Framing hydropower as green energy: assessing drivers, risks and tensions in the Eastern Himalayas

Ahlers, Rhodante; Budds, Jessica; Joshi, Deepa; Merme, Vincent; Zwarteveen, Margreet

doi:10.5194/esd-6-195-2015

Cited by 71 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Rather than address these root causes, the government's response to drought in Brazil has been to plan more hydropower dams (HEPP) in the Amazon to increase capacity (Carvalho 2012). This is in line with the nexus, which legitimises dams as 'green buffers' for water, food and climate security, but in fact, some claim, mainly serve nonsecurity goals, such as the financialisation of investor assets (Ahlers et al 2015).…”

Section: Flush With Cash Flush With Resources? the Downside Of The Bmentioning

confidence: 55%

South-South cooperation: Brazilian soy diplomacy looking East?

Warner

2015

Food Sec.

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Ever since the food price crisis of 2007/8, concerns about global food supply interruptions have mounted. However, while exports from Brazil, the world's leading soy exporter, are currently under threat, this is not due to geopolitical concerns, but due to resource mismanagement. As a consequence, the country with the most water availability per person is mired in an enduring water crisis, impacting on its major water transport routes. Brazil's development model is based on an oligopolistic public-private, primary-sector conglomerate, fueled by the federal investment bank, BNDES. This article argues that Brazil has embarked on an unsustainable model of development and is exporting that model as part of its 'South-South Cooperation' (SSC) drive. Like the other BRICS, Brazil is using SSC to present itself as non-ideological and antiimperialist but, in fact, uses the cooperation strategy for diplomatic and self-interested economic purposes. The Middle East is specifically targeted as a region with 'complementary' interests: rich in fossil fuels, poor in land and water and plenty of petrodollars to buy food security. The current water crisis shows limits to this complementarity, in the process undermining the assumption that 'virtualwater exports' promoted by competitive specialization are salutary to the global water balance.

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Section: Flush With Cash Flush With Resources? the Downside Of The Bmentioning

confidence: 55%

South-South cooperation: Brazilian soy diplomacy looking East?

Warner

2015

Food Sec.

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“…This dam caused the displacement of 110 villages and over 100,000 people [12] and the severe disruption of livelihood systems [13]. In terms of climate change, large dams, especially those located in tropical regions, have been implicated in large greenhouse gas emissions largely from decaying organic matter [14], putting into question the green credentials of hydroelectric power production [15].…”

Section: Research Sites and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-Linking Governance of Energy with Livelihoods and Irrigation in Uttarakhand, India

Buechler

Sen²,

Khandekar

et al. 2016

Water

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Abstract:Hydropower is often termed "green energy" and proffered as an alternative to polluting coal-generated electricity for burgeoning cities and energy-insecure rural areas. India is the third largest coal producer in the world; it is projected to be the largest coal consumer by 2050. In the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, India, over 450 hydroelectric power schemes are proposed or are under development. Hydropower projects ranging from micro hydro (run-of-the-river systems with generating capacity up to 100 kW) to large reservoirs (storage systems up to 2000 MW) such as the Tehri Dam are in various stages of planning, construction or implementation. Run-of-the-river hydropower projects are being developed in Uttarakhand in order to avoid some of the costs to local communities created by large dams. Stakeholders in this rapid hydropower expansion include multiple actors with often diverging sets of interests. The resulting governance challenges are centered on tradeoffs between local electricity and revenue from the sale of hydropower, on the one hand, and the impacts on small-scale irrigation systems, riparian-corridor ecosystem services, and other natural resource-based livelihoods, on the other. We focus on the Bhilangana river basin, where water dependent livelihoods differentiated by gender include farming, fishing, livestock rearing and fodder collection. We examine the contradictions inherent in hydropower governance based on the interests of local residents and other stakeholders including hydropower developers, urban and other regional electricity users, and state-level policymakers. We use a social justice approach applied to hydropower projects to examine some of the negative impacts, especially by location and gender, of these projects on local communities and then identify strategies that can safeguard or enhance livelihoods of women, youth, and men in areas with hydropower projects, while also maintaining critical ecosystem services. By assessing the Bhilangana basin case, we also offer hydropower-livelihoods-irrigation nexus lessons for headwater regions across the Himalayas and globally.

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“…A construção de usinas hidrelétricas no mundo todo tem sido justificada principalmente pela necessidade de aumento da oferta de energia elétrica para fins de crescimento econômico em escala nacional, ainda que outros benefícios sejam também possíveis nas escalas local e regional, tais como o provimento de água para a irrigação, abastecimento púbico, controle de cheias e a criação de empregos (World Commission on Dams [WCD], 2000;McCully, 2001;Altinbilek, 2002;Scudder, 2005;Ansar, Flyvbjerg, Budzier & Lunn, 2014;Ahlers, Budds, Joshi, Merme & Zwarteveen, 2015;Zarfl, Lumsdon, Berlekamp, Tydecks & Tockner, 2015; International Commission on Large Dams, http://www.icold-cigb.org, recuperado em 15, fevereiro, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

“…Atualmente, a produção de energia elétrica a partir de usinas hidrelétricas tem sido justificada com base no potencial de esses empreendimentos substituírem usinas termoelétricas e, assim, contribuírem no combate às mudanças climáticas globais (Altinbilek, 2002;Ahlers et al, 2015), embora essa também seja uma questão controversa pelo fato de os reservatórios serem geradores de grandes quantidades de gases de efeito estufa (Fearnside, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

“…A Por outro lado, a construção e a operação de barragens também têm sido reconhecidas como geradoras de impactos ambientais negativos no desenvolvimento de suas localidades, que ocorrem em função do deslocamento involuntário de populações humanas e consequente reassentamento, supressão de terras produtivas, aumento populacional abrupto, aumento da demanda de infraestrutura e serviços durante a construção, geração de conflitos e perda de coesão social, supressão de áreas com alta biodiversidade, aumento da sedimentação, além de outros importantes impactos negativos sobre os componentes físico, biótico, ecológico, social e econômico (WCD, 2000;McCully, 2001;Scudder, 2005;Ansar et al, 2014;Tundisi, Goldemberg, Matsumura-Tundisi & Saaraiva, 2014;Ahlers et al, 2015;Greenpeace, 2015;Zarfl et al, 2015, International Commission on Large Dams, http://www.icold-cigb.org, recuperado em 15, fevereiro, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

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Usinas Hidrelétricas e Desenvolvimento Municipal: O Caso das Usinas Hidrelétricas do Complexo Pelotas-Uruguai

Pulice

Roquetti²,

Gomes

et al. 2017

GeAS

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RESUMOUsinas hidrelétricas são empreendimentos centrais na estratégia de crescimento econômico brasileiro e são prioritárias nos planos de expansão da oferta de energia elétrica, suprindo o abastecimento doméstico e industrial na escala nacional. Por outro lado, evidências científicas sustentam que grande parte dos impactos negativos decorrentes da implantação e operação das usinas hidrelétricas ocorre nas escalas locais e regionais, ainda que o Governo Federal empregue a justificativa de que elas sejam indutoras de desenvolvimento nas regiões afetadas. Considerando que ainda não existem evidências empíricas suficientes de que usinas hidrelétricas induzam desenvolvimento nas escalas local e regional, este trabalho objetivou verificar essa associação considerando-se os desempenhos de desenvolvimento dos municípios afetados pelas usinas hidrelétricas de Itá, Barra Grande, Machadinho e Campos Novos, localizadas nos rios Pelotas e Uruguai, entre Santa Catarina e Rio Grande do Sul, no período de 2000 a 2010. Para isso, os municípios afetados por essas usinas hidrelétricas foram comparados estatisticamente com os demais municípios da mesma bacia hidrográfica por meio de 37 indicadores sociais, econômicos e ambientais. Os resultados obtidos demonstram que os municípios que sediam as casas de força (e por isso recebem mais recursos) apresentaram um aumento mais expressivo no tamanho de suas economias internas, acompanhado de aumento das desigualdades, trabalho infantil e lançamentos de esgotos, indicando que as usinas hidrelétricas estão associadas ao crescimento das economias municipais dos municípios sede das usinas, sem que esse crescimento esteja sendo aproveitado para mitigar o aumento da desigualdade e dos problemas ambientais.

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Framing hydropower as green energy: assessing drivers, risks and tensions in the Eastern Himalayas

Cited by 71 publications

References 22 publications

South-South cooperation: Brazilian soy diplomacy looking East?

South-South cooperation: Brazilian soy diplomacy looking East?

Re-Linking Governance of Energy with Livelihoods and Irrigation in Uttarakhand, India

Usinas Hidrelétricas e Desenvolvimento Municipal: O Caso das Usinas Hidrelétricas do Complexo Pelotas-Uruguai

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