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| Titel |
Framing hydropower as green energy: assessing drivers, risks and tensions in the Eastern Himalayas |
| VerfasserIn |
R. Ahlers, J. Budds, D. Joshi, V. Merme, M. Zwarteveen |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
2190-4979
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Earth System Dynamics ; 6, no. 1 ; Nr. 6, no. 1 (2015-04-15), S.195-204 |
| Datensatznummer |
250115420
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/esd-6-195-2015.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The culturally and ecologically diverse region of the Eastern Himalayas is
the target of ambitious hydropower development plans. Policy discourses at
national and international levels position this development as
synergistically positive: it combines the production of clean energy to fuel
economic growth at regional and national levels with initiatives to lift
poor mountain communities out of poverty. Different from hydropower
development in the 20th century in which development agencies and banks were
important players, contemporary initiatives importantly rely on the
involvement of private actors, with a prominent role of the private finance
sector. This implies that hydropower development is not only financially
viable but also understood as highly profitable. This paper examines the new
development of hydropower in the Eastern Himalayas of Nepal and India. It
questions its framing as green energy, interrogates its links with climate
change, and examines its potential for investment and capital accumulation.
To do this, we also review the evidence on the extent to which its
construction and operation may modify existing hydrogeological processes and
ecosystems, as well as its impacts on the livelihoods of diverse groups of
people that depend on these. The paper concludes that hydropower development
in the region is characterized by inherent contentions and uncertainties,
refuting the idea that dams constitute development projects whose impacts
can be simply predicted, controlled and mitigated. Indeed, in a highly
complex geological, ecological, cultural and political context that is
widely regarded to be especially vulnerable to the effects of climate
change, hydropower as a development strategy makes for a toxic cocktail. |
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