University of Jordan

1st Amman-Cologne Symposium The Water & Energy Nexus

Amman, Jordan, 24 January 2011


Environmental Standards for Hydropower Projects
Waltina Scheumann, Senior Researcher, Deutsches Institut fr Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Bonn


The power of water has been used since
hundreds of years, but it was the 19
th
century which
saw the dawn of a new technology, i.e. turbines,
which is able to harness the energy stored in water
and to transform kinetic energy into electricity for
human purposes. Meanwhile, hydroelectric power is
the most advanced non-fossil fuel based method of
generating electricity, and for many countries it
prominently factures in their strategy for combating
climate change. In a report published in 2011, James
P. Leape, Director General of the WWF, claims: By
2050, we could get all the energy we need from
renewable sources including hydroelectric.
But we are still far away from achieving that: the
World Energy Book (2007) estimates that 1.6 billion
people worldwide have no access to electricity and
2.5 billion still use traditional biomass for cooking
and heating. According to the OECDs International
Energy Agency, the rate of electrification in
developing countries is below the global average
with the countries of Africa coming dead last. To
make the potential available for economic and social
development, according to a recent study by the
Word Bank, Africa would have to install 7,000
megawatts per year and most of that on rivers
shared between countries. And even the water-
scarce MENA countries have a potential to be
developed along the rivers e.g. Nile, Euphrates and
Tigris.
Hydropower, especially when generated using dams,
is anything if not controversial. Because of the
environmental and social implications, multilateral
development banks and bilateral donors have been
very hesitant in recent years and have only made few
funding commitments. This has changed with the
emergence of a new actor, China, who has yet to fully
endorse international environmental and social
standards in its business performance. To avoid
negative impacts on people and the environment,
the countries themselves will have to take action.
This is made harder by weak national legislation, for
instance lacking regulation on minimal run-off to
maintain river ecosystems and on protection the
environment in their vicinity; the absence of explicit
environmental quality standards and of obligatory
environmental management plans. Social planning
and resettlement practices are less than satisfactory;
the quality of environmental studies is deplorable;
the local population is only marginally involved, if at
all; and finally environmental administration is
understaffed, inexperienced and low budget
authorities.
The uncertainties in developing the potential of
hydropower are further enhanced by the
hydrological variability and the forecasted long-term
implications of climate change on temperature
(increased evaporation of reservoirs) and
precipitation, as they reduce the amount of water
that can be stored and utilised. The flipside of this is
flooding and the failure of dams for flood control.
Therefore, hydropower alone is no solution, it has to
be one of a range of options that can play an
important role for a number of countries. However, if
exploited, high quality environmental and social
standards have to be implemented by the relevant
authorities and the companies involved in the
hydropower business.



Waltina Scheumann is Research Fellow at Deutsches Institut fr Entwicklungspolitik, DIE,
Bonn. She holds her Master in political science and a PhD in engineering, and has been a
faculty member at the Chair in Environmental and Land Economics, University of
Technology Berlin, later worked as senior researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for
Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig. Dr. Scheumanns work on water-related topics
includes cooperation on transboundary rivers and groundwater, water governance issues in
irrigated agriculture incl. drainage and combating salinization, and on the implementation
of international standards for sustainable hydropower development in emerging economies
(e.g. Brazil, China, India, Turkey) and in developing countries.