Dams: providing or destroying water security?
For over three or four decades, there have been propagandists and antagonists for the construction of dams all over the world. Dams were presumed to evolve with the world as a product of its socio-economic development. History has shown us that dams’ construction is not a recent phenomenon but has existed for sometime, especially with the discovery of the 8,000 year old irrigation canal in the Mesopotamia area.
This paper examines water security as a concept of environmental security and also analysis through history the importance of dams before the development of the “now concept of dams” and also analysis the role of dams in the present concept with positive and negative impacts on water security. The paper ends by identifying the need of consideration of water security in the management of dams.
Keywords: Dams, water, security, irrigation and development.