The final report of the Worldwide Commission of Dams was published at the end of
the year 2000 in London. The report recognized the fact that although it was possible
to accurately specify how many cubic meters can be stored in the more than 45,000
large dams built in the 20th century, it was impossible to establish how many persons
were put out of their homes as a result of their villages and valleys being flooded by
said dams. It was finally estimated that there were between 40 and 80 million persons,
a range so open that one can’t help but recognize the dramatic and shameful invisibility
of the victims…
From here was born the idea of organizing an exposition that showed the human profile
of the water conflicts around the world, based on the idea of raising visibility of
those affected, giving them the opportunity to tell their stories, voice complaints,
and offer recommendations.
The first international meetings of New Water Culture Foundation, COAGRET,
International Rivers (IR), European Rivers network (ERN), WWF/Adena, Engineers
without Borders (EWB), Ecofondo and the Fundación France Libertés (FFL), opened
the project to other wáter problems which, like the conflicts against large dams,
those affected are made invisible or, in the majority of cases, reduced to cold and
imprecise statistics.