Following this rationale, resources generated by high-cost investments like large dams are to be put in the hands of those groups or institutions better equipped and prepared to use them in the most efficient way. This implies giving priority to industrial water and energy supply and allocation of irrigation lands to commercial farmers. This might also mean exclusion of certain groups. The role of large dams in regional and national development and its impact on distribution of economic and social benefits to various groups and areas are key issues to be addressed in this thematic review. The extent to which large dams have contributed to food production, food security and poverty alleviation at the local, regional and national level is another dimension requiring careful analysis.
Food security means ability to gain access and consume food.
Further, given the level of investments made on large dams, the analysis may also focus on whether non-large dam alternatives would have achieved the level of food production, food security and reduction in levels and intensity of poverty. Sustainability of gains in food production, food security and poverty alleviation also merits review. Distribution of gains and losses associated with dams is more than a mere equity issue. It poses the very question of the effectiveness of dams as development instruments. For example, while viewing large dams as an instrument in facilitation of development, the impacts are focussed in terms of rural vs urban, local vs national, minority interest vs majority interest, rights of indigenous peoples vs national goals of development.