AbstractThe World Commission on Dams was initiated as a new form of global policy making to find a way beyond the intensifying conflicts over dam projects. It was established by diverse groups to conduct an independent global review of the performance and impacts of large dams and develop internationally acceptable criteria and guidelines for the future.The Commission's Report, Dams and Development: a New Framework for Decision Making, presents an integrated assessment of how large dams have performed against their development targets and what the costs and impacts have been. Performance was highly variable, with a considerable portion of those studied falling short of physical targets, while many continue to generate benefits beyond their projected economic life. Many were less profitable in economic terms than expected, indicating that there is considerable scope for improving performance of existing projects. The Commission considered the adverse impacts on ecosystems and people's livelihoods to be unacceptable and unnecessary.To move forward beyond conflict, the Commission presents a new framework for decision‐making. It rejects the notion of trading one person's gain against another's loss and proposes an approach based on recognising rights and assessing risks for identifying legitimate stakeholders and negotiating development outcomes. Seven strategic priorities and corresponding policy principles for water and energy resources development were derived from this approach and a series of practical criteria and guidelines are presented.The Commission's recommendations require more attention to be paid to the preliminary stages of planning. This has time and cost implications, but in the long run, the Commission's Report offers the opportunity to reduce conflict, reduce delays and lower overall costs to the operator, the government and to society in general. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.