Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Hydropower Projects

This book describes the entire process of environmental impact assessment for hydropower and dam projects, not from a legal or regulatory point of view, but from a very applied one, based mainly on the personal experience of the author, who is involved in this field of work since over 40 years, by describing the different steps of such an assessment, covering all major aspects to be dealt with. The focus is on environmental issues, while the other main subject-social impacts-is mentioned here only briefly. It will be of interest not only for ESIA (Environmental and Social Impact Assessment) practitioners, be they consultants involved in the preparation of such studies or staff members of environmental protection agencies having to come to decisions based on them, but also for engineers and planners involved in such projects, developers, and people interested in questions related to energy, environment, and climate change. Overall, this book aims at contributing to put the discussion about hydropower and dam projects on a more objective level.

Contenu
Part I. Approach.- Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Different Ways to Look at Things.- Chapter 3. Approach to ESIA.- Chapter 4. Dams, Reservoirs and Power Plants.- Chapter 5. Impacts.- Chapter 6. Mitigation.- Part II: ESIA Preparation.- Chapter 7. Introductory Chapters to an ESIA.- Chapter 8. Physical Environment.- Chapter 9. Water.- Chapter 10. Biological Environment.- Chapter 11. Human Environment.- Chapter 12. The ESMMP.- Chapter 13. Decommissioning.- Chapter 14. Comparison with Alternatives.- Part III: Specific Issues.- Chapter 15. Access Roads.- Chapter 16. Reservoirs as Habitats.- Chapter 17. Reservoir Stratification.- Chapter 18. Downstream Impacts.- Chapter 19. Transboundary and Cumulative Effects.- Chapter 20. Residual or Ecological Flow.- Chapter 21. Dam Projects: Pro and Contra.- Part IV: Case Studies.- Chapter 22. Mekong Basin.- Chapter 23. Rogun: Water Scarcity in Central Asia.- Chapter 24. Impoumdment and Reservoir Development.- Chapter 25. HPPS in High Mountain Areas.- Chapter 26. Bad Dams?.- Chapter 27. Epilogue: Whither Dams?