CIPRA representatives:

Personal tools

  Search filter  

News

New publication on mountain dams

Apr 17, 2008 / alpMedia
The new March issue of the bilingual magazine La revue de géographie alpine / Journal of Alpine Research looks at impoundment dams and new challenges in mountain areas.
Staudamm
Image caption:
Wasserkraft hat nicht nur Vorteile.Wasserkraft hat nicht nur Vorteile. © www.sxc.hu
It reveals two sides of hydroelectric power, which was only recently officially classified as a renewable resource by the Beijing Declaration on Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development (2005). On the one hand, it is indeed undeniably renewable and does not produce any greenhouse gases. It is also a symbol of progress, dominance of nature and political power. On the other, the building of impoundment dams has been met with some scepticism in recent years - whether because of the forced resettlement of usually poor sections of the population or the fact that half of the world's principal rivers are already interrupted by dams. The Journal focuses its attention on the ecological and social impact of these structures in alpine areas. Many of the negative repercussions of impoundment dams result from ignorance of the local socio-economic situation and the complex relationship between the population and the river.
Bibliography: La revue de géographie alpine / Journal of alpine research: Les barrages: vers de nouveaux enjeux pour la montagne. Dams: new stakes in their role in mountain areas, March 2008, Vol. 96, No. 1, ISBN: 978 2 200 92500 0.
To order: http://iga.ujf-grenoble.fr (fr)