We hope that Mr Wood was right,' commented Gopal Siwakoti of the Arun Concerned Group in Nepal. Western environmentalists once saw hydroelectric power as the ultimate 'green' renewable energy. But the tables are now turned. Opponents of dam-construction are chalking up regular victories in the North as well as the South. Dams are no longer the campaigners' only targets.
Flood barriers are an increasing source of anger to people living beside rivers.
The hydrological lesson is that rivers need to flood across their natural floodplain. Barricade them and they become more, not less, dangerous. In the past 150 years, German engineers have straightened the main branch of the Rhine by 130 kilometres and separated it from its floodplain. As a result spring rains and melting snow from the Alps rush to the sea in half the time that it once took, concentrating rather than dissipating flood surges in cities such as Cologne as well as the delta regions of the Netherlands. German and Dutch activists from the World Wide Fund for Nature have for several years been arguing that the Rhine and its tributaries should be reconnected with its floodplain to encourage nature habitats and to reduce flood risks.