About science; About man-made African lakes

This is about science produced by the California Institute of Technology that originally broadcast by station KPCC Pasadena California. The programs are made available to the station by a national educational radio. This program is about a man made lakes with host Dr. Albert Hibbs and his guest Dr. Thayer Scudder professor of anthropology at Cal Tech. Here now is Dr. hips damming up rivers to make artificial lake seems to be a favorite project for underdeveloped nations to embark upon. Usually the object is to generate electricity and some hydroelectric power plant at the base of the dam. But often a major unplanned result is a social upheaval experienced by the natives who for generations have lived along the banks of the dammed up river. One such case was studied in detail by our guest tonight Professor thing or scatter of Kalak actually manatees division and there was a location of this principal area that you concentrated on. Well actually I have three principal areas where I'm involved in ongoing studies

of major African dams games. The one I'd like to concentrate on tonight is the Caribbean m scheme which is located in Rhodesia and Zambia on Bones. Yes the Zambia river is the border. I see Queen Zambia and Rhodesia and hence as much in the in the news today for political reasons more than for lakes. Yes indeed. Well when this when this project started was it as many of these seem to be just intended to be power production arm or was there or were other things taken into consideration. Peter early days well in the critic case I think we can say with quite a degree of fairness that it was primarily conceived as a as a uni purpose scheme for the generation of power which was to be used for the processing of copper on the then Northern Rhodesia and now Zambian copper belt for the development of secondary industry in what was then Southern Rhodesia now Rhodesia.

So it was looked upon primarily then as a portion of industrial development. Yes yes. Flood control aspects transportation aspects and in particular river basin and human aspects were pretty much gone. Ignored when it all began. Actual civil contracts for dam construction were awarded in one thousand fifty five and I believe construction begun at that particular time. Our research project began in 1056 after the construction after the construction had started and it extended for a year and the dam was completed in one thousand fifty nine. But in fact this MBP river was sealed in the end of 958 and the lake behind began to form at that time. So just about three years after it began the river began to rise. Right. And was there in the time of before this time no consideration for the people who were living along ancien bank of the river. Very little resettlement is a very complicated process and since

Creba was one of the major large scale dam schemes in Africa I think few people realize the complexities of the of the so-called human factor. I think I want to give some idea of the scale of these dam projects Creba is now the world's largest artificial reservoir because unlike me much bigger than Lake Mead its storage capacity is approximately four times that of Lake Mead running about 130 million acre feet. I see the surface area of the lake is approximately 2000 square miles. And the length of the lake is perhaps 75 miles so you can see it's quite a large undertaking. How many people live along the banks was any estimate of the population to start with. To start with the estimate was an underestimate. When the people were finally relocated it came to approximately 50000 who were moved in again scale of forces is considerable. Half the size of the city of Pasadena. Yes. Right. And what kind of how many tribes were longly of the riverbanks was there

many different kinds of groups there or was it primarily in this case the government was relatively fortunate there was only one. One tribal group the when the Tonga but another dam projects for example of oil to dam in Ghana and the kindy dam in Nigeria the government may be dealing with over 10 different ethnic groups each with quite different type of social organisation quite different way of life and of course this requires relatively different approaches both in regard to resettlement and development. Are these other names about the same size of the project as a whole about the same. All of these three that I mentioned the Creba the voter the kindy and the ask one are. I have mentioned the ass one yet but we all will be mentioning that as time goes on a large scale vote like Korea will have a storage capacity approximately four times that of Lake Mead as will the US one high dam scheme when completed and both of these cases the lake formed will be about 3000 square miles and surface area and the population

relocated in the county in case of Alta 70000 people in the US one case about a hundred twenty thousand people I thought I had always had the impression he asked one dam was in the middle of a desert and nobody lived around for miles and miles. Well that's that's that's true once you get a mile away from the the river but of course the very fertile soils and right now it is true but the population density there was considerable. And then also there's the the town of Wadi Halfa right on the Sudan border. Is this particular they could extend from Egypt south into the Sudan and all of our help will be in that you know down the whole town will garner most of it. On occasion I can remember was under quite a bit of confusion among the natives when the government finally got around to relocating. Yeah there are two problems here. The first problem is is something I already touched on and that is that the relocation is a very complicated thing and it's tremendously hard on the people concerned.

They don't know why they're being moved. They're not apt to accept government explanations as to the need of the move. And this applies whether the project is in what was formally a colony or whether it's in an independent African country. I suppose for most of us the first time I had any contact with the government at all for any purpose well certainly contact of this level of intensity. They've always been under government administration in terms of indirect rule in the British case with political officers over the area in terms of maintaining a minimal degree of political stability and collecting taxes in this kind of thing. But as soon as you decide to build a big dam you bring in a labor force. At the height of perhaps 6000 Africans and perhaps 2000 expatriates. And this means of course that the intensity of the contact that these populations who generally speaking do not have a particularly developed economy. The intensity of the interaction goes up tremendously and the change begin to accelerate. And this is where a lot of the confusion comes in for example in the case with the Volta dam

the people were quite convinced that the lake was not going to be formed. That the whole. Justification of the project given by the government was merely a device to take away from the people their land and use it for other or other purposes. And then the other reason why this type of resettlement is highly complicated is because of the time allotted to the resettlement and the development process following resettlement. To date in all these projects has been entirely inadequate partly because there is no planning ahead of time. Right now preparation I try to move the feasibility studies in these projects that I have mentioned. In fact I have not started as far as population relocation is concerned and as far as development of the lake basin is concerned until after the first civil contracts have been awarded and in some cases after the actual commencement. Construction on the dam. Well what now in going back to can rebuild this one particular case what

kind of occupations did these tribesmen have who lived along the banks where they were they fishermen to start with or were they farmers what they do. These people were mainly subsistence cultivators. They practice fairly intensive cultivation of the fertile oogle soils along the same easy using natural irrigation and then they are cultivated on what we call a Bush family system. Now this is rotating the land when it becomes exhausted. Back in the bush where the soils were less fertile agriculture was their primary occupation. Subsistence strictly This means that there was no or very little export of crops for cash outside of the area. Fishing was a part time activity. A respected part time activity. But the nature of the MBC the rapid flow and the narrow flood plains meant that fish were not particularly accessible. And furthermore the density of fish was not particularly great.

It wasn't there wasn't much encouragement to develop the fishing ark until after the lake. Became formed and then of course the whole ecology change and a different set of conditions came into existence. Or was this foreseen the one planning finally was undertaken for relocation was it intended to try to develop the fishing aspect of this region or whether people just moved on to different farmland. The fishing development in connection with Korea was very wisely planned and it's a good example of a well planned and well implemented scheme in economic development. However you have to realize that fishing is in effect a hunting activity it's not a fishing activity and therefore it cannot support the same population density that agriculture supported anywhere's near the same population density as the relatively intensive cultivation that these people are carried up before the dam was completed. This means that although the fisheries development was well planned and well implemented it only provided support for about 20 percent population. The other 80

percent still had to get their support from agriculture. And here no planning or virtually no planning was was undertaken as or land available for them on the southern Rhodesian side. There was quite a bit of land and there the government policy in effect was just to move the people back in the bush. In effect allow them to re-establish their old world occupations on the northern Rhodesian side now the Zambian side. There was insufficient land and this was one reason for a number of problems that subsequently arose because the people had to be either packed into an area which was initially overpopulated in terms of their technology or they had to be moved out of the middle zone beezy valley up onto the plateau and several thousand feet higher an environment that they weren't particularly familiar with or they were moved downstream below the dam which again was an environment which they were particular familiar with so I think we should sort of consider one the fisheries aspects which was a good example of planning and perhaps also the agricultural aspects which were a poor example plan and both had to be done.

Well of course had to be done once there was a fishing to take a look to know that at first was Did it work out was the plan successful the private men take up the art of fishing in the wake which must be somewhat different of fishing in the rivers. Yes indeed it's sort of too early to tell what will happen but give me just a brief idea of the of the build up. In 19 63 which was in effect four years after the lake was formed the lake Fisheries was supporting approximately 2500 fisherman with their dependence on a peasant fishing basis. And these fishermen on the northern bank of the same B.C. were catching up to 3000 tons of fish per annum and this is an area where ten years earlier there was virtually no catch a fish for export in fact occasionally you would find people bringing fish in from the outside could export an artist at that yes you're right they can actually yes the the build up of the of the

fish catch was associated with the build up of traders coming down from the northern region copper belt with trucks and very crude but highly effective box fridges insulated with fiber glass or something of this nature which would have a capacity of let's say five tons of iced fresh fish and these were being packed and taken up to the copper belt for them for urban consumption. Just out of curiosity went to getting ice. The ice they would bring down from the copper belt. But in 1963 a ice planet. I think of a 15 ton capacity per day was actually established by a commercial firm. This is the kind of role that that local businessman or whether expatriate or African can play in this kind of development project. And so the traders were able to get their ice at one of them at one of the market centers and also ice could be used for transporting for fish from fish camps which were perhaps on islands and you could

at least cool down your fish on the islands and bring it in so could still be relatively fresh at the time the traders have picked it up. Was there any role played in all of this by a European businessman or they asked to come in and assist me in this development or provide any small industry base or. Actually there were two two separate policies and I think I would concentrate on that on the north bank which was under Northern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia at that time was a self-governing colony. Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate and the ultimate justification of the protectorate was to eventually hand over the country to the African population on the southern Rhodesian side. The government which was dominated by the the white settlers. They wanted to bring in European industry and have the commercial concessions for fishing. Strictly in the hands of Europeans firms from South Africa and from from Rhodesia with the local African population the Tonga now

involved as employees or catching fish and selling it to the big European concessionaire on the northern Rhodesian side on the other hand. The emphasis from the very beginning which I think was the correct emphasis was to help the dislocated population. Become fisherman and hence not only find a alternate way of subsistence from the one which they were being displaced in connection with but also give them the chance to develop a cash economy and raise their entire standard of living. So this northern bank it was primarily an ATP operation I concede to such to be handled by the natives in their own way right ballot from their own custom. How did the southern bank plan work out. Were fishing industries established. Did they get enough fish to pay for the developments on the southern bank followed those on the northern bank. The Southern Region government was much more

conservative in the sense that the lake was start with 40 tons of fingerlings LaPierre fingerlings rather like a small mouth bass is FARs but they look like. Which are very good eating fish with high commercial potential So the Rhodesian authorities were rather worried about the fingerlings being caught out before they had a chance to breed up to the coming to pass of the lake. So they had a fairly strict regulations as to who could fish and when. And the local population were not allowed to begin fishing until several years after the commercial fisheries had developed on the on the north bank. This gave them the advantage of learning from the mistakes of the North Bank people and quite often when I was there. Yes and profiting from their successes. Now they allowed the commercial firm to come in before they allowed the build up of their own South Bank local population and I would say that the

commercial firm has not been as successful in fishing this resource on the southern side as the local population has been only on the northern side while the fishing techniques themselves. Have I mentioned a while ago that they must be quite different from what the natives were used to. How readily could they adapt to catching a different type of Asian ally comes down. This is a good question and it's one of course which applies to all of these projects that is can you can you use the relocation of fifty thousand people as a chance to introduce entirely new productive devices can you in effect prepare a new environment for them in this particular case there was quite a difference between the old techniques and the new techniques and quite a few people in government were not too sure that the local population would be able to adjust to the new techniques the new Fisheries was going to be a gill net fisheries. One of the old ones but the old Fisheries was primarily various sort of gathering techniques with women using different types of

baskets which they would in effect drag through shallow waters or place across tributaries. When the floods were receding men were using spears making small barriers with valved and Valdis fish traps in these barriers. Now this. Technique sounds fairly crude but actually they were quite effective in catching fish at certain times and under certain types of water conditions. They were not effective in the main channel of the Samiti because the water flow was about four to five about four knots and therefore it was very difficult to fish the main channel even with sophisticated European techniques. Now at the time the dam construction began. There were no records of kill nets being used by the local population and yet within a five year period in part because of a very excellent government training program on the north bank and one I'm talking about is all on the North Bank and also because of the provision of credit to enable the local population to to buy boats and then if they

could successfully use these boats or maybe 700 footers to then buy outboard motors. And to gradually upgrade their equipment they had credit and training as a result of these and the people's natural aptitude and fairly intimate knowledge of their environment. They were able to efficiently use gill nets within a several year period so that they did take the training very quickly. How quickly how long does it take to train. Tonda tribesman to learn how to use a gill net. The courses in the fisheries training center were two week courses and for learning how to set a goal net first to mount it to mount it on a headline and set it and then repair it. OK should get crocs or hippopotamus let's not say have partners because I could take the whole net. But if you get small crocs and small fish or or snakes making more small holes they will learn how to repair those. And then in effect general maintenance of the net. A little bit about how to dry fish so that if they were able to sell it fresh they could.

First of all sun dry it and then smoke it. This kind of thing could be weeks. The essentials could be taught in what was initially a 10 day to two week course and eventually was developed into a one month course. But comparing the Tongass who did take up the fishing with the Tongass who moved out into the area. Farming relocating to farming lands. Who would you say is better off now than the fishermen are much better off and much better off. But because the fishing resource is relatively limited I would estimate that the lake fisheries can probably only support two thousand fisherman. And if you give them each one let's say five dependents this means perhaps only 20 percent of the total population. The other people are still primarily oriented towards agriculture and because very

little attention was paid to increasing agricultural production at the time of relocation. And in fact because when the people were relocated they had not had time because of poor planning poor timing to clear new gardens it was necessary for the government to feed the local population during certain months of the year for a two year period. They in effect had to start their their new lives under conditions of a famine relief. And you can imagine that this had a rather rather depressing effect on the people. Confusing them in a situation which is already confused. Also the low nature of the diet had certain medical implications in terms of higher death rates following resettlement so that both in terms of the future and in terms of the present and in terms of the period immediately following resettlement those who took to fishing and are able to compete in what will be a highly competitive

industry in the US. That's got about the competition problem by the way the. There must be other tribesman around the area besides the Tongass who live down the river and actually other trial men who perhaps know a little bit about Lake fishing or something of the sort. We're going to move him now and right now it's the government plan here was to keep the lake a closed area. It was only open to the local people but Tonga. On the north bank the Tonka had their own local authority which is a. In effect their own political organization and the local authority passed a number of audit ordinances to keep outside fishermen out for a number of years. Incidentally it was this local authority which refused to have European fishermen come in to fish this fairly fertile resource and also refused to cooperate with the Southern Region government for commercial fisheries which we covered over the over the whole whole lake and have there been any difficulties a costa

lake with between the Northern and Southern Rhodesia is over this fish problem yet as well a border now is completely closed between Zambia and Rhodesia and it is patrolled. I would imagine with great efficiency both by boat patrol and by Air Patrol and by foot patrol by the Rhodesian government. Not because of fish problems but because of the problems of infiltrating people coming in from the north in terms of deep political nationalism between black and white satin Sharia and any fish wars between official not that we know of but your earlier question about outside fishermen now outside fishermen are allowed to come in but I think that the two to three year prior training that the local people had will enable the most successful to continue fishing in competition with these outsiders. Madison as I mentioned Irish and know of the. That's right two thousand number you.

Any any way of estimating how many will be left. RS I would say that the fisheries will always be dominated by the Tongo who are the local people simply because it's their their home area. And dominated may mean perhaps over 50 percent and perhaps up to 75 percent of the fishermen will be local people. These other projects that you mentioned when we started is there any chance that the people who run those are going to profit at all from experience as a career or are they already too far down the road. Well we hope so actually. The philosophy of the governments involved for the Ghana project and the Egyptian project the US one we're quite different than the philosophy of those involved Creba. They were looking at the schemes as a chance to make a great jump forward as far as the people undergoing relocation. But again there were the same problems and these problems are simply these one is the problem of timing. There's not enough time to undergo effective resettlement and development if you wait until after construction

of the dam begins the only corrective here is to carry out broader feasibility studies at an earlier date. That's the only way to overcome this timing factor. When I say broader feasibility surveys I mean ecological surveys social surveys agricultural surveys in connection with the potential of the lake basin and the potential of the human population which lives there. This has to be assessed very early in the game. Can anything be done about this interesting problem you mentioned earlier that the tribesmen are one of the rivers or was it the Ghana case didn't believe that I was going to be like I thought it was just a trick to move them out. There's always going to be some skepticism. Obviously you do everything you can to improve your communication. You can do this by taking first of all finding out who the leaders of the people are and then taking these leaders to the dam site showing them what is going on taking them to other projects so that they can see both before and after and hope that they will be able to convince their their followers

this kind of thing has ever been tried. They tried it to a certain extent Creba but many of the people just were not convinced that the water would come up in totally the lake actually was formed. So we're in the ass one situation however these people supposedly are familiar with the idea of a dam since I was a last one down before. I suppose it wasn't so much of a problem to convince them at least a lake was coming correct. The communication problems is not a problem there. The problem is there are timing that is extending the feasibility surveys at an earlier date so that you can have good research information on which to base your resettlement and development. More research and better coordination of all the various agencies which are involved in relocation more finance available for relocation and development. More skilled personnel and many needs of this nature and the

heart of all of this is understanding the people who have to be relocated in what I do and what they need afterwards. I see two kinds of research which are necessary here one is the short term research which will be effective in terms of better relocation and the other is a long term resource research which will give us more understanding of how people actually behave in this kind of situ after another these are done my will have a whole list of things not to do. What percentage have these on. Point of view and what a nice ability to convince somebody to follow it from then on the fact of the matter is we know very little actually about about human behavior. What motivates human behavior at the individual level and why people behave the way they do at the level of membership in societies and other much more information as are many more of these projects planned now undergoing under the rough estimate is that perhaps 75 of these dam projects are on the drawing boards for Africa and Africa alone Africa alone there must be many more in Asia and I'm talking wi us and many of these whether in Africa or Asia or Latin America are going to be major major projects involving large numbers of people and with a tremendous

potential for development. There's a tremendous opportunity to create new environments for people for a better life. As I said to date this opportunity has not been realized because of lack of perspective and lack of attention paid to these various needs such as research and timing that I mentioned. Now perhaps the car riba dam project if it is studied at all by these other groups will lead them to do a better job. Thank you very much Larry for telling us about the problems created by manmade lakes. Like you very much know this was about science with host Dr Albert Hibbs and his guest Dr Thayer Scudder professor of anthropology at the California Institute of Technology. Join us again for our next program when two more members of the Cal Tech faculty will discuss a subject of interest about science is produced by the California Institute of Technology and is originally broadcast by station KPCC in Pasadena California.

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