Hydro-power assessment analysis adopted
Three multilateral agencies have
launched an innovative assessment tool that helps identify the most
sustainable sites, designs and operation rules for hydro-power
development in the lower Mekong River Basin.
The
Rapid Basin-wide Hydropower Sustainable Development Tool (RSAT),
unveiled by the Asian Development Bank, Mekong River Commission (MRC),
and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in HCM City on Jan. 26, "allows for
hydro-power projects to be assessed in a basin-wide context rather than
on a case-by-case basis," Marc Goichot, senior infrastructure advisor
for the WWF Greater Mekong Programme, said.
It uses
existing social, environmental, cultural, economic and financial
information about a river basin to make the assessment.
"Sustainable hydro-power requires that decisions about its development
and management are placed in a river-basin perspective," Jeremy Bird,
chief executive officer of the MRC Secretariat, said.
"This involves a shift in thinking about water infrastructure as a wider
development intervention, with more attention to the overall
development effectiveness of projects beyond viewing infrastructure
narrowly as a way to meet growing needs for water and energy services."
The RSAT seeks to enhance existing tools and processes such as
Environmental Impact Assessments and Management Plans instead of
replacing them, and works by bringing together different sectors and
institutions.
It can be used as a checklist for
preliminary assessments, a framework for risk assessment, to facilitate
dialogue among different groups and identify capacity-building needs,
for training and for skills development.
It complements
and builds on a similar project-based tool developed by a
multi-stakeholder initiative, the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment
Forum, and which focuses on the planning, design and operation stages of
individual projects.
Germany, Finland and the US are providing financial support for the initiative.
There are more than 100 hydro-power projects planned in the lower
Mekong River Basin in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Viet Nam .
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