event 24 Feb 2020 time 10:29

Nexus Workshop // IHE Delft Sustainable Hydropower Workshop 2020

IHE Delft is organizing an exciting workshop asking the question: Can hydropower be sustainable? It will take place on the 28th and 29th of April 2020 in Delft, the Netherlands, and will address key issues related to the sustainability of hydropower.

Ihe delft

Hydropower is back on the international agenda. Largely driven by the climate debate, hydropower has moved from being perceived as a high impact and therefore negative way of generating electricity and driving economic growth towards a savior technology that allows for satisfying increasing energy needs in a climate-friendly manner. At the same time, the criticism towards hydropower and its various potential negative environmental, socioeconomic and social impacts remains as impacts of hydropower projects become increasingly evident in different regions around the world. While this debate has been lingering around since more than 20 years the question whether hydropower can truly be sustainable and what it takes to make hydropower sustainable has not been answered yet.

A policy paper will be prepared as an outcome of the event. Additionally, areas of potential exploration and collaboration will be identified in the spirit of developing joint future action among participants.

Issues relating to the sustainability of hydropower include:

  • criteria that could be used to comprehensively determine the sustainability of hydropower and its different dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, social, cultural, etc.);
  • approaches for assessing the sustainability of hydropower projects based on such criteria to determine whether hydropower is the best possible option for a given context;
  • technological advances to mitigate potential negative effects of hydropower and their respective effectiveness in different hydrological, environmental and socioeconomic contexts;
  • limitations of such technological innovations and implications on hydropower decisions, planning and management;
  • legal and institutional frameworks relevant for ensuring sustainable hydropower planning and management and the compliance with rules and standards;
  • scientific approaches for monitoring the impacts of hydropower – especially in regions of limited data availability and/or technical capacity;
  • means for including all stakeholders for ensuring participatory management and planning of hydropower projects.

Date and Venue

28th and 29th of April 2020

Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft

Registration

The workshop programme can be downloaded via the link below. Register to this workshop by sending an email to secretariatWSE[at]un-ihe.org with "Sustainable Hydropower workshop" in the email subject. This event, organized by IHE Delft, is open to the public. Those who wish to attend this event have the sole responsibility to arrange for the travel documents, visa, and funding for travel and stay. The Institute declines all responsibility related to such arrangements, and does not issue invitation letters for potential attendees.

Further Information

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