Changing economics

The policy of the World Bank with regard to the funding of hydro schemes is questioned. Following evidence of the support given by the World Bank to many hydro schemes in the past 30 years, the reasons for the cutbacks in the 1990s are queried. A spokesman for the World Bank discusses the decline in funding. The increasing importance of environmental and social issues was a major factor in the Bank supporting the formation of the World Commission on dams in 1997. The Bank's spokesman asked if hydro can modernise itself and can it compete with other sources of energy in terms of cost and environmental impact. (UK)