Amur-Heilong River at proposed Taipinggou Dam site. Photo by Taipinggou National Nature reserve

New article titled “Freshwater Ecosystems versus Hydropower Development” published in the MDPI journal “Water” shows practical directions for sustainable hydropower planning, suggesting much more tangible and straightforward ways to avoid and reduce dam impacts, than those suggested in “ESG gap analysis tool” developed by International Hydropower Association.

Hydropower development inevitably causes
a multitude of negative effects on freshwater ecosystems, and to prevent and
minimize possible damage, environmental impact assessments must be conducted
and optimal management scenarios designed. This paper, written by …

Lake Baikal – the Largest Hydropower Reservoir on Earth

The RwB and World Heritage Watch presents the final complete version of the “Heritage Dammed” Report, dedicated to protection of natural freshwater ecosystems. This colorful report contains contributions from 30 civil society organizations (CSOs), experts and dam-affected communities around the world.

The Report documents how water infrastructure plays key role in degrading aquatic ecosystems at more than 50 World Heritage properties, of which 42 sites are threatened by hydropower.  Fourteen in-depth case studies illustrate and analyze the global threat to the rivers, …

By Matt McGrath  Environment correspondent

A new study says that many large-scale hydropower projects in Europe and the US have been disastrous for the environment.
Dozens of these dams are being removed every year, with many considered dangerous and uneconomic.
But the authors fear that the unsustainable nature of these projects has not been recognized in the developing world.
Thousands of new dams are now being planned for rivers in Africa and Asia.
Hydropower is the source of 71% of renewable energy throughout the world and has played a major role in the development …

In an article in the Journal "Trends in Ecology & Evolution" twenty-four experts in conservation research and practice, ecology, economics, policy, and science communication  reviewed 117 potential issues and identified 15 priority topics following a wide consultation. They followed a Delphi like process to score and identify the most important.
This is the ninth such annual "horizon scan" to identify emerging issues. Themes among selected topics include new mechanisms driving the emergence and geographic expansion of diseases, innovative biotechnologies, reassessments of global change, and one of them highlights the development …

An article “Harmonizing World Heritage and Climate Measures. The Case of Lake Baikal” by Sergey Shapkhaev, Director, Buriat Regional Union for Baikal and Eugene Simonov, Coordinator of the Rivers without Boundaries Coalition and Researcher at Daursky Biosphere Reserve was published in 2018 World Heritage Watch Report.
 

I. "Climate Measures" vs Natural Values – conventions lack coordination
World Heritage sites’ OUVs are affected and threatened by many climate-related threats: floods, droughts, hurricanes, etc. However, it is often overlooked that haphazard human activities allegedly directed towards mitigation and adaptation to climate change also may …

 
More statistics on energy development became available right before the Earth Day. Recently we published a post that mentioned  the 80% China’s share in 2017 hydropower investment world wide. The figure seemed exaggerated to us, so we looked into all sources available for last decade to confirm the trend. The graph below shows that since 2007 an average annual hydropower capacity installed in China represented 55% of that installed world wide. If overseas projects with China’s financiers\contractors added to that, then china’s “share” of the global hydropower installation goes up …