Download UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education

Hydropower generation and water
management under change
Arthur Mynett & Miroslav Marence
UNESCO-IHE
Round Table – Business in Water Scare Areas
the importance of conflict sensitive management strategies
Den Haag, 29 March 2016
UNESCO-IHE – Institute for Water Education
UNESCO-IHE is the largest international graduate
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confers fully accredited MSc degrees and promotes PhDs.
Since 1957 the Institute has provided graduate education
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140 PhD fellows are currently enrolled in water-related
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Hydropower as multipurpose driver
Sharing the basin – potential conflicts
1978
214 international basins
Today
263 international basins
(breakup of the Soviet
Union and Balkan states,
better digital mapping
technology)
Examples
Nile - shared by 10
countries
Danube - shared by 17
countries
Water could act as unifier or irritant in the basin
Key issues in water disputes
Quantity - Competing claims for a scare resource
• Water allocation for different users and uses such as ecosystem
needs and individual livelihoods can lead to disputes
Quality - Unclean water poses serious threats to human and ecosystem health
• Pollution and excessive levels of salt, nutrients or solids make
water inappropriate for drinking, industry and even agriculture.
• Degradation becomes a source of conflict between those who
cause it and those affected by it.
Timing - Timing of water flow is often critical and operational patterns of dams
have competing interests
• In winter dams may release water upstream for hydropower
• In summer water is needed downstream for irrigation
Conflict potential – Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
Situation:
• Ethiopia is building a huge dam on Blue Nile
55km upstream birder with Sudan
• Capacity over 5.000 MW, reservoir over 60
billion cubic meters
• Filling of reservoir needs several years –
concern of downstream countries Sudan and
Egypt
• In operation change of flooding regime and
availability of water (possibility for other uses in
Sudan – concern of Egypt)
Rational solution by cooperation
• water is conserved (stored) in area with less
evaporation and more water available in region
• additional electrical energy
• compensations and compromises in filling and
operation
• Potential for cooperation
Conflict potential – Aral Sea Basin
Situation:
• Energy demand strong during winter (heating
and cotton processing) in Kyrgyzstan
(upstream) and irrigation during summer
Uzbekistan (downstream).
• During Soviet time not a problem because of
unique politics and compensations.
• After independence no coordination in use and
conflicts
• Additional conflict by planned Rogun dam
(highest in world) and HPP
Conflict points
• Climate change and water scarcity
• Upstream countries control water availability of
lower countries especially during summer
Potential for cooperation: first step set in a
conference analyzing environmental concerns,
bringing international awareness and finding
solutions to settle water scarcity
Hydropower in shared basins – good practice
On basin level:
• cooperation
• real time data collection and database
• early warning systems
• scenario simulations
New project development:
• By including all stakeholders and priorities in
design and also operation prediction
minimising conflict potentials
• Priorities: drinking water – food/irrigation –
energy
Hydropower Sustainability Assessment
Protocol - Sustainable design and operation of
hydropower
•
HSAP actively included representatives of:
environmental NGOs (WWF, The Nature
Conservancy), social NGOs (Oxfam,
Transparency International), development
banks (The World Bank), governments
(China, Zambia, Germany, Iceland, Norway),
and the hydropower sector.
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Postgraduate Education, Training and Capacity Development
in Water, Environment and Infrastructure
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