Integrated Approach for Sustainable Hydropower Development in the Mekong River Basin

Bao, Pham Ngoc; Mitra, Bijon Kumer; Kuyama, Tetsuo

doi:10.5539/enrr.v7n1p60

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…The RSAT was developed by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Mekong River Commission (MRC), and is sometimes utilized by governments in the Mekong basin to assess hydropower in an IWRM context (Rahaman and Varis, 2005). These tools can also be used to conduct transboundary EIA for dam projects (Ngoc Bao et al, 2017). Financing organisations also apply the Equator Principles, an approach to put adherence to environmental and social risk management as a pre-condition to financing (IFC, 2015).…”

Section: Assessment Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human health impacts of dams and reservoirs: Neglected issues in a One Health perspective

Ramamurthy,

Bleser,

Konradsen

et al. 2023

Aquatic Ecosystem Health &Amp; Management

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Dams have often been constructed for hydropower, water storage and to support socio-economic development, particularly in areas of water stress. In many places, the water stored in human-made reservoirs is essential to meet the development objectives of water supply, agriculture, industry, energy generation and other sectors. However, in the absence of adequate foresight and planning, many past dams have had considerable negative impacts on ecosystems and the livelihoods of affected communities, resulting in conflicts and health hazards. While enhanced human health and well-being could be considered as the ultimate outcome of development programs, the public health impact of dams remains an issue that is often neglected by policy makers and investors. National policies and international guidelines, such as those of the World Commission on Dams (WCD), have been used to improve planning and impact assessment of dams. Here, we provide an analysis of four large dams, across three continents, and show that they had limited consistency with WCD principles and guidelines. Moreover, health aspects were largely neglected during planning, construction and operation of these dams, but seriously undermine their intended benefits. This perspective paper discusses impacts of dams on energy and food, ecosystem health, inclusion, and ultimately human health and wellbeing. We argue that a One Health perspective, based on these four categories, can support the systematic consideration of environmental, animal, and human health determinants. A dedicated One Health approach to dams and reservoirs remains to be developed but could potentially improve how dams, both existing and future, support more inclusive development.

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Section: Assessment Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human health impacts of dams and reservoirs: Neglected issues in a One Health perspective

Ramamurthy,

Bleser,

Konradsen

et al. 2023

Aquatic Ecosystem Health &Amp; Management

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“…Some ecosystem services have received a great deal of attention on a sectoral basis, for example the Mekong River Commission's flood and drought management and International Water Management Institute's (IWMI) flood mapping in South East Asia (http://waterdata.iwmi.org/Applications/Southeast_ Asia_Flood_Mapping/ (accessed on 16 April 2021)). Mapping of the river potential for hydropower has been done in the various river basin and hydropower master plans and impact assessment studies [50,51,61,62]. Fish species distribution, migration, and production has been the subject of a wide range of studies by the MRC and WorldFish and these are usually quite specific to some parts of the river basins [63][64][65][66][67][68].…”

Section: Next Steps To Develop An Ecological Importance Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Ecosystem Services for a Framework of Ecological Importance for Rivers in South East Asia

Meynell

Metzger

Stuart

2021

Water

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There are increasing concerns for the ecological health of rivers, and their ability to provide important ecosystem services. Frameworks describing the character and condition of rivers have been developed in many parts of the world but rarely include river ecosystem services. South East Asia is a region with some of the world’s great rivers—Mekong, Salween and Ayeyarwady—running through six different countries, but data on river ecological character and condition is patchy and inconsistent. Development pressures on these rivers has never been higher, and ecosystem services may be lost before being described and valued. The development of a framework of ecological importance is envisaged, which maps out the relative contributions of river reaches to a wide range of ecosystem services. This could be a tool for river basin planning and water resource management, baseline information for impact assessment of infrastructure (for example, hydropower and irrigation), and for protecting ecologically important areas. We asked a diverse group of 109 river basin planners, and water and natural resource management professionals in the region whether a framework of ecological importance would support their activities, and which river ecosystem services are most important to be assessed. Our findings allow prioritisation of river ecosystem services to be assessed and mapped according to importance in different river reaches and sub-basins within the region. The locations of ranked threats and pressures on the river systems allow indication of river health and integrity in these sub-basins. We consider the feasibility of measuring ecosystem services and pressures through the identification of appropriate indicators, methods, and availability of global, regional, and national data.

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“…In 2010, the International Hydropower Association (IHA) published the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP), as guidelines for hydroelectric dam assessment using social, economic, environmental, and technical criteria [12]. Similarly, the Rapid Basin-wide Sustainability Assessment Tool (RSAT) was drafted for the Mekong region to assess hydropower in a basin-wide context, based on Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) principles [13,14] and social, economic, and environmental criteria [15]. Thus, the HSAP was among the first to introduce the technical criteria for hydropower sustainability assessment, criteria missing from the general pillars of sustainable development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Hydroelectric Dam Management in the Context of Climate Change: Case of the Taabo Dam in Côte D’Ivoire, West Africa

et al. 2019

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Management of hydroelectric dams is an aspect of sustainability that comes with resolving problems locally. The use of global indicators has not been a sustainable solution, thus the need for local indicators. Besides, current sustainability assessment tools lack the integration of climate, making assessments in a climate change context impossible. In this paper, we present management and sustainability assessment in a climate change context using sustainability indicators. We modeled a change in the climate using normal, moderate, and extreme climate conditions defined by Standardized Precipitation Indices (SPI) values. Out of 36 years analyzed, 24 years fall in the near-normal climate regime, and the remaining 12 years in moderate and extreme conditions, making near-normal climate regime the basis for managing the Taabo Dam. The impact of climate, techno-economic, and socio-environmental indicators on sustainability were investigated, and the results were analyzed according to scenarios. Climate adaptation shows higher sustainability indices than techno-economic and socio-environmental scenarios. Probability matrices show high and low values, respectively, for environmental and flooding indicators. Risk matrices, on the other hand, show that even with small probability values, risks still exist, and such small probabilities should not be taken as an absence of risk. The study reveals that sustainability can be improved by integrating climate into existing assessment methods.

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Integrated Approach for Sustainable Hydropower Development in the Mekong River Basin

Cited by 4 publications

References 9 publications

Human health impacts of dams and reservoirs: Neglected issues in a One Health perspective

Human health impacts of dams and reservoirs: Neglected issues in a One Health perspective

Identifying Ecosystem Services for a Framework of Ecological Importance for Rivers in South East Asia

Sustainable Hydroelectric Dam Management in the Context of Climate Change: Case of the Taabo Dam in Côte D’Ivoire, West Africa

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