project in August, citing financial woes (AES had been the target
of a Global Response/International Rivers Network email campaign).
But the World Bank Group, which approved $215 million for Bujagali in
loans and guarantees, is still looking for a new corporate partner to
build the dam.

In Uganda, a coalition of organizations called the Save Bujagali
Crusade and the National Association of Professional
Environmentalists are urging government and Bank officials to put the
Bujagali Professional Environmentalists are urging government and
Bank officials to put the Bujagali project on hold in order to study
alternatives. To bring the benefits of electricity to the rural poor,
the coalition favors development of Uganda's geothermal, solar and
micro-hydro resources, as well as better management of the national
grid which currently leaks over a quarter of energy produced. An
alternate hydro-electric project site at Karuma is also preferred
because its location would favor the underdeveloped northern region,
and environmental and social impacts would be minimized.

Uganda is blessed with geothermal potential estimated at
450 megawatts - twice as much power as the Bujagali dam is expected
to generate. Whereas power from the dam would surge into the grid all
at once (providing more electricity than Uganda would be able to
utilize), geothermal power can be brought online incrementally, as
demand increases. Clean, renewable and economical, geothermal can
provide power in rural areas where it is too costly to extend the
national grid. Neighboring Kenya already produces 67 MW from
geothermal resources and expects to produce 576 MW by 2019.

A 1996 study by the World Bank and the United Nations
Development Program also found "favorable conditions" for solar
development in Uganda. Again, Kenya provides a model: more rural
Kenyan households get power from solar than from the grid.

The World Bank's stubborn promotion of the Bujagali dam
prevents serious consideration of efficiency and renewable energy
alternatives that could fuel rural development and help the poor.

*************************

HOW WE CAN HELP:

*************************

Support the Save Bujagali Crusade by urging the World Bank to finance
a full assessment of energy alternatives for Uganda. See
letter-writing tips below.

***************************************************

SPECIAL FOCUS: GEOTHERMAL BASICS

***************************************************

What is geothermal energy?

Geothermal heat originates at the earth's core, where temperatures
may reach over 9,000 degrees F. Melted rock, or magma, from the core
moves continuously up toward the crust, where it heats nearby rock
and rainwater that has seeped into the earth. Some of this hot
geothermal water travels back up through cracks and reaches the
earth's surface as hot springs or geysers, but most of it stays
trapped underground.

How is geothermal energy tapped?

Wells are drilled into geothermal reservoirs to bring the hot water
to the surface. Geologists, geochemists and engineers test to locate
underground areas that contain geothermal water, to learn where to
drill wells. The wells bring the hot water and/or steam to the
surface, where it is used to spin turbines and produces electricity.
The used geothermal water is then returned down an injection well
into the reservoir to be reheated, to maintain pressure and to
sustain the reservoir.

What are the advantages of geothermal-generated electricity?

* Clean: Geothermal power plants do not burn fuels, or result in
dams, mines, open pits, waste heaps or oil spills. Because they are
so clean, they can be built in the middle of agricultural land.

* Conserves land: Geothermal requires less land per megawatt than
almost any other type of power plant.

* Reliable: Since they are built atop their fuel source, geothermal
plants are resistant to interruptions of power generation due to
weather, natural disasters or political rifts.

* Flexible: Geothermal power plants can have modular designs, with
additional units installed in increments as needed to fit growing
demand for electricity.

* Economically stable: Geothermal "fuel" - like the sun and the wind
- is always where the power plant is, so the economic benefits remain
in the region.

(Thanks to the Geothermal Education Office,
http://geothermal.marin.org"http://geothermal.marin.org/>http://geothermal.marin.org, for this
information. For more on geothermal power, see:
www.nrel.gov/clean_energy/teach_geoelec.html and
www.nps.gov/yell/press/images/thermalf/index.htm)

**************************

REQUESTED ACTION

***************************

Please send a polite letter to the president of the World Bank Group.
If possible, send a copy of your letter to the CEO of Eskom
Enterprises, the corporation that is most likely to partner with the
World Bank in the Bujagali dam project.

* Express your concern that the World Bank's Bujugali Dam
project will destroy Bujagali Falls, a natural wonder, and the
growing tourism industry that it supports. The dam will also provide
electricity at such high cost that most Ugandans will not be able to
afford it.

* Urge the World Bank to undertake a complete assessment of
energy options for Uganda (as recommended by the World Commission on
Dams), including improved efficiency, geothermal, micro-hydro, solar,
bagasse and the proposed Karuma dam as an alternative to the Bujagali
site.

* Insist on full citizen and NGO participation in the next
phase of decision making for Bujagali and other proposed dams, and
transparency in all energy contracts.

* Urge the World Bank to work with African governments to
develop a comprehensive management plan for the Nile River before any
new dams are commissioned.

*************

ADDRESS:

*************

James. D. Wolfensohn, President
The World Bank
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20433 U.S.A.

FAX: + 202 522-3031

EMAIL: [email protected]

********************************************************

PLEASE SEND A COPY OF YOUR LETTER TO:

********************************************************

Enos Banda, CEO
Eskom Enterprises
P.O. Box 1091
Johannesburg 2000, South Africa

FAX: +27 (0)11 800-4338

EMAIL: [email protected]

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IMPACT SCALE

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**** Personal letter sent by regular mail

*** Personal fax

** Personal email

* Mass-produced messages

This Global Response Action was issued at the request of and with
information provided by the National Association of Professional
Environmentalists (Uganda) and International Rivers Network. For
more information, see www.uganda.co.ug/bujagali/;
www.irn.org/programs/bujagali/ ; www.ifc.org/bujagali/;
www.irn.org/programs/safrica/index.asp?id=030601.eskomfactsheet.html

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Paula Palmer, Program Director

Global Response

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Boulder CO 80306

USA

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FAX: 303-449-9794

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.globalresponse.org"http://www.globalresponse.org/>http://www.globalresponse.org

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