Economic benefits vs Environmental benefits...

[shaykh]

I actually came across the topic of dams when looking at the Belo Monte project in Brazil...

Pakistan I believe has something similar with the Tarbela dam...

Do the benefits of these projects outweigh the costs?...

Benefits such as generation of electricity, irrigation etc... Vs costs such as displacement of people and damaging local occupations, environment etc...

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Personally I believe that economic benefits almost always come at the cost of environmental benefit, but since capitalism as pursued by the world's leading nations is considered the ultimate ideology, there's no real getting away from it.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

The way the world works in this current form isn't sustainable and our carbon footprint is a testament to that already.

The mindless and senseless pursuit of more and more things and people becoming nothing else than consumers cannot continue forever. The resources are finite and eventually will run out.

The mega projects have a devastating long-term impact too, and they have shaped our planet as of now. Sea life dying because of higher salinty content in the water, deltas shrinking to non-existence, higher up-river water level causing fertile sand erosion are only some of the negative features of construction of dams.

Pakistan needs to move away from fossil fuel and traditional measures of energy production and move towards reusable energy. Otherwise we'll end up with a landfill and nothing but toxic waste. There's a reason why our air is already the worst in the world, with our fresh water supply all but polluted from all kinds of dangerous chemicals and other harmful things.

And on your question, any mega project that involves tonnes of concrete and traditional building is a step too far in the wrong direction.