CIAO DATE: 03/04

Risks and Rights: The Causes, Consequences, and Challenges of Development-Induced Displacement

W. Courtland Robinson

May 2003

Brookings Institution

 

Abstract

Each year, millions of persons are forcibly displaced by development projects, whether dams, roads, reservoirs or oil, gas and mining projects. While such projects can bring enormous benefits to society, they also impose costs, which are often borne by its poorest and most marginalized members. As author W. Courtland Robinson points out, "for millions of people around the world—development has cost them their homes, their livelihoods, their health, and even their very lives." Impoverishment and disempowerment often become their lot, with particularly harsh consequences for women and children.

Full Text (PDF format, 102 pages, 509.4 KB)