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International Hydropower Association. Can these unlock hydro potential in the Balkans? Lehner, B. Download references. The authors thank Pablo Streich, Alvaro Cabezas and Madeleine Ammar for checking and updating the database on future hydropower dams as well as Behrend Dellwisch for his support in producing the major basin maps in Figure S4. Fengzhi He, Sonja C. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. All authors substantially contributed to the interpretation of the results.
Correspondence to Christiane Zarfl. Reprints and Permissions. Future large hydropower dams impact global freshwater megafauna. Sci Rep 9, Download citation. Received : 08 May Accepted : 21 November Published : 06 December Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:.
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If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate. Advanced search. Skip to main content Thank you for visiting nature. Download PDF. Subjects Biodiversity Environmental impact Freshwater ecology. Abstract Dam construction comes with severe social, economic and ecological impacts.
Introduction Many economies in the Global South are booming, and electricity demand is rising rapidly. Figure 1. Full size image. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. Discussion Global dam construction and biodiversity This is the first study exploring the potential impact of future dams, on a global scale, on freshwater megafauna — as a surrogate indicator for total freshwater biodiversity.
Prioritization of future dam locations on a basin scale Scale and resolution play a crucial role in presenting and interpreting results in areas that might be potentially impacted by future hydropower dams.
Uncertainty in the underlying data The analysis is quantitative, which allows a sound comparison among different regions, but the numbers given should be considered as relative indicators due to the limitations and the uncertainty of the underlying data. Conclusions The present results allow those areas to be identified that deserve major attention with respect to potential conflicts between climate change mitigation in terms of hydropower dam construction and river ecosystem conservation.
Species richness within spatial overlap of existing dams and future hydropower dams In a first step, the freshwater megafauna distribution data that assign each species to sub-catchments with conservation status and presence category have been summarized into one global database.
Spatial overlap between hydropower dams and sub-catchments rich in threatened megafauna species In addition to the total number of freshwater megafauna species species richness the fraction of threatened species was calculated for each sub-catchment.
Dams with highest potential impact on freshwater megafauna within a major basin The procedure described above for categorizing sub-catchments according to their species richness and share in threatened species was repeated for major basins. References 1. Article Google Scholar 4. Article Google Scholar 6. Google Scholar 8. Article Google Scholar Acknowledgements The authors thank Pablo Streich, Alvaro Cabezas and Madeleine Ammar for checking and updating the database on future hydropower dams as well as Behrend Dellwisch for his support in producing the major basin maps in Figure S4.
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Download references. We would like to thank John Woods and Koen Kuipers for helpful comments and discussions. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Subscribe to Weekly Newsletter :. Donate Now. Post a Comment. Please Sign In to post a comment. Energy demand is expected to increase significantly over the coming decades, with much of the new capacity coming from renewable energy sources fingers crossed such as wind, solar and hydropower. Increasing clean energy sources is absolutely essential to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting the targets of the Paris Agreement.
But what impact does the renewable energy agenda have on biodiversity? This is especially important for hydropower, which lies at the heart of the land-water-energy nexus.
As with any river-based infrastructure, hydropower projects also have a relationship to local biodiversity: the freshwater bodies on which they are built are home to over , described species, including 55 per cent of all fish. Rivers act as natural corridors for both aquatic and terrestrial species, helping maintain biodiversity value across landscapes.
Rivers also provide essential services for humanity, including tourism, navigation, fishing and agriculture. Yet, the health of rivers continues to be challenged by growing pressures from human activities, including pollution, irrigation and agriculture and industry, as well as infrastructure such as dams and weirs.
Studies show two-thirds of the longest rivers over 1, km are no longer free flowing and global freshwater vertebrate populations have suffered an 83 per cent decline between and with even higher rates amongst fish species. Only a small part of this is caused by hydroelectric dams, but the sector needs to stand up to its responsibilities. The construction of a hydropower project will inevitably change the river on which it is built. Identifying the extent of these impacts, and managing them responsibly, is crucial to ensure the conservation of biodiversity.
The most common approach to managing biodiversity impacts from hydropower is by applying the mitigation hierarchy. The mitigation hierarchy — avoid, minimise, mitigate and compensate — is a sequential process.
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