tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/hydroelectricity-5280/articlesHydroelectricity – The Conversation2023-10-17T22:27:23Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2156502023-10-17T22:27:23Z2023-10-17T22:27:23ZDrought in the Amazon: Understanding the causes and the need for an immediate action plan to save the biome<p>The drought plaguing the Amazon is a worrying portrait of the climate challenges facing the world. The combination of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-64192508">the El Niño phenomenon</a> and anthropogenic climate change has played a significant role in accentuating this extreme weather event. The Amazon region, known for its lush rainforest and flowing rivers, is facing a critical situation due to a lack of rainfall and rising temperatures.</p>
<p>This phenomenon, never recorded at this intensity, has affected biodiversity and human life in eight Amazonian states. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/water-life-drought-brazils-amazon-sharpening-fears-future-103815627">The drought</a> has already killed more than 140 dolphins, including pink dolphins and tucuxis, also known as grey dolphins. The mortality of fish and other aquatic animals is also high. The low volume of the rivers affects the human supply, causing a lack of drinking water and food in all the small villages, even those located on the banks of the big rivers. Of the 62 municipalities in the state of Amazonas, 42 are in a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/10/brazil-amazon-drought-indigenous-climate-change">state of emergency</a>, 18 are in a state of alert and only two are in a normal situation.</p>
<p>The El Niño phenomenon has a direct influence on the Amazon drought. It manifests itself in the abnormal warming of the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean, affecting the rainfall regime in various parts of the world. In the case of the Amazon region, the drought is exacerbated by a decrease in humidity and a lack of rainfall, damaging the vegetation, fauna and local communities that depend on natural resources. </p>
<p>However, anthropogenic climate change is making the situation even worse. Rampant deforestation, driven by agricultural expansion and logging activity, reduces the Amazon rainforest’s ability to regulate the climate and retain moisture. In addition, the destruction of vast areas of vegetation contributes to rising temperatures, creating a cycle of even more accentuated droughts. </p>
<h2>Deforestation and mining, major factors</h2>
<p>Deforestation has been particularly devastating in the region of <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abd6977">Highway BR-319</a>, in the south of Amazonas state, driven by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264837721002829?via%3Dihub">land grabbing</a> which has provided cheap land to cattle ranchers from other states. In turn, this deforestation has increased the number of fires that feed back into the climate crisis. When they occur near riverbanks, deforestation also intensifies the <a href="https://gjeta.com/sites/default/files/GJETA-2021-0168.pdf">phenomenon known as fallen land</a>, which has drastically affected the draught of rivers and is already significantly jeopardising navigation and logistics, mainly affecting villages in the interior of the Amazon, which are already suffering from shortages.</p>
<p>Another factor that has played a significant role in affecting navigation is mining activity. Disorganised mineral extraction has created banks of land that are harmful to navigation and which, in the critical scenario of drought, have caused many vessels to run aground. </p>
<h2>The impact of hydroelectric dams</h2>
<p>Hydroelectric dams also play a role in contributing to the drought scenario, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1462901113002724">especially on the Madeira River</a>. This is mainly due to the decomposition of organic matter in reservoirs created by dams, which releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. In addition, deforestation associated with the construction of dams, as well as soil degradation and erosion resulting from the alteration of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, can increase emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other pollutants, contributing to the impact of hydroelectric dams on climate change.</p>
<p><a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/amazon-drought-cuts-river-traffic-leaves-communities-without-water-and-supplies/">The Madeira River, now at its lowest level in almost 60 years</a>, has been drastically affected and transformed by the Jirau and Santo Antônio <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1462901113002724?via%3Dihub">hydroelectric dams</a>. This was due to the drastic alteration of the river’s natural flow caused by the damming of water for power generation. When water is dammed, a reservoir is formed that retains part of the water that would normally flow along the river. This diversion of the flow directly affects the region’s aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, since the basin’s hydrological cycle is interrupted. The reduction in the volume of water in the Madeira River, for example, can lead to prolonged periods of drought, affecting not only aquatic fauna and riparian habitats, but also local communities that depend on the river for their livelihoods.</p>
<p>In addition, the construction and operation of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon often involves the clearing of significant areas of forest for the construction of dams and associated infrastructure. Deforestation contributes to a reduction in evapotranspiration, which is a crucial process for water balance in the region. With fewer trees to release water into the atmosphere, the Amazon becomes more susceptible to drought. The combination of these factors results in a significant impact on the region, making hydroelectric dams one of the causes of drought in the Amazon, particularly on the Madeira River, with worrying environmental and social consequences.</p>
<h2>What can still be done</h2>
<p>In order to combat the extreme drought in the Amazon and its devastating effects, it is essential to adopt strict measures to curb deforestation and illegal mining in the region, and for the federal government to review major undertakings such as hydroelectric dams and roads, such as the BR-319 motorway. </p>
<p>Many politicians have argued that the road, if paved, could reduce the state’s isolation, especially during droughts. However, this is a fallacious argument, because connecting the most isolated municipalities would require hundreds of kilometres of side roads, which would further increase deforestation and aggravate the climate crisis. </p>
<p>In addition, the BR-319 motorway has become a spearhead that cuts through one of the most conserved blocks of forest, linking the central Amazon, which is still preserved, to the “arc of Amazonian deforestation”, a region that concentrates most of the climate anomalies in the entire biome. </p>
<h2>Ecosystem on the edge</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.14033">recent study</a> published in the renowned journal Conservation Biology, it was shown that deforestation in the Amazon is already impacting ecosystem services that are essential for Brazil, such as the Amazon’s flying rivers. This scientific data shows that we are already at the threshold of deforestation and environmental degradation tolerated by the Amazon, and more forceful action needs to be taken now. </p>
<p>Part of this responsibility lies now in the hands of President Lula, in reviewing major developments in the Amazon, such as hydroelectric dams and highways like the BR-319. In addition, it is essential to institute a zero deforestation policy that should begin this year, and not in 2030, when it will be too late. Furthermore, it is crucial that the international community and local governments work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change effectively. Only with coordinated and decisive action will we be able to mitigate the impacts of drought in the Amazon and protect this unique ecosystem that plays a vital role in regulating the global climate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215650/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucas Ferrante has already received funding from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Amazonas State Research Foundation (FAPEAM)</span></em></p>A combination of climate change, a strong El Niño and an insistence on works of enormous impact are contributing to an unprecedented and extremely urgent situation in the regionLucas Ferrante, Pesquisador Vinculado ao Programa de Pós-graduação em Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1908862022-11-14T13:27:07Z2022-11-14T13:27:07ZWhat is hydroelectric energy and how does it work?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493383/original/file-20221103-21-bvfyk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C1997%2C1326&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam provides enough electricity for about 147,000 homes in the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SQK_Dam_DSC_3657.jpg">Martina Nolte via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
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<blockquote>
<p><strong>What is hydroelectric energy and how does it work? – Luca, age 13, Boston, Massachusetts</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>If you’ve ever observed a river rushing down a mountain or played in the waves at the beach, you’ve felt that moving water contains a lot of energy. A river can push you and your kayak downstream, sometimes very quickly, and waves crashing into you at the beach can knock you back, or even knock you over.</p>
<p>There is a <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/history-hydropower">long history of harnessing the energy in the flowing waters of rivers</a> to do useful work. For centuries, people used water power <a href="https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/watermill-demonstration-video-flour-water-power">to grind grain to make flour and meal</a>. In modern times, people use water power to generate clean electricity to help power buildings, factories and even cars.</p>
<h2>Energy in flowing waters</h2>
<p>The energy in these moving waters comes from gravity. As part of the Earth’s water cycle, water evaporates from the Earth’s surface or is released from plants. When the released water vapor is carried to cooler, higher altitudes like mountainous regions, it condenses into cloud droplets. When these cloud droplets become big enough, they fall from the sky as precipitation, either as a liquid (rain) or, if it is cold enough, as a solid (snow). Over land, precipitation tends to fall on high altitude areas at first.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490173/original/file-20221017-13-qvvkh1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graphic showing land, a river, a mountain, sun and clouds" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490173/original/file-20221017-13-qvvkh1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490173/original/file-20221017-13-qvvkh1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490173/original/file-20221017-13-qvvkh1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490173/original/file-20221017-13-qvvkh1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490173/original/file-20221017-13-qvvkh1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490173/original/file-20221017-13-qvvkh1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490173/original/file-20221017-13-qvvkh1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The water cycle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/hydro">National Weather Service</a></span>
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<p>The pull of gravity causes the water to flow. If the water falls as rain, some of it flows downhill into natural channels and becomes rivers. If the water falls as snow, it will slowly melt into water as temperatures warm and follow the same paths. The rivers that form consist of water from precipitation starting at high altitudes and flowing down the steep slopes of mountains.</p>
<h2>Converting flowing water to electricity</h2>
<p>Hydropower facilities capture the energy in flowing water by using a device called a turbine. As water runs over the blades of a turbine – kind of like a giant pinwheel – they spin. This spinning turbine is connected to a shaft that spins inside a device called a <a href="https://www.explainthatstuff.com/generators.html">generator</a>, which uses an effect called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Qwf4P6x9w">induction</a> to convert energy in the spinning shaft to electricity.</p>
<p>There are two main kinds of hydropower facilities. The first kind is called a “run-of-the-river” hydropower facility. These facilities consist of a channel to divert water flow from a river to a turbine. The electricity production from the turbine follows the timing of the river flow. When a river is running full with lots of spring meltwater, it means the turbine can produce more electricity. Later in the summer, when the river flow decreases, so does the turbine’s electricity production. These facilities are typically small and simple to construct, but there is limited ability to control their output.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490177/original/file-20221017-26-3w8wui.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a graphic showing a river and water diverted to a series of structures" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490177/original/file-20221017-26-3w8wui.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490177/original/file-20221017-26-3w8wui.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490177/original/file-20221017-26-3w8wui.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490177/original/file-20221017-26-3w8wui.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490177/original/file-20221017-26-3w8wui.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490177/original/file-20221017-26-3w8wui.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490177/original/file-20221017-26-3w8wui.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A run-of-the-river hydropower facility.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/types-hydropower-plants">U.S. Department of Energy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second kind is called a “reservoir” or “dam” hydropower facility. These facilities use a dam to hold back the flow of a river and create an artificial lake behind the dam. Hydropower dams have intakes that control how much water flows through passages inside the dam. Turbines at the bottom of these passages convert the flowing water into electricity. </p>
<p>To produce electricity, the dam operator releases water from the artificial lake. This water speeds up as it falls down from the intakes near the top of the dam to the turbines near the bottom. The water that exits the turbines is released back into the river downstream. These reservoir hydropower facilities are usually large and can affect river habitats, but they can also produce a lot of electricity in a controllable manner.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490178/original/file-20221017-18-c0dtqn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a graphic showing a cutaway view of a dam with a turbine at its base" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490178/original/file-20221017-18-c0dtqn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490178/original/file-20221017-18-c0dtqn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490178/original/file-20221017-18-c0dtqn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490178/original/file-20221017-18-c0dtqn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490178/original/file-20221017-18-c0dtqn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490178/original/file-20221017-18-c0dtqn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490178/original/file-20221017-18-c0dtqn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A dam-based hydropower facility.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/types-hydropower-plants">U.S. Department of Energy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The future of hydropower</h2>
<p>Hydropower depends on the availability of water in flowing rivers. As climate change affects the water cycle, some regions may have less precipitation and consequently <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2021/08/hydroelectric-drought-how-climate-change-complicates-californias-plans-for-a-carbon-free-future/">less hydropower generation</a>. </p>
<p>Also, making electricity isn’t the only thing dam operators have to think about when they decide how much water to let through. They have to make sure to keep some water behind the dam for people to use and let enough water through to preserve the river habitat below the dam.</p>
<p>Hydropower can also play a role in limiting climate change because it is a form of renewable electricity. Hydropower facilities can increase and decrease their electricity production to fill in gaps in wind and solar generation.</p>
<hr>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Tarroja does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How does flowing water make electricity? An engineer explains hydroelectric generation.Brian Tarroja, Associate Professional Researcher and Lecturer of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, IrvineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1943302022-11-10T19:01:28Z2022-11-10T19:01:28ZBatteries of gravity and water: we found 1,500 new pumped hydro sites next to existing reservoirs<p>In eight years, Australia wants to be <a href="https://www.alp.org.au/policies/powering-australia">four-fifths powered by renewables</a>. Solar and wind investment is pouring in. But to firm the renewables and overcome the intermittency, we need overnight energy storage. That’s why there’s so much interest in <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2516-1083/abeb5b">pumped hydro</a>. </p>
<p>At its simplest, <a href="https://theconversation.com/batteries-get-hyped-but-pumped-hydro-provides-the-vast-majority-of-long-term-energy-storage-essential-for-renewable-power-heres-how-it-works-174446">pumped hydro</a> involves two dams, one high on a hill and one down in a valley, with pipes and turbines connecting them. You store electricity by pumping water uphill to the upper reservoir on sunny and windy days – and turn it back into power at night or during calm or cloudy days by letting the water flow back downhill through a turbine. Think of this system as a giant “gravity battery”, where electricity is turned into gravitational potential energy and back again.</p>
<p>The question now is: where are the best locations? Last year, we released a global atlas of more than 600,000 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2020.11.015">greenfield locations</a> for pumped hydro. These are sites where there is no existing reservoir. About <a href="https://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/index.html">4,000 of those</a> are in Australia, including the site for Queensland’s newly announced 5 gigawatt <a href="https://qldhydro.com.au/projects/pioneer-burdekin-pumped-hydro/">Pioneer-Burdekin</a> pumped hydro scheme. </p>
<p>Now we’ve identified 1,500 new Australian sites in our <a href="https://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/bluefieldatlas/">new bluefield atlas</a>. Bluefield refers to locations with one reservoir already in place, meaning only one new reservoir needs to be built. Existing reservoirs already have a social licence and are usually publicly owned. None of our sites require damming major rivers. </p>
<p>Because we have so many good options, we can afford to be choosy. We can go all the way to 100% renewables while only developing the very best sites. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494579/original/file-20221110-10538-g175p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="tasmania hydro" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494579/original/file-20221110-10538-g175p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494579/original/file-20221110-10538-g175p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494579/original/file-20221110-10538-g175p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494579/original/file-20221110-10538-g175p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494579/original/file-20221110-10538-g175p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494579/original/file-20221110-10538-g175p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494579/original/file-20221110-10538-g175p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The difference in height make a big difference to power generation - so site selection is key.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why do we need atlases of these sites?</h2>
<p>The world doesn’t have much energy storage right now – and the storage we do have is almost all pumped hydro, co-located with hydroelectric schemes on rivers. </p>
<p>What’s new is that we have found vast opportunities for these projects without new dams on rivers. </p>
<p>We need a lot more energy storage than we now have to support solar and wind. Grid-scale batteries are useful for short-term storage – minutes to hours – but pumped hydro excels at <a href="https://theconversation.com/batteries-get-hyped-but-pumped-hydro-provides-the-vast-majority-of-long-term-energy-storage-essential-for-renewable-power-heres-how-it-works-174446">overnight and longer storage</a>.</p>
<p>Creating these atlases showed our energy planners and leaders that pumped hydro storage is effectively unlimited – Australia has 300 times more storage potential than we would need for a fully renewable grid. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/batteries-get-hyped-but-pumped-hydro-provides-the-vast-majority-of-long-term-energy-storage-essential-for-renewable-power-heres-how-it-works-174446">Batteries get hyped, but pumped hydro provides the vast majority of long-term energy storage essential for renewable power – here’s how it works</a>
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<p>Despite their advantages, bluefield sites are not necessarily better than greenfield sites even though they only need one new reservoir. That’s because greenfield sites may excel in areas such as the head – the crucial difference in altitude between the two reservoirs which makes energy generation possible.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494574/original/file-20221110-10891-lt1ay4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hohenwarte pumped hydro" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494574/original/file-20221110-10891-lt1ay4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494574/original/file-20221110-10891-lt1ay4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494574/original/file-20221110-10891-lt1ay4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494574/original/file-20221110-10891-lt1ay4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494574/original/file-20221110-10891-lt1ay4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494574/original/file-20221110-10891-lt1ay4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494574/original/file-20221110-10891-lt1ay4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pumped hydro relies on the difference in height between two reservoirs, as in this photo of the Hohenwarte II scheme in Germany.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vattenfall/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So what have we found? An abundance of choice, with pumped hydro storage options ranging from 2 to 500 gigawatt hours (GWh). To put that into perspective, 500GWh is enough to supply all of Sydney’s electricity for about four days.</p>
<p>For comparison, the <a href="https://genexpower.com.au/250mw-kidston-pumped-storage-hydro-project/">Kidston</a> project under way in Far North Queensland and the <a href="https://www.snowyhydro.com.au/snowy-20/about/">Snowy 2.0</a> pumped hydro expansion will provide 2GWh and 350GWh, respectively. Queensland’s recent plans are a <a href="https://qldhydro.com.au/projects/borumba-pumped-hydro-project/">50GWh scheme</a> inland from the Sunshine Coast at Borumba, and the <a href="https://qldhydro.com.au/projects/pioneer-burdekin-pumped-hydro/">enormous 120GWh</a> Pioneer-Burdekin project west of Mackay. </p>
<p>We have rated each of the 1,500 bluefield sites based on cost, where top-rated options are expected to have half the capital cost of the most expensive, per unit of storage. </p>
<h2>Where are the best options?</h2>
<p>The Snowy Mountains have large numbers of excellent sites of all sizes, located not far from the Snowy 2.0 scheme. If we built reservoirs at the three largest, we’d have double the storage capacity we’d need to support a 100% Australian renewable energy system when everything is electrified and there are no fossil fuels. That’s because the amount of storage needed to support a clean grid is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544217309568">actually quite modest</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494576/original/file-20221110-11083-68wim7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="snowy hydro turbines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494576/original/file-20221110-11083-68wim7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494576/original/file-20221110-11083-68wim7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494576/original/file-20221110-11083-68wim7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494576/original/file-20221110-11083-68wim7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494576/original/file-20221110-11083-68wim7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494576/original/file-20221110-11083-68wim7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494576/original/file-20221110-11083-68wim7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Existing hydroelectric power stations like the Snowy River scheme can complement pumped hydro.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian Costelloe/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In New South Wales, Lakes Pindari, Wyangala, Windamere, Burrendong and Chaffey all have attractive bluefield possibilities, and could support the state government’s new renewable energy zones.</p>
<p>Canberra’s main water supply dams, Cotter and Googong, could both host pumped hydro. </p>
<p>Victoria could support its major planned offshore wind farms with storage close enough to the coast, in places like Tarago, Maroondah, Nillahcootie, Rocky Valley, Upper Yarra and Thomson.</p>
<p>To store Queensland’s vast solar and wind wealth, you could have pumped hydro at Teemburra, Eungella, Cressbrook, Tinaroo and others as well as the two schemes at Borumba and Pioneer-Burdekin.</p>
<p>Tasmania is already at 100% renewable energy based on its wealth of hydroelectricity. Many of these facilities could host pumped hydro too and back up Victorian solar and wind when the new <a href="https://www.marinuslink.com.au/">Marinus Link</a> undersea transmission cables are completed. </p>
<p>What about Western Australia? There are a few options, but not nearly as many or as good as in the east. The pick of them are the Harvey, Brockman and Dandalup reservoirs near Perth. South Australia and the Northern Territory have some good options too. </p>
<h2>What about the environmental impact?</h2>
<p>You might see the word “dam” and think twice. But these aren’t the river-stopping megaprojects of old. </p>
<p>Pumped hydro doesn’t have to be on a river at all. None of the 5,500 potential greenfield or bluefield sites we’ve identified require new dams on major rivers. </p>
<p>What about resource use? Pumped hydro is a <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2516-1083/abeb5b">resource miser</a>. </p>
<p>Water? For a 100% renewable grid, we’d need about three litres of water per person per day to fill the reservoir and offset evaporation. That’s about 20 seconds of your morning shower. Once full, the water can be used and reused for 50 years or more, with only top-ups to offset evaporation. Land? About three square metres of land per person would have to be submerged – the area of a double bed. </p>
<p>Two decades ago, people worried we’d have to invent new technologies to decarbonise. But the resurgence of pumped hydro suggests this fear was misguided. Older, proven technologies can do the job just fine.</p>
<p><em>This work was funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency</em></p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-ensure-the-worlds-largest-pumped-hydro-dam-isnt-a-disaster-for-queenslands-environment-191758">How to ensure the world's largest pumped-hydro dam isn't a disaster for Queensland's environment</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Blakers receives funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Nadolny receives funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Stocks receives funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.</span></em></p>To get to 82% renewables by decade’s end means storage - and that’s where we hope our new atlas of sites for pumped hydro storage can helpAndrew Blakers, Professor of Engineering, Australian National UniversityAnna Nadolny, Research Officer, Australian National UniversityRyan Stocks, Research Officer, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1907192022-10-07T07:26:15Z2022-10-07T07:26:15ZUganda’s Owen Falls dam: a colonial legacy that still stings, 67 years later<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485174/original/file-20220918-52595-ss59az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The sluice gates open at the Owen Falls dam across the White Nile in Uganda on 14 October 1962. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-sluice-gates-open-at-the-owen-falls-dam-later-the-news-photo/1365173292?adppopup=true">McCabe/Express/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Uganda’s Owen Falls hydropower plant has a rich history that predates the country’s independence in 1962. The plant is located across the White Nile and sits between the towns of Jinja and Njeru on the shores of Lake Victoria. It is about 85 kilometres east of Kampala.</p>
<p>Uganda was a protectorate of the British empire from 1894 to 1962. In 1947, English engineer Charles Redvers Westlake recommended the construction of a hydroelectric dam at Owen Falls that was supposed to be East Africa’s largest power project. </p>
<p>The governor of the Protectorate of Uganda, Sir Andrew Cohen, <a href="https://www.archive.observer.ug/features/spec/spec200805011.php">wrote</a> at the time that the Owen Falls dam would open new horizons of opportunity and prosperity for Uganda and all who lived there. Cohen went on to note: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Despite its technical complexity and the fact that we have had to draw upon skill and experience from many parts of the world, it belongs to Uganda and to Uganda’s people. The power which the dam will provide and the industries it will make possible will bring solid benefit to everybody in the shape of increased wealth; above all, it will bring new opportunities to Africans.</p>
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<p>At its completion in 1954, the dam <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17531055.2021.1950751">immediately expanded</a> Uganda’s electricity supply capacity from 1MW to 150MW. But the expected boom in electricity consumption didn’t happen. One textile mill and a copper smelter were the only industrial establishments to crop up. </p>
<p>The Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) – which was established on <a href="https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/special-reports/110-years-of-electricity-in-uganda-1751826">15 January 1948</a> – resorted to selling between one third and one half of the electricity generated to Kenya.</p>
<p>The institutional arrangements for constructing the dam left a damaging legacy that is still felt today. The British established governance arrangements for Nile waters that effectively granted Egypt veto power over all construction projects on the Nile. This legal regime continues to cause conflict between Nile riparian states to this day.</p>
<p>Owen Falls’ construction has to be seen as part of a racist colonial project, the sole objective of which was the exploitation of peoples and their resources to maximise British interests. </p>
<h2>Empire’s twisted logic</h2>
<p>At the end of World War II there were protests throughout the British empire as demands for independence began picking up pace. </p>
<p>In Uganda, the country’s new colonial governor, <a href="https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/magazines/people-power/building-of-owen-falls-dam-begins-in-jinja-1636524">Sir John Hathorn Hall</a>, was forced to take action. Some of the steps he took were informed by the need for the colonial government to show restless and poverty-stricken Ugandans that it was interested in promoting economic growth, industrialisation and development.</p>
<p>The dam was supposed to help Ugandans utilise their own natural resource – the water in Lake Victoria – to provide themselves with a significant level of energy independence.</p>
<p>But, in the twisted logic of the empire, achieving this goal was constrained by London trying to achieve interests elsewhere. In this case, British agricultural interests in Egypt. </p>
<p>In 1929, Egypt and Britain had signed the <a href="https://treaties.fcdo.gov.uk/awweb/pdfopener?md=1&did=64266">Anglo-Egyptian Treaty</a>, which was designed to harness the waters of the Nile River and its tributaries to produce raw materials, notably cotton, for British industries.</p>
<p>The treaty, which created what are today known as historically acquired rights, was concluded without input from Uganda or other <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2015/04/28/the-limits-of-the-new-nile-agreement/#:%7E:text=%5B2%5D%20The%20Nile%20River%20riparian,Sudan%20are%20downstream%20riparian%20states">Nile riparian states</a>. </p>
<p>These rights allocate virtually all Nile waters to Egypt and Sudan. They also grant Egypt veto power over all construction projects on the Nile River and its tributaries.</p>
<p>As Ugandans would later find out, the British had, without their permission, placed Egyptian officials in a position to <a href="https://theconversation.com/colonial-era-treaties-are-to-blame-for-the-unresolved-dispute-over-ethiopias-dam-133538">veto</a> development projects in Uganda and other upstream Nile Basin states.</p>
<p><strong>The Nile Basin states</strong></p>
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<p>Despite the fact that the Owen Falls dam was to be constructed on the White Nile in Uganda, Uganda was forced to obtain permission for its construction from <a href="https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/magazines/people-power/building-of-owen-falls-dam-begins-in-jinja-1636524">Egypt</a>. </p>
<h2>Source of tension and conflict</h2>
<p>The 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and the <a href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20453/volume-453-I-6519-English.pdf">1959 Nile Treaty</a> – which was a bilateral agreement between Egypt and Sudan – continue to fuel conflict between the downstream and upstream states in the Nile Basin. </p>
<p>In fact, Ethiopia’s refusal to abide by and be bounded by these colonial anachronisms has forced officials in Cairo to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hacked-stratfor-emails-egypt-could-take-military-action-to-protect-its-stake-in-the-nile-2012-10">threaten to go to war</a> to maintain Egypt’s acquired rights. </p>
<p>In accordance with the spirit of the 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, colonial Uganda was forced to submit the documents for constructing the Owen Falls dam to Cairo for approval.</p>
<p>The construction of the dam would be the responsibility of the UEB, which was also to administer and maintain the project. However, the interests of Egypt were to be represented at the construction site by an Egyptian resident engineer, who would instruct the UEB on the discharges to be passed through the dam.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nile-basin-at-a-turning-point-as-ethiopian-dam-starts-operations-178267">Nile basin at a turning point as Ethiopian dam starts operations</a>
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<p>It is no wonder that when Ethiopia announced its intention in 2011 to construct a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2020/08/05/the-controversy-over-the-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam/">dam on the Blue Nile</a>, Egypt sought similar concessions. Just as it had demanded of colonial Uganda, Egypt sought to maintain technical staff at the site of Ethiopia’s dam to monitor its operations.</p>
<h2>Racism on site</h2>
<p>The racist foundations of colonialism were quite evident at the Owen Falls dam site. For example, after estimating that the job would require a labour force of 2,000, the UEB built labour quarters for Europeans and Asians, complete with a club, community centre and swimming pool, at the Amberly Estate north of Jinja. </p>
<p>But it chose to house all African staff in quarters located across the bridge in Njeru. </p>
<p>These discriminatory economic and social policies would spill into the post-independence period and be exploited by dictator <a href="https://theconversation.com/thousands-of-recently-discovered-photographs-document-life-in-uganda-during-idi-amins-reign-119131">Idi Amin</a> for his personal interests.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61585886">she died on 8 September 2022</a>, some Ugandans remembered Queen Elizabeth II as the young monarch who, in 1954, inaugurated the Owen Falls dam as a symbol of energy independence and ushered in a new era of industrialisation and economic development in Uganda. </p>
<p>But others remember her as the person who, over 70 years, presided over a country that reminds them of brutal exploitation, including the theft of their resources.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190719/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Mukum Mbaku is affiliated with Weber State University (Ogden, Utah, USA) and The Brookings Institution (Washington, D.C.)</span></em></p>The mega dam in Jinja was meant to give Uganda energy independence, but this was constrained by Britain’s agricultural interests in Egypt.John Mukum Mbaku, Professor, Weber State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1917582022-10-04T04:32:26Z2022-10-04T04:32:26ZHow to ensure the world’s largest pumped-hydro dam isn’t a disaster for Queensland’s environment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487719/original/file-20221003-26-l6ktb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C39%2C5256%2C2942&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tumut 3 pumped storage hydropower station, NSW.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jamie Pittock</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>To quit coal and move to renewables, we need large-scale energy storage. That’s where pumped hydro comes in. Queensland’s <a href="https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/96232">ambitious new plan</a> involves shifting from a coal-dominated electricity grid to 80% renewables within 13 years, using 22 gigawatts of new wind and solar. The plan relies on two massive new pumped hydro developments to store electricity, including the biggest proposed in the world.</p>
<p>While it sounds high-tech, it’s <a href="https://arena.gov.au/renewable-energy/pumped-hydro-energy-storage/">very simple</a>: take two dams at different elevations. Pump water to the top dam when cheap renewables are flooding the grid. Run the water down the slope and through turbines to make power at night or when the wind isn’t blowing. </p>
<p>When dams are built badly, however, they can trash the environment. For two decades, I’ve pointed out the environmental destruction <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hydropower-industry-is-talking-the-talk-but-fine-words-wont-save-our-last-wild-rivers-168252">conventional dams can cause</a>. But now we urgently need more pumped hydro dams to enable Australia’s transition to fully renewable power.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487968/original/file-20221004-26-okpt28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487968/original/file-20221004-26-okpt28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487968/original/file-20221004-26-okpt28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487968/original/file-20221004-26-okpt28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487968/original/file-20221004-26-okpt28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487968/original/file-20221004-26-okpt28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487968/original/file-20221004-26-okpt28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487968/original/file-20221004-26-okpt28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The campaign to save Lake Pedder (pictured in 1954) from being flooded for hydroelectricity failed - but made new large scale hydro dams less viable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Janette Asch/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<h2>Queensland is getting pumped</h2>
<p>Queensland’s huge new renewable energy plan <a href="https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/96237">relies heavily</a> on two massive pumped hydro projects. Inland from the Sunshine Coast is <a href="https://www.powerlink.com.au/projects/borumba-pumped-hydro-project">Borumba Dam</a>, which could deliver two gigawatts of 24-hour storage by 2030. This was first proposed last year. The new proposal is Pioneer-Burdekin, west of Mackay, which is intended to store five gigawatts of 24-hour storage from the 2030s. It <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/bigger-than-cross-river-rail-premier-puts-12b-price-on-pumped-hydro-site-20220929-p5bm15.html">would involve</a> relocating residents of the small town of Netherdale, which would be inundated. </p>
<p>For consumers, this means energy reliability. Each gigawatt of stored power could supply around two million homes – and Queensland has around <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2016/3">two million households</a>. </p>
<p>Environmentally, the good news is we can learn from previous mistakes and build this vital infrastructure carefully to minimise local environmental damage and maximise the broader environmental benefit of quitting coal power.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487973/original/file-20221004-12-bn0u57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Pioneer valley queensland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487973/original/file-20221004-12-bn0u57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487973/original/file-20221004-12-bn0u57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487973/original/file-20221004-12-bn0u57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487973/original/file-20221004-12-bn0u57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487973/original/file-20221004-12-bn0u57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487973/original/file-20221004-12-bn0u57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487973/original/file-20221004-12-bn0u57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The world’s largest pumped hydro facility is planned for the Pioneer Valley, west of Mackay.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steven Penton/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why is pumped hydro so important to the energy transition?</h2>
<p>Solar and wind power can produce vast quantities of cheap power – but not all the time. Pumped hydro is <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/9/3139">one way</a> to store renewable energy when it’s being generated and releasing it later when needed.</p>
<p>While grid-scale batteries such as <a href="https://victorianbigbattery.com.au/">Victoria’s Big Battery</a> have drawn plenty of media coverage, they are better at storing smaller amounts of electricity and releasing it quickly. Pumped hydro is slightly slower to start feeding back to the grid, but big facilities can keep generating power for days.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hydropower-industry-is-talking-the-talk-but-fine-words-wont-save-our-last-wild-rivers-168252">The hydropower industry is talking the talk. But fine words won't save our last wild rivers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Renewable fuels such as green hydrogen and ammonia may be available in the future, but not now. Nuclear energy is very expensive and would take decades to build. Batteries cannot meet supply gaps longer than a few hours, and come with environmental costs from the mining of raw materials, manufacture, and recycling and disposal of toxic materials.</p>
<p>That leaves pumped hydro as a vital option – especially on cold, still and overcast days in winter when solar and wind <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/14/energy-supply-gaps-forecast-in-queensland-and-nsw-amid-electricity-shortages-during-cold-snap">produce very little</a> electricity. </p>
<h2>So why is pumped hydro a better environmental prospect?</h2>
<p>Conventional hydropower dams destroy river ecosystems and flood forests, towns and prime farm land. Globally, the hydropower industry anticipates <a href="https://www.hydropower.org/publications/hydropower-2050-identifying-the-next-850-gw-towards-2050">expanding by 60%</a> by 2050 to provide renewable electricity and storage. </p>
<p>I’m less worried about pumped hydro, for three reasons.</p>
<p>First, the two reservoirs can be built away from rivers. This alone greatly reduces the damage done by damming rivers and flooding fertile valleys. </p>
<p>Second, the area flooded is generally an order of magnitude smaller than conventional hydropower. This is because the great elevation difference between the two reservoirs may enable more power to be generated from limited water. </p>
<p>And third, pumped hydro doesn’t need much extra water once filled, as the water cycles around. A little topping up to replace losses from evaporation and seepage is all that’s needed. </p>
<p>More than 3,000 potential sites for pumped hydro <a href="https://www.nationalmap.gov.au/#share=s-py9ofDCNEwqsrfGGkptS5dJ9wSq">have been identified</a> in Australia. Importantly, these are all outside formal nature reserves and mostly located along the Great Dividing Range. We’d only need around 20 of these sites to be developed to store power for the nation. That’s around the same number currently <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/pumped-hydro-energy-storage-map-of-australia/">planned, built or under construction</a> in Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.</p>
<p>Nearly all large renewable energy developments meet <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421522001471">local opposition</a> based on non-financial values. Opponents of big pumped hydro developments such as <a href="https://www.snowyhydro.com.au/snowy-20/about/">Snowy 2.0</a> have called for other sites to be developed instead. </p>
<p>If we took this approach, however, we could multiply the environmental disruption. That’s because Snowy 2.0, as well as the proposed Borumba and Pioneer-Burdekin projects in Queensland are huge. They could each generate up to ten times more power than most of the <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/pumped-hydro-energy-storage-map-of-australia/">other projects</a> being planned elsewhere. </p>
<p>Shifting elsewhere could mean many more smaller projects, which means more roads, transmission lines and reservoirs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487965/original/file-20221004-24-fatd07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="pumped hydro ireland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487965/original/file-20221004-24-fatd07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487965/original/file-20221004-24-fatd07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487965/original/file-20221004-24-fatd07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487965/original/file-20221004-24-fatd07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487965/original/file-20221004-24-fatd07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487965/original/file-20221004-24-fatd07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487965/original/file-20221004-24-fatd07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pumped hydro relies on two reservoirs at different elevations, as visible in the Turlough Hill pumped hydro scheme in Ireland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Avoiding the mistakes of the past</h2>
<p>Environmental disruption from pumped hydro <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/9/3139">differs greatly</a> depending on the site. </p>
<p>At the site selection stage, it’s vital to avoid areas of high conservation and Indigenous cultural value. </p>
<p>We can limit environmental damage by using existing dams, as we’re seeing at Snowy 2.0. Old mines in the right locations can have a second life as pumped hydro, as the <a href="https://genexpower.com.au/250mw-kidston-pumped-storage-hydro-project">Kidston project</a> in Queensland demonstrates. </p>
<p>By using existing dams or mines, we can actually begin repairing past damage, such as by improving old dams to boost environmental flows. </p>
<p>That’s not to say damage won’t be done. Pumped hydro <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00049182.2019.1684625">has been linked</a> to the introduction of diseases affecting wildlife, as well as invasive plant and animal species.</p>
<p>Roads and transmission lines are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00049182.2019.1684625">one of the biggest impacts</a> on the natural world. For example, nine kilometres of new overhead transmission lines <a href="https://www.transgrid.com.au/projects-innovation/snowy-2-0-connection">are proposed</a> to access the Snowy 2.0 project, which involves clearing forest in Kosciuszko National Park.</p>
<p>We could dramatically reduce environmental damage and visual clutter by putting the lines underground, or building close to existing power lines. </p>
<p>So, the choice is ours. While pumped hydro is a lot less damaging than traditional hydroelectricity, <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/9/3139">it will</a> cause some environmental damage. </p>
<p>That’s why pumped hydro developers must choose sites and build carefully, to minimise environmental damage and maximise the benefits of storage. After all, this technology offers the enormous environmental good of freeing ourselves from the need to burn coal, gas and oil every hour of every day. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/batteries-get-hyped-but-pumped-hydro-provides-the-vast-majority-of-long-term-energy-storage-essential-for-renewable-power-heres-how-it-works-174446">Batteries get hyped, but pumped hydro provides the vast majority of long-term energy storage essential for renewable power – here’s how it works</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article has been corrected. It originally suggested more habitat would be cleared for new Snowy 2.0 transmission lines than for the project’s new roads and pipelines.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Pittock receives funding from the Australian Water Partnership and leads a project from Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation concerning pumped storage hydropower in the Asia - Pacific region. He is a member and advises a number of non-government environmental organizations, including WWF Australia.</span></em></p>Pumped hydro offers us large scale energy storage. If we do it carefully, we can make sure these dams don’t cause the damage of the past.Jamie Pittock, Professor, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1823142022-05-17T12:26:27Z2022-05-17T12:26:27ZHydropower’s future is clouded by droughts, floods and climate change – it’s also essential to the US electric grid<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463460/original/file-20220516-19-9c7f8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C33%2C5503%2C3696&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lake Powell's water level has been falling amid a two-decade drought. The white 'bathtub ring' on the canyon walls marks the decline.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-the-glen-canyon-dam-at-lake-powell-on-march-27-2022-news-photo/1388101365?adppopup=true">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The water in Lake Powell, one of the nation’s largest reservoirs, has fallen so low amid the Western drought that federal officials are <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/dcp/droa.html">resorting to emergency measures</a> to avoid shutting down hydroelectric power at the Glen Canyon Dam.</p>
<p>The Arizona dam, which provides electricity to <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/uc/rm/crsp/gc/">seven states</a>, isn’t the only U.S. hydropower plant in trouble.</p>
<p>The iconic Hoover Dam, also on the Colorado River, has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-science-business-droughts-dams-3ca7b669ff6d18b4ba243ffb45c49230">reduced its water flow and power production</a>. California shut down a hydropower plant at the Oroville Dam for five months because of low water levels in 2021, and officials have <a href="https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/04/21/newsom-addresses-state-response-to-climate-drought-at-oroville-dam-2/">warned the same thing could happen</a> in 2022.</p>
<p>In the Northeast, a different kind of climate change problem has affected hydropower dams – too much rainfall all at once.</p>
<p>The United States has over 2,100 operational <a href="https://nid.usace.army.mil/#/dams/search/sy=@primaryPurposeId:(6)&viewType=map&resultsType=dams&advanced=false&hideList=false&eventSystem=false">hydroelectric dams</a>, with locations in nearly every state. They play essential roles in their regional power grids. But most were built in the past century under a different climate than they face today.</p>
<p>As global temperatures rise and the climate continues to change, competition for water will increase, and the way hydropower supply is managed within regions and across the power grid in the U.S. will have to evolve. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HoSryoQAAAAJ&hl=en">We</a> <a href="https://www.fewslab.org">study</a> the nation’s hydropower production at a systems level as engineers. Here are three key things to understand about one of the nation’s oldest sources of renewable energy in a changing climate. </p>
<p><iframe id="U7a8P" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/U7a8P/10/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Hydropower can do things other power plants can’t</h2>
<p>Hydropower contributes <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/hydropower/">6% to 7% of all power generation</a> in the U.S., but it is a crucial resource for managing the U.S. electric grids.</p>
<p>Because it can quickly be turned on and off, hydroelectric power can help <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2021/01/f82/us-hydropower-market-report-full-2021.pdf">control minute-to-minute supply and demand changes</a>. It can also help power grids <a href="https://www.pnnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/PNNL-30554.pdf">quickly bounce back</a> when blackouts occur. Hydropower makes up about 40% of U.S. electric grid facilities that can be started without an additional power supply during a <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2019/05/f62/Hydro-Black-Start_May2019.pdf">blackout</a>, in part because the fuel needed to generate power is simply the water held in the reservoir behind the turbine.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People look at a partially rusting turbine set up for display outside. It's about twice the height of the tallest person in the crowd." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463459/original/file-20220516-11-xuemw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463459/original/file-20220516-11-xuemw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463459/original/file-20220516-11-xuemw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463459/original/file-20220516-11-xuemw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463459/original/file-20220516-11-xuemw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463459/original/file-20220516-11-xuemw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463459/original/file-20220516-11-xuemw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tourists look at an old turbine that was replaced at the Glen Canyon Dam.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/LakePowellHydropower/22ef0dc7cb274aa5833ccbe041fb0dcd/photo">AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition, it can also <a href="https://theconversation.com/batteries-get-hyped-but-pumped-hydro-provides-the-vast-majority-of-long-term-energy-storage-essential-for-renewable-power-heres-how-it-works-174446">serve as a giant battery</a> for the grid. The U.S. has over 40 pumped hydropower plants, which pump water uphill into a reservoir and later send it through turbines to generate electricity as needed.</p>
<p>So, while hydroelectricity represents a small portion of generation, these dams are integral to keeping the U.S. power supply flowing.</p>
<h2>Climate change affects hydropower in different ways in different regions</h2>
<p>Globally, drought has already decreased hydropower <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/12/124021">generation</a>. How <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.757">climate change affects hydropower</a> in the U.S. going forward will depend in large part on each plants’ location.</p>
<p>In areas where melting snow affects the river flow, hydropower potential is expected to increase in winter, when more snow falls as rain, but then decrease in summer when less snowpack is left to become <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.757">meltwater</a>. This pattern is expected to occur in much of the western U.S., along with worsening multiyear droughts that could <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.757">decrease some hydropower production</a>, depending on the how much <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.757">storage capacity</a> the reservoir has.</p>
<p><iframe id="Tj9Rb" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Tj9Rb/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The Northeast has a different challenge. There, extreme precipitation that can cause flooding is <a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/2/">expected to increase</a>. More rain can increase power generation potential, and there are <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/downloads/hydropower-vision-report-full-report">discussions about retrofitting more existing dams</a> to produce hydropower. But since many dams there are also used for flood control, the opportunity to produce extra <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.05.131">energy</a> from that increasing rainfall could be lost if water is released through an overflow channel. </p>
<p>In the southern U.S., <a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/2/">decreasing precipitation and intensified drought</a> are expected, which will likely result in decreased hydropower production.</p>
<h2>Some grid operators face bigger challenges</h2>
<p>The effect these changes have on the nation’s power grid will depend on how each part of the grid is managed. </p>
<p>Agencies known as balancing authorities manage their region’s electricity supply and demand in real time.</p>
<p>The largest balancing authority in terms of hydroelectric generation is the Bonneville Power Administration in the Northwest. It coordinates around 83,000 megawatt-hours of electricity annually across 59 dams, primarily in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The Grand Coulee Dam complex alone can produce enough power for <a href="https://www.bpa.gov/about/newsroom/news-articles/20220302-generators-like-new-again-at-nations-largest-hydroelectric-producer">1.8 million homes</a>.</p>
<p>Much of this area <a href="https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/regions/northwest">shares a similar climate and will experience climate change</a> in much the same way in the future. That means that a regional drought or snowless year could hit many of the Bonneville Power Administration’s hydropower producers at the same time. Researchers have found that this region’s climate impacts on hydropower <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07894-4">present both a risk and opportunity</a> for grid operators by increasing summer management challenges but also lowering winter electricity shortfalls. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463338/original/file-20220516-21-bzv0kh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463338/original/file-20220516-21-bzv0kh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463338/original/file-20220516-21-bzv0kh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463338/original/file-20220516-21-bzv0kh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463338/original/file-20220516-21-bzv0kh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463338/original/file-20220516-21-bzv0kh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463338/original/file-20220516-21-bzv0kh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Balancing authorities and the number of hydropower plants in each.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lauren Dennis</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the Midwest, it’s a different story. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, has 176 hydropower plants across an area 50% larger than that of Bonneville, from northern Minnesota to Louisiana. </p>
<p>Since its hydropower plants are more likely to experience different climates and regional effects at different times, MISO and similarly broad operators have the capability to balance out hydropower deficits in one area with generation in other areas.</p>
<p>Understanding these regional climate effects is increasingly essential for power supply planning and protecting grid security as balancing authorities work together to keep the lights on.</p>
<h2>More change is coming</h2>
<p>Climate change is not the only factor that will affect hydropower’s future. Competing demands <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5f3f">already influence</a> whether water is allocated for electricity generation or other uses such as irrigation and drinking.</p>
<p>Laws and water allocation also shift over time and change how water is managed through reservoirs, affecting hydroelectricity. The increase in renewable energy and the potential to use some dams and reservoirs for energy storage might also change the equation.</p>
<p>The importance of hydropower across the U.S. power grid means most dams are likely here to stay, but climate change will change how these plants are used and managed.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated May 18, 2022, to clarify that Bonneville Power Administration coordinates power from 59 dams.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182314/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caitlin Grady is affiliated with the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Geophysical Union. She receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Dennis is affiliated with the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Geophysical Union. She receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>Climate change is affecting hydropower in different ways across the country.Caitlin Grady, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, Penn StateLauren Dennis, Ph.D. Student in Civil Engineering and Climate Science, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1797052022-03-28T15:42:37Z2022-03-28T15:42:37ZWhy Nigeria’s electricity grid collapses and how to shore it up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454785/original/file-20220328-17419-1m5h05s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Motorists drive at night on a road without street light as Nigeria struggles with power outages in a commercial district of Lagos.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nigeria’s national electricity grid has collapsed more than <a href="https://www.thecable.ng/power-grid-has-suffered-206-collapses-in-nine-years-and-heres-why">200 times</a> in the last nine years, regularly resulting in widespread blackouts. </p>
<p>The power outages, which prevent people from meeting routine business and household needs, result in <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/10/28/power-supply-and-business-environment/">huge economic and social costs</a>. In sub-Saharan Africa, every 1% increase in power outages (in terms of hours) has been associated with a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254420209_Power_outages_and_economic_growth_in_Africa">2.86% decrease</a> in gross domestic product (GDP). This translates to a loss of about <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/06/23/nigeria-to-keep-the-lights-on-and-power-its-economy">US$28 billion</a> in GDP. </p>
<p>There are also <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15567036.2019.1671555">health risks</a> from the emissions of inefficient petrol generators, which are widely used in Nigeria. It is estimated that electricity generator sets consume <a href="https://www.sunnewsonline.com/generator-economy-nigerians-spend-22bn-yearly-on-fuel-report/#:%7E:text=Nigerian%20busineses%20and%20households%20spend,according%20to%20a%20recent%20report.">$22 billion</a> worth of fuel yearly. </p>
<p>The grid collapsed twice in March 2022 <a href="https://guardian.ng/news/nigerias-electricity-grid-collapses-second-time-in-less-than-48-hours/">within 48 hours</a>. There are a number of factors to explain this situation and thus inform what needs to be done about it. They include insufficiently trained personnel, deficiency in local manufacturing, poor utility performance, theft of grid equipment, weather, gas supply, insufficient funding and the age of grid infrastructure.</p>
<h2>What is the national electricity grid?</h2>
<p>The Nigerian national electricity grid is a network of generation companies, distribution companies and the Transmission Company of Nigeria. </p>
<p>Private companies are allowed to generate and distribute electricity. The Federal Government of Nigeria is solely responsible for transmission of electricity generated by the generating company to the distribution companies at a standardised voltage of <a href="https://nsong.org/">330kV and 132kV</a>. </p>
<p>Nigeria’s electricity generation <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3149339">mix</a> is made up mostly of gas combined cycle plants followed by gas open cycle. At the lower end of the contribution scale are large hydropower plants and tiny portion from solar PV.</p>
<p>In one <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032116306281?via%3Dihub">study</a>, we found that without diversifying Nigeria’s electricity mix and improving efficiency, the current grid network would be unable to meet electricity demand for Nigeria’s growing population. Nigeria’s on-grid electricity <a href="https://www.energyforgrowth.org/memo/how-big-is-nigerias-power-demand/">demand</a> is about 4-12 times the total electricity distributed on the grid.</p>
<p>The national grid is designed to function under controlled limits to ensure stable grid operations. Exceeding the limits leads to instability – and often leads to collapse. </p>
<p>The transmission company is supposed to allocate the load to the distribution companies based on demand information received from the National Control Centre. This ensures that there is no mismatch between power supply and demand to avoid national grid system collapse. </p>
<p>In some situations, the amount of electricity supplied to the grid is lower than the electricity demand. When this occurs, an automatic load shedding plan is activated. But if this fails, the generators switch off one after another until there is a complete collapse of the national grid.</p>
<p>In Nigeria, the system mismatch occurs frequently because demand is regularly beyond available power allocated to distribution companies at certain periods. This is in addition to the high transmission and <a href="https://nerc.gov.ng/index.php/home/nesi/404-transmission">distribution losses</a>. </p>
<p>Although the transmission company often attempts to bring the mismatch under control, it doesn’t always succeed. In some instances, sensitive generating units trip as they cannot cope with additional loads. If cascaded tripping continues, the whole power grid eventually loses supply.</p>
<h2>Recent power generation problems</h2>
<p>Between late February and March 2022, electricity generation in Nigeria has been erratic, and this was primarily due to <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/03/03/fg-low-water-level-in-hydro-dams-cause-of-erratic-power-supply-nationwide/">low rainfall</a> feeding Nigeria’s major hydropower plants. In the dry season (November to April), water levels are normally low.</p>
<p>Secondly, there is a <a href="https://guardian.ng/news/nigeria-rations-2500mw-over-vandalisation-of-gas-fired-plants/">shortage of gas supply</a> to power thermal gas plants. This is due to gas pipeline vandals and supply chain issues. Also, there was a <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/02/05/power-generation-crashes-by-alarming-630mw-as-fire-outbreak-forces-lagos-egbin-plant-to-suspend-operation/">fire</a> at Egbin power plant.</p>
<p>Other issues include <a href="https://energycentral.com/news/aedc-explains-poor-power-supply-apologises-customers">maintenance work</a>.</p>
<p>These collective shortcomings led to the low daily generation and supply of electricity (a decrease of about <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/02/electricity-nigerias-generation-drops-13-8-to-3835-3mw/">13%</a> in January 2022) to the grid.</p>
<h2>Why is this happening more frequently?</h2>
<p>The national grid requires significant upgrades.</p>
<p>Since 2018, load rejection by the <a href="https://sweetcrudereports.com/nigerias-electricity-distributors-give-reason-for-load-rejection/">distribution companies</a> in Nigeria has been a problem. Load rejection occurs when the distribution companies reject electricity transmitted by the transmission companies. The rejection is partly due to the poor state of the transmission and distribution network and faulty power lines. </p>
<p>Another reason is non-payment by consumers. For example, consumers in communities hosting power generation plants perceive that they own the electricity generated in their locality. </p>
<p>In these situations, supply is being generated and transmitted but not distributed. To address this issue, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission in February 2021 released <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/202102230096.html">guidelines</a> that would sanction distribution companies for load rejection and punish the transmission company for inability to wheel electricity. However, there were still <a href="https://leadership.ng/gencos-suffer-investment-shortfall-over-discos-load-rejection/">cases of load rejections</a> by the distribution companies in early 2022.</p>
<p>In summary, the grid collapse can be attributed to the following major factors:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>low water levels at the hydropower plants, low gas supply at the gas power plants and fire at the largest power generating station </p></li>
<li><p>load rejection and inability of the transmission companies to wheel electricity from generators to distributors</p></li>
<li><p>archaic and weak national grid </p></li>
<li><p>poor utility performance and theft/vandalisation of grid equipment</p></li>
<li><p>insufficient funding to upgrade from analogue to a smart grid</p></li>
<li><p>extraordinary transmission and distribution losses (up to 18%, with an average above 8%) due to <a href="https://nerc.gov.ng/index.php/library/industry-statistics/transmission/471-transmission-loss">aged electricity infrastructure</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>The first step is to optimally generate electricity. </p>
<p>To achieve this, the Transmission Company of Nigeria can upgrade and increase transformer capacity. The distribution companies recently improved the network and are willing to take up demand from consumers. This can reduce the issue of load rejections. </p>
<p>Second, a better revenue collection method is needed and there needs to be a wider distribution of prepaid meters.</p>
<p>Third, the Nigerian lawmakers recently supported the <a href="https://businessday.ng/news/article/devolution-of-power-states-to-benefit-from-new-electricity-law/">constitutional amendment bill</a> to allow state governments to generate and transmit their own electricity. This presents an opportunity to investors and industries to participate in the Nigerian energy market. Also, the states or businesses can transmit excess supply to the national grid. Micro-grid projects could also expand to send excess power to the national grid.</p>
<p>Fourth, a modern smart grid would enable data to flow between consumers and electricity retailers. This will enable grid operators to match electricity supply with demand, understand consumer behaviour and plan grid expansion. </p>
<p>Finally, the Nigerian government should speed up efforts to decentralise the national grid. This can be through mini-grids driven by renewable energy sources like solar photovoltaic and wind turbines.</p>
<p>The effect would be increased local reliability of electric power supply, especially in the rural and peri-urban communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179705/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ogheneruona E. Diemuodeke receives funding from the DFID 9UK Government; GCFR (UK Government); Horizon (European Commission), and TetFund (Nigerian Government). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nnaemeka Vincent Emodi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nigeria’s national electricity grid has collapsed more than 200 times since 2010, regularly resulting in widespread blackouts.Nnaemeka Vincent Emodi, Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandOgheneruona E. Diemuodeke, Senior Lecturer, University of Port Harcourt Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1785462022-03-22T19:01:30Z2022-03-22T19:01:30ZThe legacy of Lake Pedder: how the world’s first Green Party was born in Tasmania 50 years ago<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452951/original/file-20220318-25-mz4odt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C14%2C1608%2C1074&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A photo of Lake Pedder before it flooded</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Karpiniec/Wikimedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fifty years ago this week, <a href="https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/G/Green%20Politics.htm">the world’s first</a> “green” political party was born in Tasmania after the state government purposefully flooded the magnificent Lake Pedder.</p>
<p>The flooding made way for a hydro-electricity scheme, transforming the nearly 10-square-kilometre lake into a reservoir spanning almost 250 square kilometres today. This damaged the surrounding wilderness – now recognised as part of Tasmania’s World Heritage Area – and greatly tarnished its natural beauty.</p>
<p>The controversial move sparked nationwide outcry. In an effort to save the lake, the United Tasmania Group was formed on March 23, 1972 by fielding candidates in the state election that year. The party was the forerunner to the Australian Greens and saw other green-oriented political parties soon follow worldwide, including New Zealand’s Values Party and Switzerland’s Popular Movement for the Environment.</p>
<p>Now, half a century later, environmentalists are <a href="https://lakepedder.org/">upping their campaign</a> to restore the lake to its former glory. It symbolises the broader contest between unsustainable industrialisation and a greener economy that addresses challenges such as climate change.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452952/original/file-20220318-23-1q6tss8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452952/original/file-20220318-23-1q6tss8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452952/original/file-20220318-23-1q6tss8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452952/original/file-20220318-23-1q6tss8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452952/original/file-20220318-23-1q6tss8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452952/original/file-20220318-23-1q6tss8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452952/original/file-20220318-23-1q6tss8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452952/original/file-20220318-23-1q6tss8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The combination of Lake Gordon and Lake Pedder is the largest water storage in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The lake was once beautiful</h2>
<p>Before 1972, Pedder was a remnant glacial lake flanked by a spectacular, pink-quartzite beach and mossy rivulets. </p>
<p>Nestled amid a primeval mountain range 300 metres above sea level, the alpine lake had <a href="https://eprints.utas.edu.au/10096/1/lake-pedder.pdf">geomorphological significance</a> as it was formed in the outwash of a glacier an estimated 1 million years ago, when ice sheets covered much of the planet.</p>
<p>And it was spectacularly wild. Prior to the flooding, Lake Pedder was difficult to access, <a href="https://www.naa.gov.au/learn/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/environment-and-nature/conservation/lake-pedder-it-was-flooded">known best to</a> serious bushwalkers and tourists chartering light aircraft. These tourists and hikers brought the lake’s beauty and geological significance to a broader public when threats of flooding began to materialise.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hydropower-industry-is-talking-the-talk-but-fine-words-wont-save-our-last-wild-rivers-168252">The hydropower industry is talking the talk. But fine words won't save our last wild rivers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The flooding saw heavy ecological losses. The massive hydropower dam drowned about 250 square kilometres of surrounding wilderness. This included a <a href="https://restorelakepedder.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/g-balmer_corbett-veg-11_01.pdf">mosaic of diverse ecosystems</a> including wetlands, temperate rainforest and buttongrass moorlands, along with several rare <a href="https://www.threatenedspecieslink.tas.gov.au/Pages/Milligania-johnstonii.aspx">plant species</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.awe.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/assessments/galaxias-pedderensis-2005">Lake Pedder galaxias</a> (<em>Galaxias pedderensis</em>), a fish once endemic to the lake, is now considered extinct in its natural habitat after <a href="https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/L/Lake%20Pedder%20Galaxias.htm">350,000 trout</a>, a predator, were put in. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241758615_THE_FAUNA_OF_LAKE_PEDDER_-_CHANGES_AFTER_THE_FLOODING_AND_THOUGHTS_ON_RESTORATION">Four other species</a> of invertebrate fauna, also endemic to the original Lake Pedder, have disappeared or dramatically declined due to the altered habitat. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452956/original/file-20220318-19-6z6rqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452956/original/file-20220318-19-6z6rqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452956/original/file-20220318-19-6z6rqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452956/original/file-20220318-19-6z6rqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452956/original/file-20220318-19-6z6rqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452956/original/file-20220318-19-6z6rqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452956/original/file-20220318-19-6z6rqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452956/original/file-20220318-19-6z6rqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An aerial view of Lake Pedder, nestled in primeval Tasmanian mountains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elspeth Vaughan</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The birth of Green politics</h2>
<p>The loss of Pedder helped trigger the formation of the United Tasmania Group (UTG), which is generally <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp0809/09rp08">credited</a> as the world’s first political party with a foundation in environmental values. </p>
<p>While the UTG didn’t win seats in that or subsequent elections it contested during the 1970s, it was the forerunner to the <a href="https://greens.org.au/tas">Tasmanian Greens</a> and, nationally, the <a href="https://greens.org.au/">Australian Greens</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-australian-greens-at-25-fighting-the-same-battles-but-still-no-breakthrough-83090">The Australian Greens at 25: fighting the same battles but still no breakthrough</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But the UTG didn’t spring purely from the Lake Pedder controversy. As historian and journalist <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/inside-greens">Paddy Manning</a> identifies in his book on the history of the Greens, the UTG was part of broader global shift to greater environmental awareness in the 1970s. For example, the first <a href="https://www.earthday.org/history/">Earth Day</a> was held in 1970, and saw 20 million people in the United States demonstrate against the impacts of industrial development. </p>
<p>The name “Green” for environmentally minded political parties, however, came later. Indeed, it was derived from another Australian-first: the “<a href="https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/utopian-studies/article/22/1/125/288391/Ecotopians-in-Hardhats-The-Australian-Green-Bans">Green Ban</a>” movement in Sydney in the 1970s that united building workers and community groups to save cultural and natural heritage from destruction.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O7HgbTYodhA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Footage in 2020 confirming Lake Pedder’s iconic pink quartzite beach remains intact.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Restoring the lake today</h2>
<p>The former Australian Greens leader Christine Milne is presently leading the <a href="https://lakepedder.org/">campaign</a> to restore Lake Pedder. This campaign actually began in the immediate aftermath of the damming for the hydropower scheme, when the Whitlam government appointed an <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/7832002">inquiry</a> in 1973 to advise on the area’s future, including possible restoration.</p>
<p>In 1994, the <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14319412-200/">Pedder 2000</a> initiative was launched, which sought federal assistance to reinstate the lake by the start of the new century. A year later, a federal <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/686945">parliamentary inquiry</a> confirmed the scientific feasibility of restoring the lake. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22library/summary/summary.w3p;query=LCSH%3A%22Pedder,%20Lake%20(Tas.).%22">the inquiry concluded</a> that the most compelling reasons to restore the lake were aesthetic rather than for nature conservation. <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_representatives_Committees?url=reports/1995/1995_pp113.pdf">It said</a> the economic costs and opposition by Tasmania’s major political parties meant restoration had “no real prospect of proceeding in the foreseeable future”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-stunning-recovery-of-a-heavily-polluted-river-in-the-heart-of-the-blue-mountains-world-heritage-area-176246">The stunning recovery of a heavily polluted river in the heart of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Now, over two decades later, the campaign is once again gaining traction. The United Nations declared 2021-2030 the <a href="https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/">Decade on Ecosystem Restoration</a>, calling for projects to replant forests, remove dams, rehabilitate wetlands and more. The 2021 <a href="https://ukcop26.org/nature/">Glasgow Climate Conference</a> reinforced this message by affirming the importance of ecological restoration in mitigating and adapting to climate change. </p>
<p>Restoring Lake Pedder would entail more than pulling the plug on the dams, and it would likely take several decades for the original ecosystems <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/84006">to flourish again</a>. Yet, the major geomorphological features such as the lake’s iconic beach would quickly return as the waters retreated. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452957/original/file-20220318-36080-1gd8zhc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452957/original/file-20220318-36080-1gd8zhc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452957/original/file-20220318-36080-1gd8zhc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452957/original/file-20220318-36080-1gd8zhc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452957/original/file-20220318-36080-1gd8zhc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452957/original/file-20220318-36080-1gd8zhc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452957/original/file-20220318-36080-1gd8zhc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452957/original/file-20220318-36080-1gd8zhc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The fight to restore the once-beautiful lake has recently begun to gain momentum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rob Blakers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.examiner.com.au/story/7091789/lake-pedder-critical-piece-of-states-narrative/">The arguments</a> against Pedder’s restoration today primarily rest on its contribution to Tasmania’s electricity generation and its desire to be Australia’s “<a href="https://www.hydro.com.au/clean-energy/battery-of-the-nation">battery of the nation</a>”.</p>
<p>But the economic advantages from Lake Pedder’s restoration may outweigh <a href="https://tasmaniantimes.com/2021/04/spend-65m-restoring-lake-pedder-not-propping-up-dams/">its value for</a> electricity production, as new renewable energy projects step in to meet demand, coupled with the benefit of foregoing the growing cost of maintaining the ageing dams. </p>
<p>What’s more, once it is restored, the lake could become a major international tourist attraction. It truly was a scenic wonder on par with Ulu<u>r</u>u and the Great Barrier Reef, one we should fight to bring back.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin J. Richardson is affiliated with the Restore Lake Pedder campaign and a member of the Tasmanian Greens</span></em></p>In an effort to save Lake Pedder from a hydro-electricity scheme, the world’s first political party with a foundation in environmental values was formed in Tasmania.Benjamin J. Richardson, Professor of Environmental Law, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1667732021-11-01T10:11:49Z2021-11-01T10:11:49ZThis Amazon dam is supposed to provide clean energy, but it’s destroying livelihoods and unique species<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419837/original/file-20210907-27-n7nvwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1200%2C797&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indigenous activists have long been protesting the Belo Monte complex.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/internationalrivers/5432184672/">International Rivers/Flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Volta Grande region of the Amazon is a lush, fertile zone supplied by the <a href="https://archive.internationalrivers.org/pt-br/resources/resposta-das-organiza%C3%A7%C3%B5es-do-movimento-xingu-vivo-para-sempre-ao-sr-ministro-edison-lob%C3%A3o">Xingu River</a>, whose biodiverse lagoons and islands have earned its designation as a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/environmental-conservation/article/abs/deforestation-and-conservation-in-major-watersheds-of-the-brazilian-amazon/47932329C4217F856D27A6C3151C0015">priority conservation area</a> by Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment.</p>
<p>But a recent decision by the Federal Regional Court in the state of Pará, Brazil, allows the continuing diversion of water from the Xingu River to the <a href="https://www.power-technology.com/projects/belomontehydroelectr/">Belo Monte</a> hydroelectric dam complex – rather than to local indigenous fishing communities. This is a disaster for the ecosystems and people of the Volta Grande.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Drowned trees in the midst of a riverbed" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419821/original/file-20210907-13-1mg2e20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419821/original/file-20210907-13-1mg2e20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419821/original/file-20210907-13-1mg2e20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419821/original/file-20210907-13-1mg2e20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419821/original/file-20210907-13-1mg2e20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419821/original/file-20210907-13-1mg2e20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419821/original/file-20210907-13-1mg2e20.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Damaged trees as a result of dam construction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Xingu Vivo</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ruling, which reversed a temporary order for river diversion to be <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/brazils-belo-monte-dam-struggle-for-the-volta-grande-enters-a-new-phase-commentary/">suspended</a>, means that 80% of Xingu River flow will continue to be diverted away from the communities of Volta Grande. This impedes the main transport route for many indigenous people who live along the river and reduces fish diversity, compromising food security and livelihoods.</p>
<p>The decision also alters the river’s <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2021-04-07/plan-divert-water-brazils-belo-monte-dam-threatens-indigenous-peoples-and">flood and ebb cycles</a>. In addition to their importance for species’ reproduction and agriculture, these cycles guide local social, cultural and economic <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/86/2020/06/belo_sun_open_veins_english_summary-1.pdf">activity</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A river surrounded by deforested banks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419822/original/file-20210907-19-1j2whb0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419822/original/file-20210907-19-1j2whb0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419822/original/file-20210907-19-1j2whb0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419822/original/file-20210907-19-1j2whb0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419822/original/file-20210907-19-1j2whb0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419822/original/file-20210907-19-1j2whb0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419822/original/file-20210907-19-1j2whb0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flooding and deforestation in the region has been linked to the Belo Monte complex.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Verena Glass</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.mpf.mp.br/">Federal Public Ministry</a>, which is appealing the decision, this marks the <a href="https://www.aquiacontece.com.br/index.php/noticia/meio-ambiente/05/08/2021/mpf-vai-recorrer-da-setima-suspensao-de-seguranca-concedida-pelo-trf1-em-favor-de-belo-monte/167058">seventh time</a> the superior court has overturned previous legal decisions in favour of the construction and energy corporation <a href="https://www.bnamericas.com/en/company-profile/norte-energia-sa-norte-energia">Norte Energia</a>, which owns Belo Monte.</p>
<p>Our team carried out <a href="http://portal.sbpcnet.org.br/livro/belomonte.pdf">research</a> on the dam complex’s impacts in 2017 with the <a href="http://portal.sbpcnet.org.br/en/">Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science</a>. We found persistent violations of the rights of traditional communities linked to Belo Monte, especially regarding their forced displacement from areas destined to form the dam’s reservoir. </p>
<p>In response, a spokesperson for Norte Energia said that the company has always operated in compliance with the environmental licensing for Belo Monte, and that all actions undertaken by Norte Energia were evaluated and approved by the environmental licensing agency <a href="https://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/introduction-to-ibama">IBAMA</a>. </p>
<h2>Belo Monte</h2>
<p>Belo Monte is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-hydroelectricity-12931">hydroelectric</a> complex formed by two dams. The first dam ensures sufficient water flow through the second one for electricity generation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A map of the impacted area of the Volta Grande" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419832/original/file-20210907-18-1g4fgpy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419832/original/file-20210907-18-1g4fgpy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419832/original/file-20210907-18-1g4fgpy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419832/original/file-20210907-18-1g4fgpy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419832/original/file-20210907-18-1g4fgpy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419832/original/file-20210907-18-1g4fgpy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419832/original/file-20210907-18-1g4fgpy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The impacted area (in yellow) of the Volta Grande and the Xingu River (Rio Xingu), downstream of the Belo Monte dam complex.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.socioambiental.org/en">Instituto Socioambiental</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Marketed as supplying “clean energy”, the complex meets the industrial demands of the southern and north-eastern regions of Brazil. However, this appears to only refer to reductions in emissions, which themselves have been countered by evidence of increased <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-a-dam-building-boom-is-transforming-the-brazilian-amazon">greenhouse gas</a> emissions from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1462901115000519?via%3Dihub">dams</a>. </p>
<p>In response to these claims, the Norte Energia spokesperson said that hydroelectric power plants are expected to emit greenhouse gases. These emissions have been considered in Belo Monte’s Environmental Impact Assessment and are being compensated through initiatives including restoring local native vegetation and investments in conservation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Deforested land under a cloudy sky" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419833/original/file-20210907-16-hmka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419833/original/file-20210907-16-hmka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419833/original/file-20210907-16-hmka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419833/original/file-20210907-16-hmka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419833/original/file-20210907-16-hmka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419833/original/file-20210907-16-hmka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419833/original/file-20210907-16-hmka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Belo Monte complex under construction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/belo-monte-dam-under-construction-3323884/">Anfri/Pixabay</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s more, the complex only generates 40% (4,571 megawatts) of its 11,233 megawatt capacity due to the large seasonal changes in flow rate of the Xingu River. A 2009 analysis predicted that the variability of the river’s flow – that reaches up up to 23 million litres per second under natural conditions – would result in <a href="https://www.xinguvivo.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Belo_Monte_Painel_especialistas_EIA.pdf">unreliable</a> energy generation and conflict over water use.</p>
<p>Although IBAMA judged in 2019 that efforts to mitigate the dam’s impact were insufficient to prevent marked ecological disruption, it permitted continuing diversion of water in February 2021.</p>
<p>As a result, the annual river cycles that sustained communities for generations have been destroyed along more than 120km of the Volta Grande. </p>
<p>A fisherman we interviewed warned, “These children of ours … won’t have the privileges that we had, and can learn nothing, I guarantee that. There’s nowhere for them now.”</p>
<p>The transformation of the region has resulted in the flooding of areas above the dam and droughts to areas below, as well as significantly decreased <a href="http://sbpcacervodigital.org.br/handle/20.500.11832/2441">fish populations</a> and destruction of fish nurseries.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two images of fish held in person's hands" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419819/original/file-20210907-15-6d0yo4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419819/original/file-20210907-15-6d0yo4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=197&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419819/original/file-20210907-15-6d0yo4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=197&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419819/original/file-20210907-15-6d0yo4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=197&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419819/original/file-20210907-15-6d0yo4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419819/original/file-20210907-15-6d0yo4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419819/original/file-20210907-15-6d0yo4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adult individuals of the armoured cat-fish (Loricariidae) endemic to Xingu River show sunken eyes, lesions on the lips and fins, wounds on the skin and loss of teeth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">André Oliveira Sawakuchi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A <a href="https://revistas.ufpr.br/made/article/view/45595/28090">survey</a> carried out by a team from the Federal University of Para in two areas shortly after the river’s flow was reduced also found the first signs of disappearance of organisms like “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/FIGURA-6-Ecossistema-denominado-localmente-Sarobal-Vegetacao-que-cresce-sobre_fig3_304365609">sarobal</a>”: a type of vegetation that grows on rocks in the Xingu river bed, fundamental for the reproduction of many fish species.</p>
<p>A fisherwoman explained that sarobal “are resistant plants that when the river is flooded, they are submerged, but they do not die … sarobal has a lot of fruit and fish consume the fruit … I think almost every fish depends on it.”</p>
<p><a href="https://revistas.ufpr.br/made/article/view/45595/28090">Research</a> found that these plants can withstand direct solar radiation, extremely high temperatures and cycles of severe drought, making their dwindling presence even more alarming.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An island in the middle of a river" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419820/original/file-20210907-22-f8p4t1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419820/original/file-20210907-22-f8p4t1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419820/original/file-20210907-22-f8p4t1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419820/original/file-20210907-22-f8p4t1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419820/original/file-20210907-22-f8p4t1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419820/original/file-20210907-22-f8p4t1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419820/original/file-20210907-22-f8p4t1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The habitat of the sarobal, a plant vital for many river species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://revistas.ufpr.br/made/article/view/45595/28090">Yuri Silva</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Second project</h2>
<p>The exploitation of this stretch of the Xingu River has been exacerbated by a second threat to the Amazonian ecosystem. The planned construction of Brazil’s largest open-pit <a href="https://aida-americas.org/en/press/belo-sun-at-the-worst-moment-of-the-pandemic-brazilian-government-authorizes-in-person-meeting">gold mine</a> within the Belo Monte dam area by Canadian company Belo Sun has been <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/news/blog-belo-sun-signals-a-restart-but-controversial-gold-mining-project-in-the-amazon-remains-suspended-by-three-court-decisions/">criticised</a> for providing environmental impact assessments that allegedly ignore serious environmental contamination and violations of indigenous rights. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person in indigenous dress holding a flag" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419975/original/file-20210908-15-13a601a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419975/original/file-20210908-15-13a601a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419975/original/file-20210908-15-13a601a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419975/original/file-20210908-15-13a601a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419975/original/file-20210908-15-13a601a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419975/original/file-20210908-15-13a601a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419975/original/file-20210908-15-13a601a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous campaigners have been opposing the construction of the Belo Monte complex since 2002.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/xinguvivo/5431692915/">XinguVivo/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now, groups <a href="https://xinguvivo.org.br/">campaigning</a> against this project say they are subject to <a href="https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/mar%C3%ADa-elena-de-araujo-silva">violent threats</a>, although it has not been established who is behind this. A local resident explained to researchers: “Here we feel intimidated. The guys are really well armed, while we work just with our machete and our hoe.”</p>
<p>These claims appear to illustrate the stark power inequities in this region of Pará – the region with the highest number of <a href="https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2021/06/04/an-estimated-1-million-are-people-involved-in-rural-land-conflicts-in-brazil">attacks</a> on indigenous leaders in Brazil in recent years – as well as the broader social consequences of energy creation schemes.</p>
<p><em>At the time of publication, Belo Sun had not responded to a request for comment on points raised in this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166773/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Garvey received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sonia Magalhaes received funding from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico in Brazil.</span></em></p>Diverting water to a hydroelectric dam might seem eco-friendly, but the devastating consequences to local ecosystems cannot be ignored.Brian Garvey, Lecturer in Work, Employment and Organisation, University of Strathclyde Sonia Magalhaes, Adjunct Professor of Agrarian Sciences, Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1682522021-09-27T20:12:37Z2021-09-27T20:12:37ZThe hydropower industry is talking the talk. But fine words won’t save our last wild rivers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423225/original/file-20210926-19-1c84msp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3834%2C2149&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Technologies to harness the power of water are touted as crucial for a low-emissions future. But over many decades, the hydropower industry has caused serious damage to the environment and people’s lives. </p>
<p><a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12719">More than 500</a> new hydropower dams are currently planned or under construction in the world’s protected areas. And some <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-sustainability/article/navigating-tradeoffs-between-dams-and-river-conservation/6ADB5F2FB8C7D5B3B35AEF5F87541F22">260,000 kilometres</a> of the last wild rivers – including the Amazon, Congo, Irrawaddy and Salween rivers – are threatened by proposed dams. </p>
<p>The global hydropower industry says the technology’s installed capacity must increase by <a href="https://www.hydropower.org/publications/hydropower-2050-identifying-the-next-850-gw-towards-2050">more than 60%</a> by 2050 if the world hopes to limit climate change. And the World Hydropower <a href="https://congress.hydropower.org/event/a5515436-9932-4bea-8afb-7f4970919439/summary">Congress</a>, held remotely from Costa Rica this month, proposed steps to expand with minimal harm.</p>
<p>But stringent oversight, and a commitment from banks and governments to support only sustainable pumped hydro developments, is urgently needed. Otherwise, the expanding industry could displace millions more people, irreparably damage rivers and drive species to extinction.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="aerial view of dam wall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423220/original/file-20210926-27-1gftjqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C11%2C3888%2C2907&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423220/original/file-20210926-27-1gftjqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423220/original/file-20210926-27-1gftjqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423220/original/file-20210926-27-1gftjqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423220/original/file-20210926-27-1gftjqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423220/original/file-20210926-27-1gftjqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423220/original/file-20210926-27-1gftjqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The hydropower expansion must be subject to strict oversight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Old technology given new life</h2>
<p>Hydroelectricity is an old technology which involves passing water from a reservoir through a turbine, to generate electricity. One application, known as <a href="https://arena.gov.au/renewable-energy/pumped-hydro-energy-storage/">pumped storage</a>, can store electricity generated by solar and wind. In the era of climate change, pumped storage has given new life to hydropower technology.</p>
<p>Pumped hydro uses excess renewable energy to pump water from a lower reservoir to a higher one. The water is then released downhill to produce electricity when needed, then pumped back up when electricity returns to surplus. </p>
<p>Technologies such as wind and solar can only produce electricity when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. Pumped hydro can make such generators more reliable by storing renewable energy when it’s produced then releasing it as needed. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp2021/AustralianElectricityOptionsPumpedHydro">Three</a> pumped hydro storage projects operate in Australia: two in New South Wales and one in Queensland. Two are under construction, including the massive <a href="https://www.snowyhydro.com.au/snowy-20/about/">Snowy 2.0</a>, and about <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/206559">a dozen</a> are at the scoping stage.</p>
<p>Pumped hydro storage can be added to existing reservoirs on rivers. It can also be located off rivers, which can often lead to <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/206559">better</a> social and environmental outcomes. One such project in North Queensland, <a href="https://www.genexpower.com.au/250mw-kidston-pumped-storage-hydro-project.html">Kidston</a>, involves redeveloping an old gold mine.</p>
<p>Australian National University research this year <a href="http://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/global/">identified</a> about 616,000 potential sites around the world for pumped hydro, including more than 3,000 in Australia. Developing fewer than 1% of these could support a fully renewable global energy system.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="pipes on hill" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423224/original/file-20210926-20-icevkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423224/original/file-20210926-20-icevkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423224/original/file-20210926-20-icevkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423224/original/file-20210926-20-icevkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423224/original/file-20210926-20-icevkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423224/original/file-20210926-20-icevkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423224/original/file-20210926-20-icevkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pumped hydro projects circulate water between upper and lower reservoirs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A poor record</h2>
<p>Hydropower and associated dams have a long record of environmental and social damage. Aside from flooding ecosystems, farmlands and towns, hydropower projects significantly disrupt river flows. This, among <a href="https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/attached-files/world_commission_on_dams_final_report.pdf">other harms</a>, can deny water to floodplain wetlands, block fish migration and breeding and reduce nutrient flows. </p>
<p>Globally, populations of freshwater species – including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish – have declined by about <a href="https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-US/freshwater">84% since 1970</a>, in large part due to dams. In Tasmania, inundation of the unique <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241758615_THE_FAUNA_OF_LAKE_PEDDER_-_CHANGES_AFTER_THE_FLOODING_AND_THOUGHTS_ON_RESTORATION">Lake Pedder ecosystem</a> in the 1970s led to several species extinctions.</p>
<p>And while hydropower is widely considered a “clean” energy, it can lead to significant amounts of greenhouse gases when flooded plants and trees decompose. </p>
<p>Emissions from most hydropower dams are comparable to the life-cycle emissions from solar and wind generators. But at warmer tropical sites where vegetation is more dense, reservoirs <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.04.014">could have</a> a higher emission rate than fossil-based electricity.</p>
<p>As far back as 20 years ago, dams were <a href="https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/attached-files/world_commission_on_dams_final_report.pdf">found</a> to have displaced 40 to 80 million in the half century prior. And dams have damaged the livelihoods of <a href="https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/volume3/v3issue2/80-a3-2-3">hundreds of millions people</a> downstream over the past century. </p>
<p>But new hydro projects are routinely proposed <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032115000775?casa_token=is4O5z-MB-gAAAAA:evkKg2SHt_UEH3s10NmiJS92Fp9wX88iAo4cn5esYe84xn_TAnJekHUfZ-vIg8ABicZNzJSvTskz">at sites</a> where they will cause substantial damage. And social and environmental problems caused by hydropower dams <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2018.1511449">continue</a> in places as diverse as <a href="https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/22/2839/2018/">Colombia</a> and Southeast Asia’s <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/3/265">Mekong</a> region.</p>
<p>The Snowy 2.0 pumped storage project in Kosciusko National Park highlights trade-offs involved in many hydropower developments. </p>
<p>It promises to improve the reliability of solar and wind power, helping mitigate climate change. But it <a href="https://theconversation.com/snowy-2-0-threatens-to-pollute-our-rivers-and-wipe-out-native-fish-135194">also</a> threatens two endangered fish species, and several thousand hectares of national park are being <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/28/snowy-hydro-20-will-cost-more-and-deliver-less-than-promised-30-experts-say">cleared</a> for infrastructure.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nsw-has-approved-snowy-2-0-here-are-six-reasons-why-thats-a-bad-move-139112">NSW has approved Snowy 2.0. Here are six reasons why that's a bad move</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="man in field with cow" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423221/original/file-20210926-23-lk9muz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423221/original/file-20210926-23-lk9muz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423221/original/file-20210926-23-lk9muz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423221/original/file-20210926-23-lk9muz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423221/original/file-20210926-23-lk9muz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423221/original/file-20210926-23-lk9muz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423221/original/file-20210926-23-lk9muz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dams displace people whose land and farms are submerged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">PRAKASH HATVALNE/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An industry makeover</h2>
<p>Clearly, the world hydropower industry has public relations work to do, if its global expansion is to be realised. The International Hydropower Association appears to have cottoned on to this, taking a sophisticated approach to improving the industry’s social licence.</p>
<p>The industry has actively <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?3582916/First-hydropower-Standard-signals-a-new-era-for-the-industry-but-must-be-strengthened-to-avoid-mistakes-of-the-past">engaged</a> conservationists in preparing sustainability standards. <a href="https://www.hydropower.org/what-we-do/sustainability">Voluntary</a> assessment tools outline steps to minimise damage to people and the environment, and a new sustainability certification <a href="https://www.hydropower.org/news/new-hydropower-certification-and-labelling-scheme-launched-with-global-support">scheme</a> for hydropower was launched at this month’s congress.</p>
<p>The industry has pledged not to build hydropower dams in world heritage sites. It has also <a href="https://www.hydropower.org/news/iha-releases-guidance-on-hydropower-development-in-protected-areas">offered to</a> “avoid, minimise, mitigate or compensate” for damage in protected areas (albeit falling short on offering full protection). </p>
<p>However, it’s hard to see the new standards being systematically applied unless governments of major dam building nations – especially China, India, Brazil and Turkey – adopt the standards in their planning and approval processes. </p>
<p>And how will rogue operators and irresponsible financiers be prevented from developing unsustainable projects – especially when some governments are fixated on enabling them?</p>
<p>It’s in the interests of the International Hydropower Association, as the progressive element of the hydropower industry, to advocate for governments and financiers to assess proposed hydropower projects against the new standards.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-dams-cause-more-problems-than-they-solve-removing-them-can-pay-off-for-people-and-nature-137346">When dams cause more problems than they solve, removing them can pay off for people and nature</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man gives thumbs up at hydro project" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423222/original/file-20210926-26-onvsbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423222/original/file-20210926-26-onvsbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423222/original/file-20210926-26-onvsbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423222/original/file-20210926-26-onvsbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423222/original/file-20210926-26-onvsbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423222/original/file-20210926-26-onvsbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423222/original/file-20210926-26-onvsbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Governments should assess hydropower projects against the new standards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Causing the least harm</h2>
<p>Pumped hydro has an important role to play in the renewable energy transition, but only where projects cause minimal harm to people and nature. </p>
<p>Ensuring a sustainable industry in future could be achieved by stopping damaging conventional hydropower projects on rivers. Instead, pumped storage projects should be developed when:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>an assessment shows they meets the needs of an energy system </p></li>
<li><p>environmental and social conflicts are minimal, such as at off-river sites</p></li>
<li><p>for projects in tropical areas, shallow reservoirs and flooding of vegetation is avoided to minimise greenhouse gas emissions. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Pumped storage offers the hydropower industry a chance to reposition itself from villain to hero. The industry must now translate its words into practice. And financiers and government regulators must support only those hydropower projects which genuinely seek to minimise environmental and social harm.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168252/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Pittock receives funding from the Australian Water Partnership and APEC with respect to pumped storage hydropower in the Asia-Pacific region. He is acting Director of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and advises a number of non-government environmental organisations (including The Nature Conservancy and WWF). He contributed advice into the International Forum on Pumped Storage Hydropower.</span></em></p>The world hydropower industry has public relations work to do, if its global expansion is to be realised. But stringent oversight is urgently needed.Jamie Pittock, Professor, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626352021-06-29T12:55:41Z2021-06-29T12:55:41ZClimate change: as mountain regions warm, hydroelectric power plants may be vulnerable<p>Around 27 million cubic metres of rock and glacier ice collapsed from Ronti Peak in the northern Indian Himalayas on February 7 2021, falling 1,800 metres into the valley below. The glacier ice melted as it cascaded down the mountain, mixing with rock and sediment to generate an <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/06/09/science.abh4455">extraordinary flow of debris</a> that destroyed roads, bridges and two hydroelectric power stations. Tragically, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-chamoli-disaster-mystery-solved-avalanche-glacier-flood-2021-6?r=US&IR=T">more than 200 people</a> are believed to have lost their lives, many of them construction workers at the Tapovan hydropower plant. </p>
<p>Though it’s always difficult to attribute any single event to climate change, rising global temperatures may have played a part in this event, known as the Chamoli disaster. And if climate change helped cause this landslide, it could threaten hydropower infrastructure globally.</p>
<p>Mountain regions like the Himalayas are sensitive to change. These environments tend to have steep, unstable valley walls, and earthquakes are relatively common. But climate change can tip the scales towards more frequent and higher magnitude events. </p>
<p>For example, we might expect more landslides where valley slopes are left without support, as adjacent glaciers thin and recede. Where permafrost thaws, it removes the icy cement that binds mountain rock and sediment together. Rising temperatures can prompt the sudden release of meltwater from growing <a href="https://theconversation.com/bolivias-fast-melting-glaciers-are-leaving-behind-lakes-that-could-cause-catastrophic-floods-67396">glacial lakes</a>, and the <a href="https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/1751/2021/">collapse of entire glaciers</a> as they warm up. </p>
<p>So should we be nervous about developing hydropower in mountain regions if these landscapes are becoming more unstable? Well, it’s complicated. Hydropower can help reduce dependence on burning fossil fuels, and it is particularly important in the world’s high-altitude regions. Peru, for example, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610216310335?via%3Dihub">generates around half</a> of its electricity from hydropower, and it <a href="https://www.hydropower.org/country-profiles/peru">continues to invest</a> in new infrastructure. </p>
<p>While disasters inevitably provoke difficult questions, it’s important to keep some perspective on the sustainability of hydropower.</p>
<h2>Hydropower in a warming world</h2>
<p>As one of my colleagues <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57446224">put it</a>: “Sometimes bedrock slopes just fail; there’s no specific trigger.” There are well-documented incidents where hydropower dams have been damaged or destroyed without any link to climate change. An infamous example is the <a href="https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2008/12/11/the-vaiont-vajont-landslide-of-1963/">1963 Vajont disaster</a> in northern Italy, where a valley wall slid into a reservoir and generated a mega-tsunami that engulfed the impounding dam, killing more than 2,500 people downstream. </p>
<p>The precise causes have been debated since, but it is thought that as the reservoir was being filled with water, clay-rich layers in the valley side were saturated. This wet clay would have served as a naturally weak plane along which the landslide could move. </p>
<p>Other energy sources and their infrastructure carry their own inherent risks – think the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, or the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig. Many of the world’s power stations are vulnerable to climate change because of their proximity to the coast, with many <a href="https://theconversation.com/nuclear-energy-isnt-a-safe-bet-in-a-warming-world-heres-why-163371">threatened by rising sea levels</a>.</p>
<p>It may never have been wise to develop hydropower at the site of the Chamoli disaster. This same valley had experienced large ice avalanches in <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/06/09/science.abh4455">2000 and 2016</a> and has seen several major floods in recent years. It is of course extremely difficult to predict if, when and where these sorts of events might occur, but this is evidently an unstable landscape. </p>
<p>Scientists have developed a <a href="https://www.gaphaz.org/files/Assessment_Glacier_Permafrost_Hazards_Mountain_Regions.pdf">number of ways</a> to monitor how landscapes are changing, particularly using satellite images. We have the tools to spot warning signs and develop hydropower as safely as can be reasonably expected. Tragically though, these tools are not always used, or the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/3/19/hydropower-projects-are-wrecking-havoc-in-the-himalayas">warnings are ignored</a>, as seems to have been the case at Chamoli.</p>
<p>There is a cruel irony that hydropower can help countries reduce carbon emissions at the same time as dams are becoming increasingly vulnerable in a climate warming as a result of those emissions. We can develop this energy source safely, but it requires careful decision making, informed by research, and with continued monitoring of changing landscapes and the climate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Cook receives funding from the Newton-Paulet Fund. </span></em></p>Dams built in an earlier age are suddenly vulnerable as the climate shifts.Simon Cook, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Change, University of DundeeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1609272021-06-07T20:07:35Z2021-06-07T20:07:35ZTasmania’s reached net-zero emissions and 100% renewables – but climate action doesn’t stop there<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404741/original/file-20210607-8878-wfzk4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3498%2C2292&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Getting to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100% renewable energy might seem the end game for climate action. But what if, like Tasmania, you’ve already ticked both those goals off your list?</p>
<p>Net-zero means emissions are still being generated, but they’re offset by the same amount elsewhere. <a href="http://www.premier.tas.gov.au/releases/tasmania_achieves_zero_net_emissions_for_the_first_time">Tasmania reached net-zero</a> in 2015, because its vast forests and other natural landscapes absorb and store more carbon each year than the state emits.</p>
<p>And in November last year, Tasmania became fully powered by <a href="http://www.premier.tas.gov.au/site_resources_2015/additional_releases/tasmania_surges_to_100_renewable_energy">renewable electricity</a>, thanks to the island state’s wind and hydro-electricity projects.</p>
<p>The big question for Tasmania now is: what comes next? Rather than considering the job done, it should seize opportunities including more renewable energy, net-zero industrial exports and forest preservation – and show the world what the other side of net-zero should look like.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="electricity transmission lines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404744/original/file-20210607-27-152ki66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404744/original/file-20210607-27-152ki66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404744/original/file-20210607-27-152ki66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404744/original/file-20210607-27-152ki66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404744/original/file-20210607-27-152ki66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404744/original/file-20210607-27-152ki66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404744/original/file-20210607-27-152ki66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hydro-electric power and wind energy mean Tasmania runs on 100% renewable energy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A good start</h2>
<p>The Tasmanian experience shows emissions reduction is more straightforward in some places than others. </p>
<p>The state’s high rainfall and mountainous topography mean it has abundant hydro-electric resources. And the state’s windy north is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-06/foreign-investment-in-tasmanian-wind-farms-raising-concerns/13036164">well suited</a> to wind energy projects.</p>
<p>What’s more, <a href="https://www.stategrowth.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/142313/Forestry_Fact_Sheet_2019.pdf">almost half</a> the state’s 6.81 million hectares comprises forest, which acts as a giant carbon “sink” that sucks up dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. </p>
<p>Given Tasmania’s natural assets, it makes sense for the state to go further on climate action, even if its goals have been met. </p>
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<p>The Tasmanian government has gone some way to recognising this, by legislating a target of <a href="http://www.premier.tas.gov.au/site_resources_2015/additional_releases/renewable_energy_target_to_deliver_for_tasmania">200% renewable electricity</a> by 2040. </p>
<p>Under the target, Tasmania would produce twice its current electricity needs and export the surplus. It would be delivered to the mainland via the proposed A$3.5 billion <a href="https://www.marinuslink.com.au/news/">Marinus Link</a> cable to be built between Tasmania and Victoria. The 1,500 megawatt cable would bolster the existing 500 megawatt Basslink cable.</p>
<p>But Tasmania’s climate action should not stop there.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="artist impression of marinus link" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404732/original/file-20210607-80132-1qv2h20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404732/original/file-20210607-80132-1qv2h20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404732/original/file-20210607-80132-1qv2h20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404732/original/file-20210607-80132-1qv2h20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404732/original/file-20210607-80132-1qv2h20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404732/original/file-20210607-80132-1qv2h20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404732/original/file-20210607-80132-1qv2h20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Marinus Link would provide a second electricity connection from Tasmania to the mainland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.marinuslink.com.au</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Other opportunities await</h2>
<p>Tasmania can use its abundant renewable electricity to decarbonise existing industrial areas. It can also create new, <a href="https://bze.org.au/research_release/renewable-energy-industrial-precincts/">greener industrial precincts</a> – clusters of manufacturers powered by renewable electricity and other zero-emissions fuels such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-hydrogen-to-be-truly-clean-it-must-be-made-with-renewables-not-coal-128053">green hydrogen</a>.</p>
<p>Zero-emission hydrogen, aluminium and other goods produced in these precincts will become increasingly sought after by countries and other states with their own net-zero commitments.</p>
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<p>Tasmania’s vast forests could be an additional source of economic value if they were preserved and expanded, rather than logged. As well as supporting tourism, preserving forests could enable Tasmania to sell carbon credits to other jurisdictions and businesses seeking to offset their emissions, such as through the federal government’s <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/About-the-Emissions-Reduction-Fund">Emissions Reduction Fund</a>.</p>
<p>The ocean surrounding Tasmania also presents net-zero economic opportunities. For example, local company Sea Forest is <a href="https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/karenandrews/media-releases/seaweed-driving-down-emissions-and-driving-jobs">developing a seaweed product</a> to be added to the feed of livestock, dramatically reducing the methane they emit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="logs on a truck" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404735/original/file-20210607-80132-1tqgup5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404735/original/file-20210607-80132-1tqgup5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404735/original/file-20210607-80132-1tqgup5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404735/original/file-20210607-80132-1tqgup5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404735/original/file-20210607-80132-1tqgup5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404735/original/file-20210607-80132-1tqgup5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404735/original/file-20210607-80132-1tqgup5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Retaining, rather than logging, Tasmania’s forests presents an economic opportunity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Concrete targets are needed</h2>
<p>The Tasmanian government has commissioned a <a href="http://dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/climatechange/Climate_Change_Priorities/review_of_the_climate_change_act#:%7E:text=The%20Climate%20Change%20(State%20Action,consultation%20with%20the%20Tasmanian%20community.">review</a> of its <a href="https://www.legislation.tas.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2008-036">climate change legislation</a>, and is also revising its <a href="http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/climatechange/tasmanias_climate_change_action_plan_20172021">climate change action plan</a>.</p>
<p>These updates give Tasmania a chance to be a global model for a post-net-zero world. But without firm action, Tasmania risks sliding backwards.</p>
<p>While having reached net-zero, the state has not legislated or set a requirement to maintain it. The state’s <a href="http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/climatechange/Climate_Change_Priorities/reducing_emissions">current legislated</a> emission target is a 60% reduction by 2050 on 1990 levels – which, hypothetically, means Tasmania could increase its emissions in future.</p>
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<p>Also, despite reaching net-zero emissions, Tasmania still emits more than <a href="http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/climatechange/climate_change_in_tasmania/tasmanias_emissions#:%7E:text=The%20Government%20has%20also%20committed,four%20years%20in%20a%20row">8.36 million tonnes</a> of CO₂ each year from sources such as transport, natural gas use, industry and agriculture. Tasmania’s emissions from all sectors other than electricity and land use have <a href="https://ageis.climatechange.gov.au/">increased</a> by 4.5% since 2005. </p>
<p>Without a net-zero target set in law – and a plan to stay there – these emissions could overtake those drawn down by Tasmania’s forests. In fact, <a href="http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/573095/net_zero_emissions_background_Paper_-_Final.pdf">a background paper</a> prepared for the Tasmanian government shows the state’s emissions may rise in the coming years and stay “positive” until 2040 or later.</p>
<p>The legislation update should also include a process to set emissions targets for each sector of the economy, as <a href="https://www.climatechange.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/55287/CC-Act-2017_Fact-Sheet_Emissions-Reduction-Pledges_v2.pdf">Victoria has done</a>. It should also set ambitious targets for “negative” emissions – which means sequestering more CO₂ than is emitted.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Industrial plant billowing smoke" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404738/original/file-20210607-52826-1usc9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404738/original/file-20210607-52826-1usc9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404738/original/file-20210607-52826-1usc9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404738/original/file-20210607-52826-1usc9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404738/original/file-20210607-52826-1usc9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404738/original/file-20210607-52826-1usc9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404738/original/file-20210607-52826-1usc9o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tasmania must cut emissions from industry and other sectors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Action on all fronts</h2>
<p>Under the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</a>, the world is pursuing efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C this century. For Australia to be in line with this goal, <a href="https://www.climateworksaustralia.org/resource/decarbonisation-futures-solutions-actions-and-benchmarks-for-a-net-zero-emissions-australia/">it must</a> reach net-zero by the mid-2030s.</p>
<p>Meeting this momentous task requires action on all fronts, in all jurisdictions. Bigger states and territories are aiming for <a href="https://www.climatechange.vic.gov.au/victorias-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reduction-targets">substantial</a> emissions reductions this decade. Tasmania must at least keep its emissions net-negative, and decrease them further.</p>
<p>Tasmania has a golden opportunity. With the right policies, the state can solidify its climate credentials and create a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-18/tasmanian-economy-good-report-card-but-challenges-head/100071028">much-needed</a> economic boost as the world transitions to a low-carbon future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160927/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rupert Posner is part of ClimateWorks Australia, which works within the Monash Sustainable Development Institute. ClimateWorks Australia receives its core funding from philanthropic foundations and also undertakes projects which attract funding from industry and government departments and agencies.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Graham is part of ClimateWorks Australia, which works within the Monash Sustainable Development Institute. ClimateWorks Australia receives its core funding from philanthropic foundations and also undertakes projects which attract funding from industry and government departments and agencies.</span></em></p>Rather than considering the job done, Tasmania should seize opportunities including renewable energy, net-zero industrial exports and forest preservation.Rupert Posner, Systems Lead - Sustainable Economies, Climateworks CentreSimon Graham, Senior Analyst, Climateworks CentreLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1567072021-03-18T16:22:16Z2021-03-18T16:22:16ZEnergy storage technology is accelerating – but grids aren’t ready for the transition<p>Thanks in part to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-caused-the-biggest-drop-in-carbon-emissions-ever-how-can-we-make-it-last-podcast-157348">pandemic-induced economic slowdown</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/britain-has-shifted-30-of-its-electricity-away-from-fossil-fuels-in-just-nine-years-108969">collapse of coal</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/britains-electricity-since-2010-wind-surges-to-second-place-coal-collapses-and-fossil-fuel-use-nearly-halves-129346">triumph of wind power</a> over the last decade, <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-is-now-halfway-to-meeting-its-net-zero-emissions-target?utm_campaign=Carbon%20Brief%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_content=20210318&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20Daily">a new analysis</a> suggests the UK is halfway to meeting its net zero greenhouse gas emissions target. The ultimate goal of a <a href="https://ukesr.supergenstorage.org/">fully renewable grid</a> will depend on technology that can store clean electricity from wind farms for hours and days.</p>
<p>Since I began writing about energy storage in <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-renewable-powered-future-will-need-energy-storage-18018">2013</a>, falling costs have prompted a surge in batteries being installed around the world. Just as silos store excess grain on farms for when it’s needed during lean periods, grid batteries store additional energy so that it can be used to keep the lights on when supply fails to match demand. </p>
<p>Historically, fossil fuels have provided that buffer in the energy system. Coal, oil and gas can be burned whenever needed to keep people driving, heating homes and turning on appliances. But tackling climate change will mean shifting to renewable energy generation – which can be patchy when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing – and swapping gas boilers and combustion engines for alternatives powered by clean electricity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A row of solar panels obscured by daisies, with wind turbines in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390394/original/file-20210318-13-17uvn56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390394/original/file-20210318-13-17uvn56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390394/original/file-20210318-13-17uvn56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390394/original/file-20210318-13-17uvn56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390394/original/file-20210318-13-17uvn56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390394/original/file-20210318-13-17uvn56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390394/original/file-20210318-13-17uvn56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Energy storage could secure a reliable electricity supply on a fully renewable grid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/day-view-solar-panel-system-installed-658574452">Jevanto Productions/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Sixth-Carbon-Budget-The-UKs-path-to-Net-Zero.pdf">By 2030</a> there could be more than ten million electric vehicles on UK roads, and more than a million homes a year having electric heat pumps installed. The UK’s capacity for <a href="http://fes.nationalgrid.com/">electrical energy storage</a> is projected to increase up to three times by 2030, and ten times by 2050. That would mean 12 and 40 gigawatts respectively. Meanwhile, peak energy demand could grow to 60 and 80 gigawatts over the same period. </p>
<p>Without adequate preparation, the rapid expansion of storage technologies could actually disrupt the functioning of the energy system and obstruct progress to a net-zero society.</p>
<h2>Missed opportunities</h2>
<p>The UK government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/longer-duration-energy-storage-demonstration">recently announced</a> plans to fund companies that come forward with new technologies for large-scale energy storage. But their incentives to build grid storage technology at the appropriate scale are falling short. </p>
<p>By the end of 2020, only about 600 megawatts of battery storage was running on the UK’s grid. As renewables like wind and solar increase to two or three times their current levels by 2030, energy surpluses and deficits will become more extreme. Large-scale storage could help balance the peaks and troughs, but companies aren’t being paid enough to justify the cost of building new storage in the first place. </p>
<p>As a result, the UK is missing an opportunity. New energy storage technologies that can capture large amounts of electricity generated by wind or solar power when there’s too much of it and feed it back into the grid when it’s needed save money by reducing waste. A <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/upgrading-our-energy-system-smart-systems-and-flexibility-plan">smart grid</a> with such storage could reduce costs in the energy system by up to £40 billion (US$56 billion) by 2050.</p>
<p>Public subsidies could encourage companies to build and operate sufficient energy storage as more wind and solar is deployed, and the initial costs to the consumer would be returned through lower bills over time as energy system costs fall. Early support for new storage technologies will probably slash their cost too. This is what happened with renewables like wind and solar power, which are now <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth">cheaper</a> than fossil fuel generation. And by attracting companies developing energy storage to the UK, a national industry will bloom. At the moment, the market for energy storage is <a href="https://www.woodmac.com/research/products/power-and-renewables/us-energy-storage-monitor/">largest in the US</a> and that’s where industry investment is heading.</p>
<h2>Preparing for the transition</h2>
<p>Several companies are offering to pay owners of energy storage devices (like <a href="https://www.moixa.com/solar-battery/">home batteries</a>) a fee to manage their devices over the internet – instructing the device to charge or discharge to the National Grid when necessary. Consumers can charge home batteries with electricity from the grid when it’s cheap (normally at night), and use this stored energy instead of buying more expensive electricity from the grid during the day. Millions of home storage devices could eventually charge and discharge according to algorithms in order to minimise costs to the consumer. But without strategies and tools to handle the effects of storage distributed across millions of buildings and electric vehicles, costs could mount on the companies managing the electricity infrastructure and grid operators.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A concept image of a home energy storage system with solar panels and wind turbines outside." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390391/original/file-20210318-17-1i461i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390391/original/file-20210318-17-1i461i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390391/original/file-20210318-17-1i461i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390391/original/file-20210318-17-1i461i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390391/original/file-20210318-17-1i461i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390391/original/file-20210318-17-1i461i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390391/original/file-20210318-17-1i461i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The garage of the future?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/concept-home-energy-storage-system-based-1806603538">Petrmalinak/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Energy storage will also need to integrate heat, power and mobility. Hot water tanks will be connected to electric heat pumps in buildings and electric vehicles will become mobile storage devices, potentially capable of selling electricity back to the grid. Storage will be the piece of the jigsaw that all the other pieces fit around. </p>
<p>These changes will alter the way people pay for their energy supply, as more of it goes towards electricity that warms homes, fuels vehicles and powers appliances. New supplier models are being tested where consumers <a href="https://www.bristol-energy.co.uk/bristol-energy-first-uk-supplier-trial-heat-service">pay for levels of warmth</a> at home, or <a href="https://www.bristol-energy.co.uk/bristol-energy-first-uk-supplier-trial-heat-service">unlimited electricity</a> deals similar to mobile phone plans. But how will the government protect consumers while still expecting them to pay for the costs of investment?</p>
<p>If the government fails to build enough storage to keep up with renewable generation, the grid will need fossil fuels to balance supply and demand. The uncoordinated charging and discharging of private batteries by consumers will make maintaining a stable grid costly, too. And as our energy use becomes more integrated across heat, power and transport, how the low-carbon transition will affect consumers is uncertain. Energy storage can help transform energy systems on the path to net zero emissions, but only if these challenges aren’t ignored.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156707/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Radcliffe has worked with Highview Power, a company specialising in energy storage technology. He receives funding from EPSRC, Innovate-UK and the European Commission.</span></em></p>Britain’s electricity sector continues to decarbonise, but its capacity to store energy lags far behind.Jonathan Radcliffe, Senior Research Fellow, Energy Storage, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1490382020-11-16T13:22:30Z2020-11-16T13:22:30ZRegulators can help clear the way for entrepreneurial energy companies to innovate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367840/original/file-20201105-19-140tpoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C40%2C1475%2C1082&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Distributed power generation, such as this fuel cell installation, requires new ventures to work with energy regulators.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mms.businesswire.com/media/20200902005860/en/818015/5/Paju.jpg?download=1">Business Wire</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>How regulatory policies are implemented can make a huge difference for entrepreneurs in clean technology. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839220911022">study</a>, we found that giving state-level regulators more discretion in approving hydropower facilities in the United States led to faster adoption of this clean energy source. </p>
<p>We reviewed regulatory approvals of entrepreneurial hydroelectric power facilities from 1978 to 2014 and found that, on average, when regulators had a relatively high level of discretion, entrepreneurs received a license 22.5% sooner. We calculated hydropower ventures that use innovative <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/types-hydropower-plants">run-of-the-river</a>, <a href="https://www.hydro.org/policy/technology/pumped-storage/">pumped storage</a> and <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/marine-hydrokinetic-program">marine technologies</a> can generate up to US$7,740 per day in renewable energy – $2.8 million annually – from faster licensing. </p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Government regulation can pose a significant barrier for <a href="https://doi.org/10.5465/256737">new ventures</a> seeking to enter regulated markets, such as electric power, because they typically lack the resources and experience to meet requirements posed by regulations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367950/original/file-20201106-19-ezk30v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chief Joseph Dam" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367950/original/file-20201106-19-ezk30v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367950/original/file-20201106-19-ezk30v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367950/original/file-20201106-19-ezk30v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367950/original/file-20201106-19-ezk30v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367950/original/file-20201106-19-ezk30v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367950/original/file-20201106-19-ezk30v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367950/original/file-20201106-19-ezk30v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A run-of-the-river hydroelectric plant, such as the Chief Joseph Dam in Washington, is a type of generator that uses little or no stored water. This type of plant is considered to have fewer environmental impacts than conventional hydro plants with large dams or reservoirs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run-of-the-river_hydroelectricity#/media/File:Chief_Joseph_Dam.jpg">U.S. Army Corps of Engineers</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For large established companies, by contrast, operating in regulated markets can be beneficial because they have the resources and experience to overcome regulatory hurdles, while smaller competitors don’t. Large incumbents can also set the rules of the game in their favor by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2241-z">influencing lawmakers</a> to create cumbersome legislation that makes it harder for new ventures to establish themselves. </p>
<p>Our findings suggest entrepreneurs using novel clean technologies should seek to enter jurisdictions where regulators have greater discretion from legislators who craft laws. </p>
<p>There are also important implications for policymakers. Instead of focusing on policy prescriptions, they should examine how those policies are actually implemented by regulators. The degree of regulatory discretion may be one of the reasons policies with good intentions <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-016-9712-2">fail to make a measurable difference</a>. </p>
<h2>How we did our work</h2>
<p>We sought to discover the conditions under which clean-tech entrepreneurs were able to enter regulated markets in the absence of a formal policy change. To do this, we examined the role of the regulatory agencies that are responsible for implementing the laws created by legislators. </p>
<p>We looked specifically at regulatory discretion – the flexibility that agencies have to interpret and implement public policy – and its role in influencing market entry of new ventures. To measure discretion, we looked at the number of laws, known as administrative procedures acts, that limit the freedom of regulatory agencies to interpret and implement policies. </p>
<p>We found that when regulators have low discretion, their decision-making is directed by legislators, who are often lobbied by existing companies in efforts to prevent new ventures from entering their markets. However, when regulators have high discretion, they are more insulated from pressure from legislators and can make decisions based on their mission to serve the public interest. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="An offshore wind turbine in Portugal." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367846/original/file-20201105-21-vt6iqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367846/original/file-20201105-21-vt6iqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367846/original/file-20201105-21-vt6iqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367846/original/file-20201105-21-vt6iqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367846/original/file-20201105-21-vt6iqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367846/original/file-20201105-21-vt6iqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367846/original/file-20201105-21-vt6iqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Entering an emerging renewable energy market, such as offshore wind, requires substantial capital as well as understanding of many regulations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/departmentofenergy/29566439002/in/photolist-M3FJeG-DRGvGC-G1TiWY-nQxYtF-pn3Kp3-DA1HFW-fpLfpc-HLzrte-schFp4-fjNrEB-fvdrZd-cSRFbq-fvfrmL-27mursY-cSRF5j-cSRF2S-DTSWpF-fjMXGR-nNDvCH-26a3oMq-nQxYsP-Xn4fgt-JjsSuZ-dgYdSU-wXN8Wk-nLS3F4-fvdrTs-pVi3kT-fgcRRh-rnHRut-e3hHDq-rA5rwG-rAb5Pk-dpZT2C-wotQ5q-e3c2Qr-2e43z23-suSDB2-g9hWVe-ktcFp8-n1n3Nv-2e8H8TK-fNTa6d-sgBYNw-uetGYN-eQ3BLT-fApLyw-Lgic3P-rcr8Je-M6jUFr">U.S. Department of Energy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>We are delving deeper into understanding how the implementation of policies can influence the development of new renewable energy technologies in the U.S. and globally. One of our projects explores the role of business stakeholders, such as environmental activists, in influencing regulators’ decision-making. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3725852">research</a> suggests that activists may have a greater impact on entrepreneurial energy innovation when regulators have more discretion. Because discretion places more responsibility for regulatory decision-making on the regulatory agency than on legislators, it allows activists to influence regulators by challenging their legitimacy and reputation. </p>
<p>Future research should explore how variation in policy implementation affects the development of other emergent renewable energy technologies, such as wave and tidal power, biomass, biogas, hydrogen and geothermal. In regulated markets, although entrepreneurs may be able to develop feasible technologies, commercializing them is dependent upon regulators who can be influenced by established companies, legislators and stakeholder activists. </p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149038/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jake Grandy receives funding from Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shon Hiatt receives funding from Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.</span></em></p>A study points to one way to speed up adoption of innovations in clean energy technology – more flexibility among state regulators.Jake Grandy, Assistant Professor Entrepreneurship and Venture Innovation, University of ArkansasShon Hiatt, Associate Professor of Management and Organization, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1364832020-05-14T12:05:10Z2020-05-14T12:05:10ZWhat makes the wind?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334430/original/file-20200512-82370-q6leha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C31%2C5262%2C3481&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dangerous winds batter the south coast of England.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Britain-Weather/d5b3088bc7b14e33885b46b8656eb6dd/23/0">AP Photo/Matt Dunham</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>What makes the wind?</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>Wind has been whirling around the world since long before we’ve been here to notice it. It howls outside your window, toppling trees and stirring up storms that could snatch your hat right off of your head and send it flying through the air. </p>
<p>What makes the wind blow? And why hasn’t it stopped by now? Whether it’s a gentle breeze or a hurricane-strength gust, it’s all powered by the Sun. But how could the wind blowing down your street be driven by something so far away? </p>
<h2>Blame it on the Sun</h2>
<p>It takes only eight minutes for sunlight to travel from the Sun to the surface of the Earth. When it gets here, it warms things up. You experience this yourself when you sit outside under blue skies and feel the Sun’s warmth on your skin.</p>
<p>As the Earth’s surface warms, so does the air that touches it. And when air gets warm enough, it rises high into the sky. This is how hot air balloons fly: A small flame heats the air inside the balloon to lift it upwards.</p>
<p>When warm air rises, nearby air that’s cooler rushes in to fill the empty space left behind. The rushing air is what we call wind.</p>
<h2>How does wind become dangerous?</h2>
<p>As it blows, the wind spins and spirals in different directions due to an invisible force called the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L5UD240mCQ">Coriolis force</a>. If the conditions are right, the Coriolis force wraps the wind into a giant, stormy spiral that is blown across the globe. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334424/original/file-20200512-82393-r73rxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334424/original/file-20200512-82393-r73rxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334424/original/file-20200512-82393-r73rxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334424/original/file-20200512-82393-r73rxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334424/original/file-20200512-82393-r73rxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334424/original/file-20200512-82393-r73rxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334424/original/file-20200512-82393-r73rxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334424/original/file-20200512-82393-r73rxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Satellite image of Hurricane Dorian as it raced across the Atlantic Ocean toward Florida in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Tropical-Weather/e84ee2596be14c419266badea1648001/485/0">AP Photo/NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the tropics, warm ocean waters provide an energy boost that strengthens the winds of a growing storm. If the wind speed reaches 74 miles per hour, about as fast as cars driving on a freeway, we call the storm a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-_obMEF_2o">hurricane</a>. A hurricane’s roaring winds and the floods that often accompany them can cause great destruction.</p>
<p>Strong winds can also be caused by sinking air. This happens frequently during thunderstorms. When the air below a thundercloud becomes very cold, it sinks down toward the ground, hits it and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3NLlRpUETA">rushes away at fast speeds</a>. This is why a warm summer day can suddenly cool off if a storm is nearby.</p>
<h2>What in the world shapes the wind?</h2>
<p>Wind is twisted and turned by the many obstacles it encounters along its way. In forests, trees block the wind and protect the forest floor from gusts. In big cities, towering skyscrapers <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU7i4FcLS_E&t=91s">funnel the wind into the narrow spaces between them</a>, speeding it up.</p>
<p>Much larger obstacles, like oceans or mountain ranges, mold the wind into <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDEcAxfSYaI">large, predictable patterns</a> that shape weather and climate across the planet.</p>
<p>These patterns have shaped the course of history. Winds brought the rains that allowed ancient societies to grow food and prosper. Tropical breezes called the <a href="https://scijinks.gov/trade-winds/">trade winds</a> carried early explorers across vast oceans to new worlds.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334427/original/file-20200512-82403-1tvq7gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334427/original/file-20200512-82403-1tvq7gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334427/original/file-20200512-82403-1tvq7gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334427/original/file-20200512-82403-1tvq7gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334427/original/file-20200512-82403-1tvq7gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334427/original/file-20200512-82403-1tvq7gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334427/original/file-20200512-82403-1tvq7gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334427/original/file-20200512-82403-1tvq7gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Facing into the wind.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/uR19TjCAX9U">Photo by Bianca Suri on Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Wind affects our lives in more ways than we often realize. Where I live, in Seattle, Washington, we depend on the wind to bring us rain from the Pacific Ocean. These rains support our farms, protect our forests from wildfires and keep our rivers filled with water. As water flows downstream and passes through huge <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8HmRLCgDAI">hydroelectric dams</a>, it generates electricity that keeps our homes warm and our lights on at night. Maybe the wind isn’t so bad after all. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Sokol does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Wind travels all over the world. Where does it come from, and why?Adam Sokol, Doctoral Student in Atmospheric Sciences, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1250882019-11-01T09:53:39Z2019-11-01T09:53:39ZRiver deltas are ‘drowning’, threatening hundreds of millions of people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299280/original/file-20191029-183147-1lhc3z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Ganges delta spans India and Bangladesh and is home to more than 100m people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elena11 / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world’s river deltas take up less than 0.5% of the global land area, but they are home to hundreds of millions of people. Many live in major fast-growing cities such as Kolkata in the Ganges delta, Bangkok in the Chao Phraya delta, or Shanghai, one of dozens of large cities in the Yangtze delta region.</p>
<p>With fertile soils and easy access to the coast, deltas are critical hotspots of food production. Vietnam’s Mekong delta alone supplies <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2469">almost 20% of the world’s rice</a>. They also host unique ecosystems such as the Sundarbans in Bangladesh and India, the largest mangrove forest in the world.</p>
<p>But many of the world’s deltas are now facing an existential crisis. Sea levels are rising as a result of climate change, while deltas are themselves sinking, and together this means the relative sea level is rising extra fast. </p>
<p>Deltas are built from sediments that are carried downstream by rivers and eventually deposited where the river meets the sea. As these sediments compact under their own weight, deltas naturally sink. Where left undisturbed, the supply of new river sediment can compensate for the subsidence and help to maintain the delta surface above sea level. </p>
<p>But deltas are now subsiding <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7146">much faster than they would do naturally</a>. That’s thanks to groundwater being pumped (or “mined”) from aquifers underneath them and used to irrigate crops and provide water for rapidly growing cities. </p>
<p>In these circumstances, only the continued deposition of sediment on deltas can keep them from “drowning”. We therefore wanted to find out whether supplies of river sediments would be affected by future environmental changes.</p>
<p>To address this question, we used a computer model to project changes in the flows of sediment to almost 50 major deltas worldwide. We used the model to explore the impact of various environmental changes, including climate change, population growth, increases in wealth and the construction of dams. Our results are published in the journal <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab304e">Environmental Research Letters</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299461/original/file-20191030-17924-jr9bnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299461/original/file-20191030-17924-jr9bnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299461/original/file-20191030-17924-jr9bnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299461/original/file-20191030-17924-jr9bnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299461/original/file-20191030-17924-jr9bnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299461/original/file-20191030-17924-jr9bnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299461/original/file-20191030-17924-jr9bnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299461/original/file-20191030-17924-jr9bnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rice farmers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Phuong D. Nguyen / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that most of the world’s major deltas will receive less river sediment by the end of the century, regardless of the environmental change scenario. On average, we projected a 38% decrease. Our results suggest that many deltas – already significantly stressed – will become sediment starved, further compounding the risks of rising relative sea levels.</p>
<p>Some of the most severe reductions will be found in major Asian deltas such as the Ganges (81% less sediment) and the Mekong (77%). This is particularly concerning because these deltas are among the largest and most densely populated in the world. </p>
<p>We found that climate change will generally drive a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003707380300232X">small increase in the flows of sediments</a> as, among other factors, warmer temperatures lead to increased precipitation and more soil is washed into rivers. But in many deltas this modest uptick will be more than offset by dams (which trap river sediments) and improved soil conservation practices as societies become wealthier. The <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4298835?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Aswan Dam</a> on the River Nile in Egypt or the <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/restoring-the-colorado-bringing-new-life-to-a-stressed-river">Hoover Dam</a> on the Colorado River in the US are among the dams that have already starved their downstream deltas of sediment.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299459/original/file-20191030-17893-18jv875.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299459/original/file-20191030-17893-18jv875.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299459/original/file-20191030-17893-18jv875.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299459/original/file-20191030-17893-18jv875.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299459/original/file-20191030-17893-18jv875.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299459/original/file-20191030-17893-18jv875.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299459/original/file-20191030-17893-18jv875.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299459/original/file-20191030-17893-18jv875.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bad news for a river delta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tupungato / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Better management of river sediment is vital to improve the outlook for the world’s deltas. International cooperation will be essential in deltas such as the Mekong and Ganges which are supplied by large rivers that drain many countries. For dams specifically, comprehensive environmental risk assessments that fully cost the consequences for downstream regions are required so that plans can be changed or scrapped. For those dams that are to be built in the coming decades, their design must accommodate transport of sediment downstream.</p>
<p>For authorities within deltas, faced with managing a dwindling supply of river sediment, new approaches are needed to better manage this precious declining resource. Flood embankments prevent sediment reaching delta plains and may need to be breached, as is being explored in <a href="https://www.gwp.org/globalassets/global/gwp-sas_images/gwp-sas-in-action/ldai/bdp-2100-ppt.pdf">the Ganges delta</a>. Additionally, the removal of sand from rivers for construction materials, which is pervasive in many deltas around the world, must be better managed.</p>
<p>Ultimately, difficult decisions need to be made about development priorities between countries upstream of deltas and those including the deltas themselves, and there will be trade-offs to be made between hydropower, agricultural practices and delta sustainability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125088/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frances Eleanor Dunn received funding from the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Darby receives funding from the United Kingdom Natural Environment Research Council</span></em></p>Sea levels are rising, while deltas are being starved of sediment by upstream dams.Frances Eleanor Dunn, Researcher in Earth Sciences, Utrecht UniversityStephen Darby, Professor of Physical Geography, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1223602019-10-03T22:41:40Z2019-10-03T22:41:40ZMuskrat Falls hydroelectric project poses risks for Canada that are being ignored<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294446/original/file-20190926-51434-jwfa2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=91%2C43%2C3481%2C2214&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Land Protectors Jenelle Duval, Susan Oralik, Vicki Allen and Amelia Reimer (left to right) look on as Denise Cole beats the drum on the steps of the Confederation Building in St. John's on Tuesday, Oct.25, 2016 during a Muskrat Falls demonstration. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Paul Daly</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>September saw the scheduled flooding at the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric facility in Labrador, with the first power from the facility set to start this fall. The $12.7 billion provincial investment in green energy has driven Newfoundland and Labrador to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-why-the-curse-of-churchill-falls-will-continue-to-haunt-newfoundland/">the verge of bankruptcy</a> and made a global exhibition of Canada’s natural resource development. Too often the impacts on Indigenous Peoples are treated as afterthoughts. </p>
<p>The province has spent the past 10 years <a href="https://www.nunatsiavut.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Premier%E2%80%99s-lack-of-action-on-Muskrat-Falls-commitments-a-step-back-for-reconciliation.pdf">refusing to engage</a> the Labrador Inuit over their credible concerns of health impacts from the hydroelectric project. It has ignored both the available scientific evidence and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/muskrat-coady-capping-1.5192445">the recommendations of an independent committee it itself created</a>. </p>
<p>Accusations that the province of Newfoundland and Labrador <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/nunatsiavut-wetland-capping-deadline-1.5242775">misled the Labrador Inuit</a> over its plans to mitigate the risk associated with the hydroelectric project have led to <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5zbpx/how-activists-are-resisting-a-megadam-that-threatens-cultural-genocide">a wave of protests</a>. </p>
<p>Although there has been some Canadian media interest in Muskrat Falls, the coverage has generally failed to address the systemic factors that enabled the province to disregard the constitutional rights of Indigenous Peoples to consultation and consent. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/world/canada/clean-energy-dirty-water-canadas-hydroelectric-dams-have-a-mercury-problem.html">International news coverage has portrayed Muskrat Falls as part of a broader trend</a>, in which Canadian hydroelectric development is <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4w5nmj/hydroelectric-projects-pose-risk-to-first-nations-harvard-study-warns">almost always pursued at the expense of Indigenous populations</a>. This threatens the viability of Canadian hydropower, which <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060061255">depends on access to the U.S. export market</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294231/original/file-20190925-51438-i3lt81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294231/original/file-20190925-51438-i3lt81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294231/original/file-20190925-51438-i3lt81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294231/original/file-20190925-51438-i3lt81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294231/original/file-20190925-51438-i3lt81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294231/original/file-20190925-51438-i3lt81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294231/original/file-20190925-51438-i3lt81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The construction site of the hydroelectric facility at Muskrat Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador is seen on July 14, 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Muskrat Falls seems to be changing American perceptions of the sustainability and democratic legitimacy of Canadian hydropower imports compared to other renewables. Muskrat Falls therefore jeopardizes Canada’s economic welfare, in addition to its moral credibility. </p>
<h2>Muskrat Falls and methylmercury</h2>
<p>Flooding hydroelectric reservoirs accelerates the microbial decomposition of soil organic matter and production of methylmercury. Methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin that that can accumulate in local fish and other aquatic species such as seals and birds. </p>
<p>Prenatal exposure to methylmercury is associated with a host of <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.1104494">neurodevelopmental impacts, including ADHD and reduced IQ</a>. Any <a href="http://clinics.law.harvard.edu/environment/files/2019/05/EELPC-Mercury-IPA-Comments.pdf">increase in exposures, even at low levels, increases these risks</a>. </p>
<p>All seafood consumers are exposed to methylmercury. But for most people, the benefits of eating seafood exceed the risks. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-mercury-level-in-your-tuna-is-getting-higher-37147">The mercury level in your tuna is getting higher</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Indigenous communities face <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/resources/research-publications/aboriginal-peoples-and-food-insecurity/">high rates of food insecurity</a> driven by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03404373">high food prices and low opportunities for wage labour</a>. They are often dependent on access to (and trust in) <a href="https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.31127">traditional food sources for nutritional sufficiency</a>. </p>
<p>Hydroelectric development therefore forces affected communities to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/methylmercury-vs-everything-else-1.5224893">choose between two evils</a> — higher methylmercury exposures or changes to the most nutritious part of their diets. </p>
<h2>Renewable energy plan</h2>
<p>The Muskrat Falls hydroelectric facility was sanctioned in 2012 as the cornerstone of the Lower Churchill Project, <a href="http://www.emeranl.com/en/home/themaritimelink/overview.aspx">an ambitious plan</a> to provide renewable energy to Atlantic Canada and New England. </p>
<p>Throughout the design and permitting process, the Labrador Inuit raised concerns over potential methylmercury impacts: their land claim area extends into Lake Melville, an estuary about 50 kilometres downstream from Muskrat Falls. </p>
<p>In part, these fears were driven by the legacy of Churchill Falls, a previous hydroelectric project upstream of Muskrat Falls. After the Churchill Falls project, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/1868-5749/2011/019-0023">fish methylmercury levels increased more than 10 times above baseline levels at their peak. These impacts were observed more than 300 kilometres downstream and persisted for more than 30 years</a>. </p>
<p>Nalcor, the provincial Crown corporation responsible for the project, <a href="https://ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents/47360/47360E.pdf">concedes that flooding is likely to increase methylmercury levels in the reservoir and river environment</a>. However, it has maintained since 2009 that “there is no reasonable possibility” of impact on Labrador Inuit, a position <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/muskrat-falls-methyl-mercury-1.3540669">reaffirmed in 2016</a> and again <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/07/30/as-megaproject-nears-completion-methylmercury-concerns-at-muskrat-falls-linger.html">by the provincial government in 2019</a>.</p>
<h2>Risks to Inuit</h2>
<p>Since 2012, I have been part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers working to <a href="http://sites.duke.edu/calder/hydropower-and-methylmercury/">characterize the risks of Muskrat Falls to the Labrador Inuit</a>. We have described how <a href="http://www.aminaschartup.com/assets/schartup-et-al-2015-proceedings-of-the.pdf">northern estuaries like Lake Melville are vulnerable to changes in river methylmercury inputs</a>, how <a href="https://sites.duke.edu/calder/files/2018/06/Calder-2016-full.pdf">highly varied diets leave some individuals likely to face elevated methylmercury exposures</a> and how <a href="https://sites.duke.edu/calder/files/2018/10/Calder-et-al.-2018-full-1.pdf">food consumption advisories are likely to</a> deprive a food-insecure population of access to nutritious, traditional food. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/dwight-ball-comments-meeting-1.3821277">Sustained pressure in the wake of these scientific findings</a> led Newfoundland and Labrador to create in 2017 an <a href="http://ieaclabrador.ca">independent committee</a> to evaluate the evidence on health risks of Muskrat Falls.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294232/original/file-20190925-51414-1fv37sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294232/original/file-20190925-51414-1fv37sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294232/original/file-20190925-51414-1fv37sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294232/original/file-20190925-51414-1fv37sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294232/original/file-20190925-51414-1fv37sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294232/original/file-20190925-51414-1fv37sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294232/original/file-20190925-51414-1fv37sg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Muskrat Falls, on the Churchill River in Labrador, is shown in a February 2011 file photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2018, <a href="http://ieaclabrador.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/MEDIA-RELEASE_IEAC-Recommendations-for-the-Protection-of-Human-Health_April-10-2018.pdf">the committee voted in favour</a> of soil removal and wetland capping to reduce methylmercury risks. The Nunatsiavut Government, representing the Labrador Inuit, <a href="https://www.nunatsiavut.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Premier%E2%80%99s-lack-of-action-on-Muskrat-Falls-commitments-a-step-back-for-reconciliation.pdf">urged the provincial government to act on the recommendations</a>. </p>
<p>The province, however, <a href="https://www.thewesternstar.com/news/nunatsiavut-says-province-dragging-feet-on-muskrat-falls-recommendations-238118/">stalled</a> for more than a year, until declaring in 2019 that the deadline had been “<a href="https://www.thetelegram.com/news/local/newfoundland-and-labrador-government-unintentionally-missed-muskrat-falls-wetland-capping-deadline-329855/">unintentionally missed</a>.” (The Innu Nation, <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2012/12/17/1346931/0/en/Innu-Nation-Supports-Muskrat-Falls-Development-and-Loan-Guarantee.html">who were able to negotiate a benefits sharing agreement in 2012</a>, had opposed this advice, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/innu-nation-muskrat-falls-reservoir-clearing-1.4618429">describing it as “risky” and calling into question its cost-effectiveness</a>.) </p>
<p>What was the province’s actual commitment to consultation or indemnification? Was it surprised by the advice of the independent committee to which it had <a href="http://ieaclabrador.ca/members/">appointed numerous Nalcor consultants</a>?</p>
<h2>International standing in jeopardy</h2>
<p>Roughly <a href="https://www.cer-rec.gc.ca/nrg/sttstc/lctrct/stt/lctrctysmmr/lctrctysmmr-eng.html">10 per cent of the electricity generated by Canada is exported</a> to the United States, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060061255">driving a hydropower boom</a> north of the border. Northern states <a href="https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/12/06/Clean%20Energy%20and%20Climate%20Plan%20for%202020.pdf">have been counting on Canadian hydropower</a> to achieve their renewable energy targets. However, the U.S. environmental lobby is <a href="https://www.clf.org/making-an-impact/stopping-northern-pass/">increasingly hostile to importation of Canadian hydropower</a>, favouring <a href="https://www.clf.org/making-an-impact/wind-power/">stateside development of renewables such as wind</a>.</p>
<p>For example, the North American Megadams Resistance, a New York-based advocacy group, <a href="http://northeastmegadamresistance.org/chpe-transmission-corridor-new-york/">has drawn on the experience of Marjorie Flowers</a>, an Inuk activist imprisoned for her protest against Muskrat Falls, to argue against hydropower imports from Québec. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the <a href="http://media.northernpasseis.us/attachments-deis/2017-01-31_CLF_Suppl._Northern_Pass_Comments.pdf">Conservation Law Foundation is setting the stage</a> for a legal challenge to the U.S. Department of Energy’s deference to Canadian environmental assessments in authorizing cross-border electrical connections. Currently, the DOE defers to Canada to evaluate impacts within its borders on the premise that impacts are assessed and reconciled <a href="http://media.northernpasseis.us/media/EIS-0463-FEIS-v1_2.pdf">within a democratic framework</a>. </p>
<p>There is however a real and growing perception among international policy makers that Canadian natural resources are tainted by undemocratic processes and disrespect of Indigenous rights supposedly <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session27/Documents/A_HRC_27_52_Add_2_ENG.doc">enshrined in both Canadian and international law</a>. Notably, in June, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24678&LangID=E">commented publicly on the “absence of meaningful consultation”</a> of Indigenous communities by Canadian governments regarding methylmercury impacts. </p>
<h2>Look to Québec</h2>
<p>In Canada, the provinces are primarily responsible for questions of environmental and human health. So, they need to invest in developing a culture of transparent, inclusive and scientifically substantiated environmental impact analysis. </p>
<p>Québec is by far the leading producer of hydroelectricity in Canada and has the most to lose from reduced market access. Historic confrontations with Indigenous communities over hydroelectric development in the 1970s led the province <a href="http://www.archipel.uqam.ca/765/1/M10060.pdf">to overhaul its approach to environmental assessment and public engagement</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8xTejJNLeMM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Virtual reality visit of a hydroelectric generating facility (Hydro-Québec).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, decision-making at Hydro-Québec, the crown corporation responsible for electrical generation and delivery, is heavily influenced by independent, project-specific committees that include scientists and Indigenous representatives. More broadly, institutions such as the <a href="https://www.bape.gouv.qc.ca"><em>Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement</em></a> seek to reconcile public opinion with the scope of environmental assessments and mitigation measures. </p>
<p>Conversely, Newfoundland and Labrador has spent years <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/newfoundland-to-cut-1420-public-service-jobs-over-next-five-years/article24139085/">hollowing out its civil service</a>. It is now reliant on the advice of consultants retained via short-term contract to understand the likely impacts of its natural resource endeavours. </p>
<p>Québec has invested heavily in creating and maintaining scientific capacity and politically independent public institutions. This has had the net result of increasing the democratic legitimacy of its economic projects. Canada’s moral standing and economic survival may depend on other provinces catching up.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Calder received funding from NSERC and served as a consultant to the Independent Expert Advisory Committee convened by the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador to evaluate methylmercury risks at Muskrat Falls. </span></em></p>A $12.7 billion investment in hydroelectricity has put Canada’s economic welfare and its moral credibility on the line.Ryan Calder, Postdoctoral Associate, Duke UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1070702018-11-28T12:34:00Z2018-11-28T12:34:00Z‘World’s worst environmental disaster’ set to be repeated with controversial new dam in Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246659/original/file-20181121-161633-1lwi7ai.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Damning development.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgel_Gibe_III_Dam#/media/File:Omo_Gibe_III,_Wolayita_3.jpg">Wikimedia Commons/Mimi Abebayehu</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Encompassing swathes of Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya, the Omo-Turkana Basin is one of the oldest landscapes in the world that is known to have been <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/2005/050214/full/news050214-10.html">inhabited by <em>Homo sapiens</em></a> and is now one of the world’s most extraordinary examples of ethnic diversity. In the lower Omo Valley alone, a varied history of cross-cultural encounters has played out to produce eight distinct ethnic groups, <a href="http://archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/download.asp?id=%7BCBFED3CF-1D64-427A-AE59-4AD3A69C0931">speaking many languages</a> from Afro-Asiatic to Nilo-Saharan.</p>
<p>In a cattle camp on the bank of the ancient Omo River a Mursi elder implored me to “tell our story so that others might know us before we are all dead in the desert”. Where the river ends in Lake Turkana, this sentiment was echoed by local fishermen: “You will find our bones in the desert.” The story of the Omo-Turkana Basin is now that of the Ethiopian state exploiting its periphery in the name of “development”, trampling on the human rights of its citizens in the process.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246660/original/file-20181121-161609-1dpqgzv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246660/original/file-20181121-161609-1dpqgzv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246660/original/file-20181121-161609-1dpqgzv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246660/original/file-20181121-161609-1dpqgzv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246660/original/file-20181121-161609-1dpqgzv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246660/original/file-20181121-161609-1dpqgzv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246660/original/file-20181121-161609-1dpqgzv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hamar children milk one of their family’s cattle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">J. Dubosson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The dam and the damned</h2>
<p>Over the past decade, the Ethiopian government has pushed ahead with a huge hydro-electric dam on the Omo, known as Gibe III. Without any meaningful consultation with the communities affected, the state has also appropriated grazing lands and freshwater, threatening their vital resources and local heritage. </p>
<p>All of this has happened despite the area gaining the status of a <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/17">UNESCO World Heritage Site</a> in 1980. As Richard Leakey, the Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician put it, “these happenings are profoundly disturbing”.</p>
<p>The completion of Gibe III, Africa’s tallest dam to date, has eliminated the annual flood and radically reduced the Omo’s flow, which produces <a href="http://www.mursi.org/pdf/copy3_of_pastoral-livelihoods.pdf">90% of Lake Turkana’s freshwater</a> input. In doing so, it has reduced sediments and nutrients critical for traditional agriculture, riverside pastures and fish habitat. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246661/original/file-20181121-161624-hctgks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246661/original/file-20181121-161624-hctgks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246661/original/file-20181121-161624-hctgks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246661/original/file-20181121-161624-hctgks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246661/original/file-20181121-161624-hctgks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246661/original/file-20181121-161624-hctgks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246661/original/file-20181121-161624-hctgks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246661/original/file-20181121-161624-hctgks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The former lake bed. What remains of the Aral Sea is heavily polluted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">T. Clack</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over 30% of the lake inflow will be diverted for commercial irrigation projects. The result could be a fall in lake level comparable to that of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/resources/idt-a0c4856e-1019-4937-96fd-8714d70a48f7">Central Asia’s Aral Sea</a>, which has shrunk by over two thirds since the 1960s because of irrigation abstractions and which has been called “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2003/oct/29/sciencenews.theguardianlifesupplement">the world’s worst environmental disaster</a>”. To make way for the commercial plantations planned for the Omo Valley, tens of thousands of hectares of land will be expropriated and thousands of local people displaced.</p>
<h2>Development at any cost</h2>
<p>The need to see “development” as more than a simple matter of an increase in GDP is well established. In his seminal work, Development as Freedom, the Nobel Prize winning economist, Amartya Sen, demonstrated that sustainable development must be based on <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/development-as-freedom-9780192893307?lang=en&cc=nl">universal access to social and economic necessities</a> as well as political and civil rights. The many communities in the Omo-Turkana Basin have suffered a systematic curtailment of their most basic and essential rights. </p>
<p>International agreements which the Ethiopian government signed up to, such as the 1993 International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights require it to protect and promote the rights of minority cultures and ensure the “right of everyone to take part in cultural life”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246665/original/file-20181121-161618-3f2boe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246665/original/file-20181121-161618-3f2boe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246665/original/file-20181121-161618-3f2boe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246665/original/file-20181121-161618-3f2boe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246665/original/file-20181121-161618-3f2boe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246665/original/file-20181121-161618-3f2boe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246665/original/file-20181121-161618-3f2boe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Formerly the fourth largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea has reduced to around 10% of its size in the 1960s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">T. Clack</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since 1948, Ethiopia has also been signed up to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Article II provides against the destruction of “a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. Raphael Lemkin, who coined the word “genocide”, <a href="https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/dialogue/2_12/section_1/5139">famously defined</a> the specific need to protect against the “disintegration of the political and social institutions of culture, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups”.</p>
<p>It is difficult not to conclude that what we are seeing in the Omo is the wholesale disregard of these commitments by the Ethiopian government. Its development policies are not only transforming landscape and heritage but destroying complex systems of sustainable living that have endured for millennia. The huge injustice of all this is that the ecological costs will be borne by local communities while the profits will be enjoyed by central and international corporations. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, centuries of collective wisdom relating to livestock diversification, flood dependant cultivation and customary obligations and mechanisms of livestock exchange, will be made redundant.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246663/original/file-20181121-161621-1eedlzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246663/original/file-20181121-161621-1eedlzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246663/original/file-20181121-161621-1eedlzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246663/original/file-20181121-161621-1eedlzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246663/original/file-20181121-161621-1eedlzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246663/original/file-20181121-161621-1eedlzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246663/original/file-20181121-161621-1eedlzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246663/original/file-20181121-161621-1eedlzb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two Mursi warriors prepare for a ceremonial duel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">T. Clack</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is not to deny, of course, that development, in the sense defined by Sen, is a laudable and necessary enterprise. But we must also recognise that large-scale infrastructure projects are likely to have far reaching consequences for the lifestyles and cultural identities of those they displace. </p>
<p>Projects which set out to increase economic growth without regard for social justice and individual rights are not worthy of the name “development”. Development must benefit locals and for this to happen their voices must not only be heard but also given a central and determining role in any discussions about the future of their lands and livelihoods. </p>
<p>Both cradle and crucible of our species, the Omo-Turkana Basin is unique and precious. Its heritage and history, as well as responsibility for its future, are shared by us all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Clack has received funding for anthropological fieldwork in the Omo-Turkana area from British Academy, British Institute in Eastern Africa, Cambridge University, Christensen Fund and Oxford University.</span></em></p>When the Aral Sea dried up, it was called the “world’s worst environmental disaster”. We’re witnessing its equivalent in Africa.Timothy Clack, Lecturer in Archaeology and Anthropology, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1046842018-10-11T21:58:16Z2018-10-11T21:58:16ZHow post-truth politics is sinking debate on environmental assessment reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240312/original/file-20181011-154549-409o7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Suncor's base plant with upgraders in the oil sands in Fort McMurray Alta., June 13, 2017. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The past few weeks have been characterized by a growing chorus of political and media voices, many from the West, decrying the Canadian government’s proposed environmental assessment legislation, Bill C-69.</p>
<p>The bill, known as the <a href="http://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-69/first-reading">Impact Assessment Act</a>, is currently before the Senate. If adopted, the legislation would revise the rules for the review and approval of major projects such as mines, large hydroelectric projects and interprovincial energy infrastructure like pipelines and power lines. </p>
<p>The bill has been criticized by the Canada West Foundation, the federal Conservative opposition, the Alberta government, parts of the fossil fuel industry, as well as some columnists and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-globe-editorial-bill-c-69-kills-the-national-energy-board-but-keeps/">editorial boards</a>. In reading their commentary, one could come away with the impression the legislation proposes radical changes, to be recklessly imposed by a government ideologically opposed to the resource sector. </p>
<p>The reality of the bill’s contents is rather less dramatic. </p>
<h2>Marginal adjustments, not radical change</h2>
<p>Bill C-69 largely leaves the existing assessment and review process intact. That process was established in its current form by the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/budget-bill-gives-harper-cabinet-free-hand-on-environmental-assessments/article4105864/">Harper government’s 2012 omnibus budget bills (Bills C-38 and C-45)</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240315/original/file-20181011-154539-1ikt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240315/original/file-20181011-154539-1ikt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240315/original/file-20181011-154539-1ikt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240315/original/file-20181011-154539-1ikt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240315/original/file-20181011-154539-1ikt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240315/original/file-20181011-154539-1ikt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240315/original/file-20181011-154539-1ikt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">About 100 people march in a demonstration in downtown Yellowknife in 2012. Idle No More organizers opposed the Harper government’s omnibus budget legislation, Bill C-45, and accused the Conservative government of trampling on treaty rights.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Braden)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The proposed legislation would make some marginal adjustments to that regime. It would widen participation in federal review processes beyond those who are directly affected by projects, allowing members of the public to file comments on projects and participate in hearings even if the projects are not “in their backyards.” It strengthens the requirements for the federal government to explain how it has arrived at its decisions under the act. </p>
<p>Bill C-69 also renames the National Energy Board the Canadian Energy Regulator. Final say in decision-making remains with the federal cabinet, as it did under the Bill C-38 amendments. </p>
<p>Contrary to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-globe-editorial-bill-c-69-kills-the-national-energy-board-but-keeps/">some commentary</a>, the bill would actually widen the scope of the environmental assessment process. It would consider all effects of a major project, including economic, social, health and gender, both positive and negative, in addition to its environmental effects. </p>
<p>With respect to energy projects, the bill re-establishes some elements of the pre-2012 regime. For example, a commissioner from the newly formed Canadian Energy Regulator would participate in joint reviews with panelists that had relevant knowledge or experience. </p>
<p>And while acknowledging Indigenous rights, Bill C-69 does not come close to establishing the kinds of ongoing governance structures with Indigenous communities that would reflect federal and provincial governments’ commitments to implementing the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html">United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a>.</p>
<h2>A shadow of what existed before 2012</h2>
<p>The resource sectors that are now criticizing Bill C-69 functioned successfully for decades under the pre-Harper review and assessment regime. An overwhelming majority of development projects, including the Canadian portion of the Keystone XL pipeline, were assessed and approved under the pre-2012 system. </p>
<p>The review process that would be established through Bill C-69 would remain a shadow of what existed before 2012. Prior to that date, several thousand federal environmental assessments were conducted <a href="http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_cesd_201410_04_e_39851.html">each year.</a>Yet there was no discernible negative economic impact of these requirements and there were substantial improvements in the quality and acceptance of the resulting decisions. Under Bill C-69, the new impact assessment process would likely remain limited to a few dozen major projects per year. </p>
<p>Completely absent from the critical commentary is any acknowledgement that the 2012 revisions to the federal review process are widely seen as an abject failure. Rather than facilitating the approval of energy projects, they have led to deeper political, social and legal conflicts than ever, as evidenced by the successful court challenges to the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/northern-gateway-pipeline-federal-court-of-appeal-1.3659561">Northern Gateway</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trans-mountain-federal-court-appeals-1.4804495">Kinder Morgan/Trans Mountain</a> pipelines.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-quick-or-easy-resolution-to-the-trans-mountain-pipeline-question-103034">No quick or easy resolution to the Trans Mountain pipeline question</a>
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<p>The current regime fails to consider the broader implications of energy projects, such as whether Canada can meet its climate change commitments. Nor does it require any review for thousands of projects each year within federal jurisdiction that, cumulatively, contribute to significant environmental, health, social and economic impacts. </p>
<p>The attacks on Bill C-69 seem grounded in fundamental misunderstandings of the federal environmental assessment regime, past and present. Much of the accompanying rhetoric wildly exaggerates the bill’s likely effects on the existing processes and procedures. </p>
<h2>Environmental challenges remain</h2>
<p>Canada is facing numerous environmental challenges. According to a <a href="http://www.wwf.ca/about_us/lprc/">recent report</a> by the World Wildlife Fund Canada, half of the country’s monitored species (451 of 903) declined in abundance between 1970 and 2014. Half of those had an average decline of 83 per cent. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240314/original/file-20181011-154567-11yqtq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240314/original/file-20181011-154567-11yqtq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240314/original/file-20181011-154567-11yqtq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240314/original/file-20181011-154567-11yqtq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240314/original/file-20181011-154567-11yqtq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240314/original/file-20181011-154567-11yqtq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240314/original/file-20181011-154567-11yqtq6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In this 2015 photo, an orca whale breaches in view of Mount Baker, in the Salish Sea in the San Juan Islands, Wash.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Marine wildlife is facing significant pressure on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, with a record number of <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/08/endangered-right-whales-are-dying-record-numbers-canada-raising-alarm">right whale deaths</a> in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2017 and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/low-orca-birth-rates-linked-to-lack-of-chinook-salmon-1.4183609">declining birth rates</a> among southern resident orcas in British Columbia’s coastal waters. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-fishing-rules-aim-to-protect-gulf-of-st-lawrence-right-whales-96158">New fishing rules aim to protect Gulf of St. Lawrence right whales</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In May, the <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/press/speech_oped/2018/05/17/the-costs-of-climate-change-are-rising">Conference Board of Canada reported</a> that natural catastrophes are costing Canadian insurers roughly a billion dollars annually. This was before wildfires struck B.C. and Ontario this summer, and tornadoes set down in Québec and Ontario in September.</p>
<h2>Not the end of the world</h2>
<p>While the Impact Assessment Act is not perfect, it attempts to deal with some of these challenges at a more systemic level. The bill reflects the results of over two years of extensive engagement. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/conservation/assessments/environmental-reviews/environmental-assessment-processes/building-common-ground.html">Two</a> expert <a href="https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/19667">panels</a> travelled across Canada and published comprehensive reports. The House of Commons committee studying the bill heard testimony from <a href="https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/19667">more than 100 witnesses</a>. The bill now before the Senate represents incremental — not radical — changes to the regime that now exists. </p>
<p>The ugly face of post-truth politics is now becoming deeply embedded in political discourses in the United States. Canada needs to avoid the same path. </p>
<p>A calmer and better-informed debate over the details of Bill C-69 and their implications would be a good place to start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104684/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Winfield receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the George Cedric Metcalf Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Curran is affiliated with the Environmental Law Centre. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Olszynski received funding from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.</span></em></p>Canada’s proposed new environmental assessment law is facing heated, if not necessarily well-informed, opposition. The real question is whether it goes far enough.Mark Winfield, Professor of Environmental Studies, York University, CanadaDeborah Curran, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and School of Environmental Studies, University of VictoriaMartin Olszynski, Associate Professor, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1007892018-09-05T20:12:35Z2018-09-05T20:12:35ZFarmers in Guatemala are destroying dams to fight ‘dirty’ renewable energy<p>One morning last year, Santiago, a <em>campesino</em> (peasant farmer) who grows corn and mangoes in southwestern Guatemala, left his home with a plan to engage in industrial sabotage.</p>
<p>Santiago (not his real name) was frustrated by the diversion of the Ixpátz River. Formerly a communal water source for drinking, cleaning and subsistence crop irrigation, the Ixpátz and four other rivers in the Champerico area had been re-routed from their natural courses and into large plantations. Joining forces with other small farmers, Santiago set out with pickaxes and sticks to break up dikes by hand. </p>
<p>Known locally as “liberating rivers,” this new social movement tactic has <a href="http://www.albedrio.org/htm/otrosdocs/comunicados/EnfoqueNo.40-Devuelvan%20nuestro%20rio.pdf">spread across the lowlands near Guatemala’s Pacific coast since 2016</a>. A growing number of communities are supporting one another to dismantle the unauthorized dams, wells and irrigation motors installed along many of the <a href="http://www.insivumeh.gob.gt/hidrologia/rios%20de%20guate.htm">18 major rivers and their tributaries</a> that flow into the Pacific Ocean. </p>
<p>With sugarcane and palm plantations expanding in part to meet global demand for biofuel, such a conflict points to a clash between renewable energy and the people affected by its production.</p>
<p>In 2017, after conducting nine years of research on land conflicts in Guatemala, I began to interview the people liberating rivers. The clash over rivers struck me as at once unique and emblematic of broader social and environmental turmoil. </p>
<h2>Bitter sugar</h2>
<p>The world is searching for cleaner sources of energy. Fossil fuel production is finite, environmentally destructive and politically contentious. These concerns have made growth industries out of alternative energies such as hydroelectricity and biofuel, which <a href="https://www.seeker.com/top-10-sources-for-biofuel-1769457447.html">counts sugarcane and African palm among its top sources</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233365/original/file-20180823-149469-1qsdddq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233365/original/file-20180823-149469-1qsdddq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233365/original/file-20180823-149469-1qsdddq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233365/original/file-20180823-149469-1qsdddq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233365/original/file-20180823-149469-1qsdddq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233365/original/file-20180823-149469-1qsdddq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233365/original/file-20180823-149469-1qsdddq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fruit bunches from the African oil palm are transported from a plantation to an extraction plant, in Sayaxche, Guatemala in February 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Guatemala, this growth has shaken up patterns of land and water usage. Guatemala is <a href="http://www.azucar.com.gt/azucar-de-guatemala-en-el-mundo/#4to-lugar">the world’s fourth largest exporter of sugar</a>, it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2018.1499093">follows only Indonesia and Malaysia</a> for palm oil exports and the country is the <a href="http://www.mem.gob.gt/2015/12/guatemala-es-el-mayor-exportador-de-energia-en-c-a/">largest Central American exporter of electricity</a>. </p>
<p>Biofuel production in Guatemala <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0961953415300040?via%3Dihub">responds predominantly to European demand</a>. The hydroelectricity the country generates is largely consumed domestically, with around <a href="http://www.mem.gob.gt/2015/12/guatemala-es-el-mayor-exportador-de-energia-en-c-a/">one-third of it sold to the Central American regional market in 2014</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/05/04/fact-sheet-us-caribbean-and-central-american-energy-summit">The United States</a> and intergovernmental agencies such as the <a href="https://www.iadb.org/en/topics/energy/renewable-energy%2C19008.html">Inter-American Development Bank</a> have heavily promoted both energy sources. </p>
<p>Land dedicated to sugarcane in Guatemala <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/joac.12150">grew by 46 per cent between 2001 and 2012</a>, with expansion concentrated along the Pacific coast. There, and in particular within the department of Suchitepéquez, sugarcane coverage grew <a href="http://idear.congcoop.org.gt/publicaciones/35-la-expansion-de-la-cana-de-azucar-en-suchitepequez-y-su-impacto-en-la-subsitencia-de-la-poblacion-del-altiplano-guatemalteco">primarily through the termination of land rental agreements with <em>campesinos</em></a>. Palm oil plantations expanded even faster, with a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2018.1499093">270 per cent increase in land used for the crop over 10 years</a>, mostly in Guatemala’s northern lowlands.</p>
<p>Upstream from the Pacific coast, these same rivers are also being dammed to produce electricity. Thirty-seven hydroelectric dams are operating or under construction within the coastal departments of Retalhuleu, Suchitepéquez, Escuintla and Santa Rosa. </p>
<p>Hydro and biofuel are intimately connected through more than the use of the same rivers. Sugarcane producers also <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/attached-files/energia_ingles_072412.pdf">generate electricity onsite</a> by burning the crop’s biomass pulp, and many of the small hydroelectric dams in the Pacific region are financed by sugar companies. In 2016, the Panama Papers leak shined light on <a href="https://cmiguate.org/el-grupo-campollo-y-los-panama-papers/">a consortium including 10 of Guatemala’s 12 sugarcane producers</a>, which exports electricity directly and <a href="https://elfaro.net/es/201704/centroamerica/20091/El-cartel-del-az%C3%BAcar-de-Guatemala.htm">invests in 116 offshore companies</a>.</p>
<p>Many local residents also take issue with the dams due to water usage, land access and pollution.</p>
<h2>Water theft</h2>
<p>All of this has had a negative impact on the lives of rural Guatemalans. </p>
<p>Sugarcane requires <a href="http://www.fao.org/land-water/databases-and-software/crop-information/maize/en/">three times more water than corn</a>, the primary subsistence crop grown by Guatemalan <em>campesinos</em>. African palm, rubber and banana plantations under expansion in the Pacific region have also diverted community water to satisfy irrigation needs. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233368/original/file-20180824-149490-8s7jhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233368/original/file-20180824-149490-8s7jhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233368/original/file-20180824-149490-8s7jhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233368/original/file-20180824-149490-8s7jhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233368/original/file-20180824-149490-8s7jhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233368/original/file-20180824-149490-8s7jhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233368/original/file-20180824-149490-8s7jhl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Field worker Jose Contreras, 31, carries sugar cane stalks on a field near Retalhuleu, Guatemala, on Nov. 25, 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Due to a shortage of water, plantations have begun “stealing” water, in the words of people from surrounding communities: diverting river routes, mechanically extracting river water and drilling deep wells. </p>
<p>This drainage of publicly accessible water is occurring in a region where many communities lack piped water for household use. The strain on such a vital resource explains the discontent of those who choose to destroy industrial property and return river water by force.</p>
<h2>Violence and death</h2>
<p>The social movement that came together around the river water near the Pacific coast did not form in a vacuum. Across Guatemala since at least 2005, communities affected by the expansion of agro-industry, hydroelectric dams and mining have developed innovative tactics in attempts to block these extractive projects.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233361/original/file-20180823-149490-1q2baqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233361/original/file-20180823-149490-1q2baqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233361/original/file-20180823-149490-1q2baqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233361/original/file-20180823-149490-1q2baqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233361/original/file-20180823-149490-1q2baqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233361/original/file-20180823-149490-1q2baqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233361/original/file-20180823-149490-1q2baqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People line up to vote against mining in San Juan Ostuncalco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jo5h_h/5459477003">My Mom is Wolves/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One widespread form of opposition has been the <em>consultas</em> votes held by affected communities. Around one million Guatemalans voted overwhelmingly against local extractive projects in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/usnr20/27/3">78 instances between 2005 and 2013</a>, setting off a number of legal challenges and leading to the suspension of some licenses. </p>
<p>The <em>consultas</em> are locally organized plebiscites whose validity has been recognized by the Guatemalan constitutional court. The plebiscites draw on the <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C169">internationally established right of Indigenous peoples</a> — which includes most Guatemalan <em>campesinos</em> — to <a href="http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf">free, prior and informed consent over economic development</a> within their traditional lands. </p>
<p>Where opposition is strong, however, repression has followed. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.amnesty.ca/sites/amnesty/files/mining-in-guatemala-rights-at-risk-eng.pdf">Activists opposed to mining have been killed</a> in relation to all four Canadian-financed mines in operation in Guatemala since 2005. Four lawsuits in Canada are currently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2013.761954">trying mining companies</a> for violence conducted by their security guards in Guatemala: one charges <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/guatemala-mining-tahoe-resources-idUSL1N1FG1VN">Tahoe Resources</a> for the shooting of seven protesters in 2013, and three charge <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/06/20/the-mayans-vs-the-mine.html">Hudbay Minerals</a> for the murder of one man and shooting of another in 2009, and the gang-rape of eleven women in 2007.</p>
<p>Of the 134 human rights defenders killed between 2007 and 2017 in Guatemala, my research has found that at least 61 were active in the resistance to resource extraction, including mining, dams, agro-industry and more. These figures align with an international trend: the NGO Global Witness reported the <a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/defenders-annual-report/">murder of 207 land and environmental defenders in 2017 alone</a>. </p>
<h2>Dirty renewables</h2>
<p>Violence against those engaged in water battles on the Pacific coast has not been as extreme as that seen around Canadian mines, but the movement has experienced repression. </p>
<p>I spoke with one man who faced this violence personally, when private security guards from a sugar company allegedly ambushed the river liberation action he participated in. “In that moment, well, I had bad luck, and they hit me with a pellet from a shotgun. But we did manage to liberate that river, at least for now.”</p>
<p>Even though many rivers have been freed by communities across the Pacific coastal region, the struggle is far from over. Santiago, who helped free the Ixpátz River, now takes part in foot patrols to prevent further theft from any of the five waterways near his community in Champerico. </p>
<p>At another community in Suchitepéquez, a river was freed and now runs deeply, but residents note that the returned water is polluted. “There is a rubber plantation upstream and they throw all their waste into the Icán River,” said Julio. “So the water comes this way and you can’t drink it. The animals do, but we can’t drink that water.”</p>
<p>The social movement tactics referred to as river liberation have opened a new front in an ongoing struggle over land and water usage Guatemala. Consumers in North America and Europe are right to encourage a transition to renewable forms of energy, but we must also look deeper into alternative industries, and ensure that no harm is done in our name. </p>
<p><em>All names in this article have been changed</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100789/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Granovsky-Larsen conducts research and solidarity work with the Comité Campesino del Altiplano (CCDA), a Guatemalan peasant social movement organization that has supported the river liberation movement. He has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. He is a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.</span></em></p>Increased use of renewable energies could help curb climate change, but the water required for their production has dispossessed rural Guatemalans.Simon Granovsky-Larsen, Assistant Professor of Politics and International Studies, University of ReginaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/914422018-02-09T17:03:31Z2018-02-09T17:03:31ZThe EU wants to fight climate change – so why is it spending billions on a gas pipeline?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205470/original/file-20180208-180813-ifievy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TAP_in_Albania.jpg">Albinfo/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past few years there has been <a href="https://www.enelgreenpower.com/media/news/d/2017/12/renewables-exponential-growth">exponential growth</a> in clean energy investment – while fossil fuel assets are increasingly considered to be <a href="https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FINAL-TCFD-Annex-062817.pdf">risky</a>. Yet, on February 6, the European Investment Bank, the EU’s long-term lending institution, voted to provide a <a href="http://www.eib.org/infocentre/press/releases/all/2018/2018-030-eib-backs-eur-6-5-billion-energy-sme-transport-and-urban-investment">€1.5 billion loan</a> to the controversial Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).</p>
<p>The TAP is the Western part of a larger Southern Gas Corridor proposal that would ultimately connect a large gas field in the Caspian Sea to Italy, crossing through Azerbaijan, Turkey, Greece and Albania. And while gas might be cleaner than coal, it’s still a fossil fuel. </p>
<p>So how does the EU’s support for this major project fit in with its supposed goal of addressing climate change?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The proposed Trans Adriatic Pipeline will run nearly 900km from Greece to Italy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trans_Adriatic_Pipeline.png">Genti77 / wiki</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Influencing investors</h2>
<p>A key problem is the message this sends to the private sector, where renewable energy is increasingly seen as a good investment. Technologies once perceived as too risky and too expensive are now delivering worthwhile returns thanks to reduced costs and breakthroughs in energy storage. The price of electricity generated by solar, wind or hydro is now comparable with the national grid. Over the past decade, investor meetings have shifted from discussing whether the transition to a low carbon economy will start before 2050, to whether it will be completed in the same period. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"949194987337650176"}"></div></p>
<p>But there is still not enough money being spent on renewables. While clean energy investment in 2017 <a href="https://about.bnef.com/blog/runaway-53gw-solar-boom-in-china-pushed-global-clean-energy-investment-ahead-in-2017/">topped US$300 billion for the fourth year in a row</a>, this is far short of what is needed to unlock the technology revolution necessary to tackle climate change. There is clearly a gap between what is required and what is being delivered. </p>
<p>The private sector will continue to invest significant capital into energy projects over the next few decades, so one issue facing policy makers is how to influence investors away from fossil fuels and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421511005064">towards renewable projects</a>. To really scale up investment into renewable infrastructure, <a href="http://www.unepfi.org/fileadmin/documents/Investment-GradeClimateChangePolicy.pdf">long-term and stable policy is required</a> – which investors <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652615006277">see as clearly lacking</a>. </p>
<p>By funding the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, the EU’s investment bank is hardly signalling to the private sector that governments are committed to a green energy transition. </p>
<h2>Risky business</h2>
<p>If Europe really was to follow through and successfully switch to green energy – and such a transition is partially underway – then the pipeline project may even represent a risk to public finances.</p>
<p>Studies on climate change point to the need for a greater sense of urgency and ambition and, to stay within its “carbon budget” under current agreed emissions targets, the EU needs to be <a href="http://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/extractive_industries/2017/can_the_climate_afford_europes_gas_addiction_report_november2017.pdf">fossil fuel free by 2030</a>. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HSKcvoBKYxc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>So any large oil and gas infrastructure projects with investment returns beyond 2030 are saddled with risk. In just a decade or two, super-cheap solar and wind power could mean that gas pipelines such as TAP would no longer make financial sense and would become worthless “<a href="https://www.carbontracker.org/terms/stranded-assets/">stranded assets</a>”. Yet TAP backers are touting economic benefits for countries such as <a href="http://www.oxfordeconomics.com/Media/Default/economic-impact/economic-impact-home/Economic-Impact-trans-Adriatic-Pipeline.pdf">Albania</a> extending to 2068 – well beyond the date when Europe must entirely ditch fossil fuels.</p>
<p>The EU’s official stance is to hail natural gas as a cleaner “bridge fuel” between coal and renewables. But <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/343/6172/733.summary">high leakage rates</a> and the <a href="http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/uploads/WGIAR5_WGI-12Doc2b_FinalDraft_All.pdf">potent warming impact</a> of methane (the primary constituent of natural gas) means that the Southern Gas Corridor’s climate footprint may be <a href="https://bankwatch.org/publication/smoke-and-mirrors-why-the-climate-promises-of-the-southern-gas-corridor-don-t-add-up">as large, or larger, than equivalent coal</a>. Abundant natural gas is also highly likely to <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/9/9/094008/meta">delay the deployment of renewable technologies</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"952216497123835906"}"></div></p>
<p>For the first decade of this century Europe prided itself on leading the political debate on tackling climate change. Now, it appears to be losing its boldness. To drive through a new technology revolution, the public sector needs to lead from the front and take bold decisions about its energy strategy.</p>
<p>A gas pipeline is not a technology of the future. If California can release <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSKcvoBKYxc">YouTube videos</a> describing the importance of considering stranded assets during this energy transition, and New York City can announce plans to <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/952216497123835906">divest from fossil fuels</a>, then maybe it is time for the EU to turn off the TAP.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91442/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aled Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The European Investment Bank’s funding of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline will harm the climate and makes little financial sense.Aled Jones, Professor & Director, Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/865882017-11-06T14:11:40Z2017-11-06T14:11:40ZHydroelectric dams threaten Brazil’s mysterious Pantanal – one of the world’s great wetlands<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192710/original/file-20171031-18730-59f13v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C0%2C5901%2C2738&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">FCG / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Pantanal in central South America may not be as globally famous as the Amazon rainforest, but it has the continent’s <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/south-america/brazil/brazils-best-kept-secret-the-pantanal-wildlife-biodiversity-wetlands/">highest concentration of wildlife</a>. Now, however, the region’s endangered plants and animals, along with its still undiscovered secrets, may be wiped out in return for cheap hydroelectricity.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192725/original/file-20171031-18683-o4tffx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192725/original/file-20171031-18683-o4tffx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192725/original/file-20171031-18683-o4tffx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192725/original/file-20171031-18683-o4tffx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192725/original/file-20171031-18683-o4tffx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192725/original/file-20171031-18683-o4tffx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192725/original/file-20171031-18683-o4tffx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192725/original/file-20171031-18683-o4tffx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pantanal is flanked by Brazil’s highlands (brown). The Amazon rainforest lies to the north.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA / P199</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Pantanal is the world’s largest tropical wetland and covers an area slightly larger than England. It lies mostly on a huge floodplain at the foot of Brazil’s southwestern highlands, but a fraction also spills over into Bolivia and Paraguay. In the wet season, from October to April, water washes down from those highlands bringing with it nutrients and fish and leaving most of the region underwater. When the rains finish, and the ground dries up, the landscape changes once again.</p>
<p>Seasonal variation on such a massive scale means the Pantanal contains a diverse range of plants and animals that have adapted to thrive in standing water or waterlogged soil. The region is home to more than 1,000 bird species and 300 mammals including the jaguar, capybara, giant otter and tapir.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192720/original/file-20171031-18738-zemlo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192720/original/file-20171031-18738-zemlo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192720/original/file-20171031-18738-zemlo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192720/original/file-20171031-18738-zemlo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192720/original/file-20171031-18738-zemlo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192720/original/file-20171031-18738-zemlo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192720/original/file-20171031-18738-zemlo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192720/original/file-20171031-18738-zemlo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pantanal jaguars are the largest in the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hans Wagemaker / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet the Pantanal is now threatened by Brazil’s thirst for hydroelectricity. We are part of a group of researchers investigating the state of Mato Grosso, where the rush to build dams is particularly apparent. Mato Grosso holds the upper reaches of the Pantanal, but is probably more famous for the Amazon rainforest in the north of the state and the enormous “fazendas” (large farms) on its fringes which produce soya, beef and cotton.</p>
<p>This mixture of natural resources and fertile land means Mato Grosso has a long history of environmental issues. However, if the state today is recognised as a <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/business-as-usual-a-resurgence-of-deforestation-in-the-brazilian-amazon">deforestation hotspot</a>, soon it may be known for its dams. This is because the height difference between the rainy plateau in the north of the state and its southern plains means there is lots of <a href="https://www.ecodebate.com.br/2012/09/10/hidreletricas-comprometem-conservacao-do-pantanal-entrevista-com-debora-calheiros-da-embrapa-pantanal/">hydroelectric potential</a>. </p>
<p>Mato Grosso is following a nationwide trend. After a <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-blackout/brazil-hit-by-new-blackout-infrastructure-in-spotlight-idUSBRE89P0QW20121026">series of major blackouts</a> in 2001 which highlighted Brazil’s <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/07/energy-brazil-small-dams-big-problems/">energy insecurities</a>, the country turned to hydroelectricity. Since then, a wave of dams have been, or are planned to be, constructed to satisfy the ever increasing demand for energy. </p>
<p>Over the past few years, Brazil’s <a href="http://blogs.worldbank.org/growth/brazil-announces-phase-two-growth-acceleration-program">growth acceleration programme</a> has allowed for the increased construction of hydroelectric dams in the state, while also removing or weakening some <a href="https://theconversation.com/brazils-new-government-needs-economic-growth-and-may-sacrifice-the-amazon-to-get-it-65002">environmental laws</a>.</p>
<p>There are already 38 operational hydroelectric plants in the Paraguay river’s upper basin, the region that drains into the Pantanal. A <a href="http://riosvivos.org.br/represas-na-bap-um-desastre-anunciado/#marker340">further 94</a> are due to be built in coming years. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193425/original/file-20171106-1032-de49u1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193425/original/file-20171106-1032-de49u1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193425/original/file-20171106-1032-de49u1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193425/original/file-20171106-1032-de49u1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193425/original/file-20171106-1032-de49u1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193425/original/file-20171106-1032-de49u1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193425/original/file-20171106-1032-de49u1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193425/original/file-20171106-1032-de49u1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Paraguay river upper basin (red). The Pantanal (centre) is surrounded by dams, with more to come (blue = operational; green = under construction; red = authorised; yellow = under study)</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Brazil, dams are classified in two categories: those that are able to produce more than 30MW of energy, and <a href="http://www.juara.mt.gov.br/Noticias/Obra-de-construcao-da-usina-hidreletrica-central-geradora-de-energia-e-iniciada-em-juara">small hydroelectric plants</a> (SHP) with a capacity of less than 30MW and a reservoir of less than 13km². These small plants are seen as more environmentally friendly and are commonly constructed as part of a chain along the length of the river.</p>
<p>In the Amazon, the <a href="http://e360.yale.edu/features/how-a-dam-building-boom-is-transforming-the-brazilian-amazon">impacts</a> of the bigger dams have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-laws-could-hand-miners-10-of-brazils-national-parks-and-indigenous-lands-33912">well documented</a>. Fish numbers are down, and irregular floods have exposed dry land that had previously been submerged during the wet season.</p>
<p>Less research has been conducted in the Pantanal basin but the few <a href="http://www.oecologiaaustralis.org/ojs/index.php/oa/article/view/oeco.2012.1604.17">reports</a> that have investigated dams there report similar <a href="http://riosvivos.org.br/o-rio-nao-tem-mais-peixe-da-serie-barragens-no-rio-jauru/">results</a>. Additionally, one larger dam led to river depth fluctuating by several metres over weekly or even daily periods, confusing fish and affecting <a href="http://riosvivos.org.br/represas-na-bacia-do-pantanal-destroem-vidas-e-o-ambiente-para-gerar-infima-energia/">water quality</a>. Less is currently known about the impacts of the smaller hydroelectric dams but, as they still store some water in the reservoir in order to produce energy at peak times, especially in low-flow rivers, they thus also affect the river’s daily fluctuations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193432/original/file-20171106-1020-ipg21e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193432/original/file-20171106-1020-ipg21e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193432/original/file-20171106-1020-ipg21e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193432/original/file-20171106-1020-ipg21e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193432/original/file-20171106-1020-ipg21e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193432/original/file-20171106-1020-ipg21e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193432/original/file-20171106-1020-ipg21e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193432/original/file-20171106-1020-ipg21e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Say hi to the hyacinth macaw.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ondrej Prosicky / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What we do know is that too many dams on the rivers that feed the Pantanal would disrupt the natural rhythm of the wetland. Large-scale cattle ranchers, soy farmers and city dwellers drive year-round demand for water and energy, which would put the seasonal flood “pulse” at risk. In this scenario, species that have adapted themselves over thousands of years to life in an on-off wetland may find themselves thrown out of sync. </p>
<p>Even several small plants close to each other can produce new patches of still surface water, fragmenting ecosystems and affecting ecological relationships. Meanwhile, those whose livelihoods are dependent on these cycles, mainly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mlU2IYrJ6c">traditional fishing communities</a>, may find they can no longer survive. </p>
<p>As the impacts of hydroelectric dams become apparent in the Amazon, it is crucial that we do not forget the Pantanal. If the wetland is going to survive, it will take a concerted effort from all actors who use its resources to work together. The Pantanal is a complex ecosystem where society and the environment clash on a number of issues. With the increasing demand for electricity and solar and wind options being little investigated in Mato Grosso, it is important the full impacts of hydroelectric generation are known.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Crabb receives funding from the Newton Fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Laing receives funding from the Newton Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwen Whitney receives funding from the Newton Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carlos Saito receives funding from Newton Fund, Brazilian National Council for Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq), and Research Support Foundation of the Federal District (FAPDF)</span></em></p>The region relies on seasonal flooding, yet energy demand is year-round.Lauren Crabb, Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources, Coventry UniversityAnna Laing, Lecturer in International Development, University of SussexBronwen Whitney, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Northumbria University, NewcastleCarlos Saito, Professor of Geography, Universidade de Brasília (UnB)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/748302017-03-22T19:19:18Z2017-03-22T19:19:18ZSnowy hydro scheme will be left high and dry unless we look after the mountains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161734/original/image-20170321-9147-1a9700o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A degraded wetland in the Pilot Wilderness area, Kosciuszko National Park, is subject to increasing numbers of feral horses.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theaustralianalps.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/our-australian-alps-are-changing-for-the-worse-part-1.pdf">Graeme Worboys collection</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/turnbull-unveils-snowy-plan-for-pumped-hydro-costing-billions-74686">Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s plan</a> for a A$2 billion upgrade and expansion of the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme, announced last week, will be an impressive engineering achievement. Snowy Hydro 2.0 will increase the scheme’s capacity by 50%.</p>
<p>Meeting this extra capacity will depend entirely on the natural water supply available in the Snowy Mountains. But the current environmental conditions of these mountains, and the Australian Alps where they are located, are compromising both <a href="https://theaustralianalps.wordpress.com/the-alps-partnership/publications-and-research/our-australian-alps-are-changing-for-the-worse/">water delivery and water quality</a>.</p>
<p>The only way to maintain water flow is to control the threats that are actively degrading the high country catchments. These include introduced animals, wetland loss, and climate change.</p>
<h2>Restoration and management</h2>
<p>The remarkable <a href="http://www.snowyhydro.com.au/">Snowy Hydro Scheme</a> was developed over 25 years from the 1940s. During this period the NSW Soil Conservation Service and later NSW National Parks effectively managed soil and restored areas damaged by grazing. </p>
<p>Conservation efforts focused on looking after topsoil, stabilising wetlands, and restoring vegetation after decades of grazing. This ensured good amounts of high-quality water for both hydro power and irrigation downstream. </p>
<p>More recent efforts have focused on the impacts of building the original Snowy scheme. This includes restoring areas cleared for roads and construction sites, and areas where rock and soil from blasting and cutting were dumped. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161696/original/image-20170320-9117-198h6tm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161696/original/image-20170320-9117-198h6tm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161696/original/image-20170320-9117-198h6tm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161696/original/image-20170320-9117-198h6tm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161696/original/image-20170320-9117-198h6tm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161696/original/image-20170320-9117-198h6tm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161696/original/image-20170320-9117-198h6tm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161696/original/image-20170320-9117-198h6tm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Before and after revegetation works in the 1970s, following the removal of cattle. Current ecological change is likely to be far more significant and could require new types of intervention.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy of Roger Good</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Threats to mountain catchments</h2>
<p>The Australian Alps are the nation’s water towers. They provide water for growing food and hydroelectricity, but face several threats.</p>
<p>Across the Alps, despite well-informed and committed control programs, feral horses, pigs and deer are destroying wetlands, degrading streamside vegetation, and causing moisture-holding peat soils and stream channels to erode. This <a href="https://theaustralianalps.wordpress.com/the-alps-partnership/publications-and-research/our-australian-alps-are-changing-for-the-worse/">leads to more evaporation</a>, more rapid runoff and erosion, less water flow, and lower water quality.</p>
<p>There is currently no effective response to this damage. We estimate that more than 35% of the high mountains’ wetlands have been affected, and the problem is getting worse.</p>
<p>The Alps are also recognised as extremely vulnerable to climate change. <a href="http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/19118/49215_1.pdf;sequence=1">Climate models</a> suggest that alpine areas that currently receive at least 60 days of snow cover will shrink by 18-60% by 2020. </p>
<p><a href="https://theaustralianalps.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/climate-futures-report-20161.pdf">Temperatures in the alps</a> are already increasing by 0.4°C per decade, an increase of 1.79°C since records began. Climate change projections for the Australian Alps indicate the hottest summer days will be around 5°C warmer in 2100, minimum temperatures will rise by 3-6°C, and precipitation (rain and snow) will decrease by up to 20%, with less falling as snow. These changes are already putting pressure on iconic mountain ecosystems including the peatlands, snowgum woodlands and alpine ash forests.</p>
<p>The Australian Alps are also likely to experience more extreme events such as heatwaves, storms, fires and severe frosts. All of these affect high mountain ecosystems, making the environment more vulnerable to disturbances such as more fires, weeds and disease outbreaks. </p>
<p>For example, the root-rot fungus, <em>Phytophora cambivora</em>, recently appeared in the alps. The fungus killed large areas of shrubs following unusually warm springtime soil temperatures. </p>
<p>New weeds are an additional concern for the alps as these may compromise the existing plant communities and their ability to deliver services such as water. Alpine peat soils, which build up over thousands of years, can also burn in drought.</p>
<h2>Reliable water depends on functioning ecosystems</h2>
<p>A stable water supply from the Alps is crucial for energy and food production. This relies on intact vegetation.</p>
<p>Back in the 1950s, it became clear to the researchers at the Soil Conservation Service that hard-hooved animals, in this case domestic cattle, were severely damaging the alpine catchments.</p>
<p>The success of the original Snowy scheme depended on removing cattle from alpine areas, controlling soil erosion that resulted from prior grazing and hydro works, and carrying out extensive revegetation works across the whole of the nearby mountain ranges. </p>
<p>However, land managers to this day are still controlling a legacy of disturbance and weed invasions from both the Snowy scheme itself and years of previous grazing. Snowy 2.0 must consider these lessons from the past, and work to improve mountain catchments.</p>
<p>Alpine plants and animals often live close to their environmental tolerances, meaning they are not necessarily able to cope with change. For some species, climate change is likely to exceed these thresholds. Vegetation communities will change as current populations decline and colonisers from different species move in to occupy the gaps, including invasive species. </p>
<p>Feral horses make it even more difficult for native species to respond to a changing climate, by exacerbating environmental degradation and impacts on water.</p>
<p>Part of the solution is restoring and re-vegetating degraded high country landscapes. For example, restoring snowgum communities, which were severely affected by burning and grazing, may lead to increases in the amount of water trapped as drifting fog. </p>
<p>But climate change will demand new research and management partnerships to find species that will survive well into the future and to develop adaptation pathways to respond to uncertain conditions.</p>
<p>This will be a new and different world. We are currently ill-prepared to maintain high-quality water yield in the future, to predict the impacts of climate change, or to effectively protect our alps for future generations. </p>
<p>But we are confident these questions can be answered with adequate investment in the environmental infrastructure needed to underpin the engineering. We estimate that between A$5 million and A$7 million per year is needed to research and develop new management structures. You could see this investment as royalties returned to the system that provides the water and power.</p>
<p>Turnbull’s plan may deliver more power, but only if the environment is carefully managed. Otherwise Snowy Hydro 2.0 may be left high and dry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74830/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrienne Nicotra receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the NCCARF. She is a member of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Science Advisory Council and the Ecological Society of Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Freudenberger receives funding from Whitehaven Coal to conduct mine site rehabilitation research. He is a board member of the Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia, a member of the Australian Ecological Society and a member of the ACT Natural Resource Management Advisory Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoff Cary currently receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Bushfire and Naturals Hazard CRC, and has recently received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Greenhouse Office/Department of Climate Change Greenhouse Action in Regional Australia funding schemes, NSW Department of Environment and Conservation, and the Bushfire CRC. He is affiliated with the International Association of Wildland Fire.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoffrey Hope has received funding from the Office of Environment and Heritage, NSW Government and the ACT Government for research on mountain wetland ecology. He is affiliated with the Australian Institute of Alpine Studies and is a member of the Kosciuscko National Park Wild Horse Management Plan Review Independent Technical Reference Group. . . </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Banks receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susanna Venn receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graeme Worboys does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A reliable water supply from Australia’s mountain catchments depends on intact and functioning ecosystems.Adrienne Nicotra, Professor Research School of Biology, the Australian National University, Australian National UniversityDavid Freudenberger, Senior Lecturer Environmental Management, Australian National UniversityGeoff Cary, Associate Professor, Bushfire Science, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityGeoffrey Hope, Emeritus Professor, Department of Archaeology and Natural History; Visiting Fellow, Fenner Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityGraeme Worboys, Associate professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversitySam Banks, ARC Future Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversitySusanna Venn, ARC DECRA Fellow, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/620542016-07-05T16:52:14Z2016-07-05T16:52:14ZHow a controversial dam threatens rights of Canada’s indigenous Innu people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129455/original/image-20160705-817-1ksk6gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protest sign at the Muskrat Falls site, June 12.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Janet Cooper</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A controversial hydroelectric dam project in sub-Arctic Canada relies on local Innu people giving up their own lands. Nalcor Energy, the firm building two dams to produce the <a href="http://www.nalcorenergy.com/lower-churchill-project.asp">Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project</a> in Labrador, along Canada’s north-eastern coast, talks enthusiastically about “boundless energy”. And why not? Hydroelectric power is seen as a renewable and relatively benign way to meet the ever-growing energy needs of industrialised societies. Nalcor, owned by its provincial government, says that its project will “significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions – equivalent to taking 3.2m vehicles off the road each year”.</p>
<p>This sounds great. Yet beyond the impressive feats of engineering and the <a href="http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/head-of-nalcor-energy-to-give-update-on-muskrat-falls/">CAN$11 billion cost</a> (£6.5 billion), what will it take to accomplish what is being imagined here? </p>
<p>Across the world, many areas sacrificed for hydroelectric generation belong to indigenous or land-based peoples who either have to be moved or live with drastic changes. The Three Gorges dam in China <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/three-gorges-dam">displaced 1.2m people</a> and the Belo Monte dam in Brazil could <a href="http://amazonwatch.org/work/belo-monte-dam">displace up to 40,000</a>. And back in the 1950s the Kariba dam project on the Zambesi river in Zambia precipitated an <a href="http://www.unep.org/dams/WCD/report/WCD_DAMS%20report.pdf">involuntary resettlement of some 57,000 people</a>, including the Gwembe Tonga farmers and hunters, whose homes, gardens, burial and spiritual sites were flooded with virtually no consideration from the British colonial authorities.</p>
<p>Opposition to “progress” may lead to imprisonment and in the case of Honduras and Guatemala, even to the suspected murder of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/03/honduras-berta-caceres-murder-enivronment-activist-human-rights">indigenous opposition leaders</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2014/aug/12/guatemala-gold-mine-protester-beaten-burnt-alive">protesters</a>. </p>
<h2>This land was made for you and me</h2>
<p>Canada is a supposed world leader on human rights. Yet any country staking its economy upon <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/23/canadas-tar-sands-oil-fields-sacred-lands">energy production on the lands of indigenous</a> peoples is likely at some level to disregard their rights.</p>
<p>I have <a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/article/621837/pdf">researched</a> this over the <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/786422.A_Way_of_Life_That_Does_Not_Exist">past 20 years</a>. Muskrat Falls is being constructed on the culturally important <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSV5RkHHq7I">Mishta-shipu (“Big River”)</a> on lands where there has been no treaty and which remain under unextinguished <a href="http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/land-rights/aboriginal-title.html">Aboriginal Title</a>. The lands belong to the Innu peoples of the Labrador-Quebec peninsula. Yet Canadian authorities are proceeding with the project as they anticipate the Innu electorate will at some time in the future vote to extinguish ownership of their own land. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129457/original/image-20160705-817-tml8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129457/original/image-20160705-817-tml8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129457/original/image-20160705-817-tml8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129457/original/image-20160705-817-tml8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129457/original/image-20160705-817-tml8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129457/original/image-20160705-817-tml8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129457/original/image-20160705-817-tml8bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Innu women at an anti-Muskrat Falls protest, June 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Janet Cooper</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Contrary to standards in the <a href="http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf">UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a> on free, prior and informed consent, the Innu are given few meaningful choices other than to relinquish their lands. </p>
<p>Under the current land claims process they must either extinguish their aboriginal and land rights or, under the notorious <a href="http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/Resources/certainty.htm#axzz4DY4R4CzT">certainty provision</a>, agree not to exercise those rights. In the short-term, many Innu may enjoy some extra cash, self-government rights and business opportunities, but they will have to accept having most of their collective lands privatised.</p>
<p>It’s not just me saying this: even the UN has been concerned for some time about the ease with which indigenous lands in Canada have been usurped. As recently as last year the Human Rights Council urged Canada to reconsider its process for <a href="http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2FPPRiCAqhKb7yhskswUHe1nBHTSwwEsgdxQHJBoKwgsS0jmHCTV%2FFsa7OKzz9yna94OOqLeAavwpMzCD5oTanJ2C2rbU%2F0kxdos%2BXCyn4OFm3xDYg3CouE4uXS">consultation and consent</a>.</p>
<p>“Consent” in Canada is based on the mind-numbingly complex <a href="http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1331657507074/1331657630719">New Dawn Land Claims Agreement-in-Principle</a>. Although the Innu Nation negotiating team <a href="http://www.laa.gov.nl.ca/laa/land_claims/">contests the agreement</a>, many Innu do not know its contents. On a recent visit earlier this year to the Innu villages, I found that only four of the 30 Innu adults I consulted had read any of the text. Previous trips also revealed <a href="http://www.ecocultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Frontier-Justice-Samson-and-Cassell.pdf">little knowledge</a> of the important provisions in the agreement. But the agreement to extinguish their ownership rights doesn’t really matter because the mega-project is a fait accompli.</p>
<h2>Who benefits? Not the locals</h2>
<p>An environmental study commissioned by Nalcor downplayed the negative environmental effects of Muskrat Falls. <a href="http://bit.ly/29hmSbT">The company admits</a> that the dam will increase levels of toxic methylmercury in water and plankton but claims it will remain “in the natural ranges observed for lakes and rivers”. A subsequent modelling <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/38/11789.full.pdf">study by Harvard researchers</a> predicted much higher concentrations of methylmercury in the waters surrounding Innu and neighbouring Inuit communities and predicted that “increases in methylmercury concentrations resulting from flooding associated with hydroelectric development will be greater than those expected from climate change”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129456/original/image-20160705-786-6kg9ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129456/original/image-20160705-786-6kg9ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129456/original/image-20160705-786-6kg9ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129456/original/image-20160705-786-6kg9ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129456/original/image-20160705-786-6kg9ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129456/original/image-20160705-786-6kg9ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129456/original/image-20160705-786-6kg9ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129456/original/image-20160705-786-6kg9ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Under construction: the reservoir created by Muskrat Falls will flood lots of trees, vegetation and topsoil. Organic material will eventually break down and add methylmercury to the water.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Colin Samson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For people who continue to rely on fishing, this is shattering. A number of Innu and their supporters, alarmed by the likely impact, have now called for a complete rethink. They have organised <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/protesters-arrested-muskrat-falls-1.3632162">protests at the site</a>, where five Innu were dragged away, arrested and charged by police.</p>
<p>Nalcor says the dam will bring stable electricity prices, clean energy and jobs. But though the jobs brought to the nearby Innu community of Sheshatshiu provided a quick injection of cash they also increased existing community problems. People there told me cocaine and alcohol abuse have increased because of the high pay and shift work patterns at Muskrat Falls, along with subsequent family destabilisation and child neglect. This adds to endemic health problems such as high diabetes and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27196659">suicide rates</a> that are 14 times higher than the Canadian average. Community infrastructure remains terrible – one village even lacks drinkable water. </p>
<p>The very high costs of living in Labrador have always been offset by subsistence hunting, fishing and gathering, but with Muskrat Falls now joining a <a href="http://trouvezvotreespace.com/investissez/grands-projets/">network of other hydroelectric projects</a> spanning Innu territories across the Labrador-Quebec peninsula, the continual violation of their rights is increasingly imperilling their ability to enjoy <a href="http://www.julespretty.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/3.-Food-Policy-Vol31-Iss6-pp528-553-Samson-Pretty.pdf">healthy and sustainable lifestyles</a>. While international attention focuses on the trampling of indigenous rights in developing countries, we should not forget that Muskrat Falls joins a long history of dispossession in North America.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62054/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Samson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ‘Muskrat Falls’ hydroelectric project is being built in anticipation of the Innu voting away ownership of their own land.Colin Samson, Professor of Sociology, Indigenous Peoples, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/610842016-06-16T02:40:28Z2016-06-16T02:40:28ZVictoria’s renewables target joins an impressive shift towards clean energy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126852/original/image-20160616-19921-1w5w1d9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Victoria has joined three other states and territories in setting a renewable energy target. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wind energy from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Victorian Labor government has announced an “<a href="http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/renewable-energy-targets-to-create-thousands-of-jobs/">ambitious and achievable</a>” Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET). This target will commit the state to generating 25% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020, and 40% by 2025. </p>
<p>While details of the VRET are yet to be fully fleshed out, it is set to be based on a similar mechanism to the scheme used in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which has managed to sidestep the uncertainty that has plagued the renewables industry in recent years. The ACT deputy chief minister, Simon Corbell, called Victoria’s announcement on Wednesday “<a href="https://twitter.com/SimonCorbell/status/742928137995091968?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet">a game-changer</a>”. </p>
<p>In fact a key motivation identified by the Victorian energy minister, Lily D'Ambrosio, was “<a href="http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/victoria-aims-for-40-renewables-by-2025-to-add-5400mw-wind-and-solar-53932">restoring the confidence needed to invest</a>”.</p>
<h2>National tally</h2>
<p>The federal Renewable Energy Target (RET) was reduced by 20% following the <a href="http://webarchive.nla.gov.au/gov/20150401162302/https://retreview.dpmc.gov.au/">Warburton Review</a> in 2014. Since then, state and territory governments have announced their own targets to support the industry.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the <a href="http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/corbell/2016/act-to-be-powered-by-100-renewable-energy-by-2020">ACT announced</a> it would bring forward previous commitments. It is now aiming to meet 100% of its electricity needs by 2020. </p>
<p>In 2014, <a href="http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/Home/Full_newsevents_listing/News_Events_Listing/140923-renewable-energy-targets">South Australia announced</a> a 50% target by 2025. More recently, <a href="http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/queensland-commits-to-50-renewable-target-by-2030">Queensland committed</a> to generating 50% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. </p>
<p>Based on <a href="http://forecasting.aemo.com.au/">forecasting</a> by the Australian Electricity Market Operator, these commitments add up to a considerable expansion of renewable energy. In total, these commitments represent 56 terawatt hours (TWh) each year, above <a href="http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/About/Accountability-and-reporting/administrative-reports/the-renewable-energy-target-2014-administrative-report/Power-station-baselines">baseline generation</a>. Baseline generation is renewable generation that existed before 1997, almost exclusively hydro power. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126700/original/image-20160615-14060-1613a3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126700/original/image-20160615-14060-1613a3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126700/original/image-20160615-14060-1613a3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126700/original/image-20160615-14060-1613a3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126700/original/image-20160615-14060-1613a3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126700/original/image-20160615-14060-1613a3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126700/original/image-20160615-14060-1613a3w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Comparison of national renewable energy target and state renewable energy targets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The remaining states already have renewable generation and these facilities presumably won’t be torn down. So even assuming that these states don’t build a single new project, in combination with the targets, Australia is headed towards a total of 61TWh above the baseline. </p>
<p>This compares to the current <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/renewable-energy-target-scheme">national target of 33TWh</a>. If the states fulfil their commitments, they will deliver almost twice as much renewable generation as the national RET requires. </p>
<p>If we add baseline hydro back into the equation, total renewable energy generation in Australia is set to be at least 77TWh by 2030. Depending on how electricity demand changes, and how rooftop solar is included, Australia is on track to meet 30-35% of its power demand from renewables by 2030.</p>
<h2>What does the target mean for coal?</h2>
<p>Victoria has always been a major exporter of electricity in the National Electricity Market. In 2014-15, it generated more than 55TWh of electricity and exported over 8TWh. Generally, Victoria exports to South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania (although Tasmania’s flows have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/praying-for-rain-50085">more interesting</a> in recent times).</p>
<p>It is unlikely that Victoria will substantially increase exports. Indeed, it has limited ability to do so. The South Australian government <a href="http://www.premier.sa.gov.au/index.php/jay-weatherill-news-releases/697-state-budget-2016-17-study-into-new-interconnector">recently announced</a> funding for a study into new interconnection for South Australia to import power when required, and export more renewable energy to other markets. </p>
<p>Consequently, such a significant increase in renewable generation in Victoria – <a href="http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/renewable-energy-targets-to-create-thousands-of-jobs/">expected to be in the vicinity of 5,400 megawatts</a> – will have dramatic implications for the state’s existing power stations. </p>
<p>An increase in market share of renewables, from roughly 14% today to 40% in 2025, will necessarily come at the expense of market share for existing power stations. And in Victoria that means brown coal, Australia’s most carbon-intensive power source. </p>
<p>The question now is can the brown coal generators collectively survive such a reduction in market share? And if they can’t, who drops out, and when? Or perhaps <a href="https://theconversation.com/farewell-to-brown-coal-without-tears-how-to-shut-high-emitting-power-stations-50904">brown coal can be progressively phased out without too much pain</a>.</p>
<p>This is, however, good news for Australia’s national climate change mitigation commitments. At average Victorian emissions intensity, by the time the 2025 Victorian target is fulfilled, the new renewable generation in Victoria would be avoiding the emission of some 18 million tonnes of CO₂ per year.</p>
<h2>National policy implications</h2>
<p>At the national level, <a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-taxes-emissions-trading-and-electricity-prices-making-sense-of-the-scare-campaigns-59088">several different policies</a> and pathways have emerged through the election campaign. These includes a national 50% renewable energy target, an emissions trading scheme, <a href="https://theconversation.com/farewell-to-brown-coal-without-tears-how-to-shut-high-emitting-power-stations-50904">a brown coal exit plan</a> and potential modifications to the government’s cap on emissions (known as the safeguard mechanism). </p>
<p>Whatever emerges at the federal level, the Victorian scheme is <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-the-states-can-dodge-canberras-renewable-roadblock-42043">well adapted to future changes</a> to both the energy market and energy policy developments. Indeed, it is expressly designed to complement national schemes in the long term, and to provide certainty and confidence for investors in the short term. </p>
<p>In response to the VRET, the Business Council of Australia has called for climate policies that are “<a href="http://www.bca.com.au/media/bca-statement-on-victorias-renewables-targets">integrated with broader energy policy</a>”. A decade of policy uncertainty and toxic political debate has thus far prevented this from occurring. </p>
<p>As the Grattan Institute <a href="http://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/870-Climate-Phoenix.pdf">reported</a> earlier this year: “An economy-wide carbon price remains the ideal climate policy. But pragmatism and urgency demand a practical, next-best approach.”</p>
<p>Given the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/may/31/most-voters-support-transition-to-100-renewable-energy-says-australia-institute?CMP=share_btn_tw">popular support</a> for renewable energy, perhaps this policy is actually such a pragmatic approach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dylan McConnell received funding from the AEMC's consumer advocacy panel.</span></em></p>Victoria has announced a renewable energy target of 40% by 2025.Dylan McConnell, Research Fellow, Melbourne Energy Institute, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.