Battle waged for 20 years over the fate of displaced villagers

Yesterday's protest in London was the latest in a 20-year campaign against dam projects in India and Spain that threaten the environment and livelihoods of thousands of people.

Yesterday's protest in London was the latest in a 20-year campaign against dam projects in India and Spain that threaten the environment and livelihoods of thousands of people.

About 100,000 people in central and western India are likely to be affected by the Narmada Valley Development Project - which started in the mid-Eighties and involves the construction of more than 3,000 dams. The river Narmada links Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, and while some communities will benefit from the scheme, others will lose out.

The Indian government is going ahead with the projects because it wants better irrigation and power generation to serve a population nearing one billion. The people of Gujarat may get cleaner drinking water, but those in Madhya Pradesh are likely to be uprooted from their homes to live in temporary camps while awaiting resettlement and government compensation.

Many villagers fear they will be left homeless and lose their livelihood. Ajay Kanchan, policy director and public affairs spokesman for the charity Oxfam in India, said: "Some villagers have never known anything but working the land and farming. They have no future if they are displaced."

Campaigners claim the government has made false promises of resettlement going back 20 years. Oxfam says about 35 million people have been displaced by dam projects, and 76 per cent have yet to be found permanent homes.

In north-east Spain, environmentalists have been fighting a battle over the Itoitz dam in Navarra, whichalthough built in 1993 is not yet filled with water. Campaigners say if the valley in the foothills of the Pyrenees is filled, three nature reserves would be destroyed, flooding will ravage the region, and people could be displaced.

Eva Hernandez, spokeswoman for the campaign group Greenpeace in Spain, said: "There has been no consideration given to the environment whatsoever. We think the government is hiding something - they seem more concerned about pushing water towards southern Spain and want to deprive the North."

The Itoitz dam, just one of 200 projects Spain has embarked on since the early Eighties, lies dormant while the country's highest court determines its future. It could well determine Spain'spolicy on dam building.