Floods vs Hydropower in Transboundary Basin Management

Presenter:

Dr . Enrique Cifres

Affiliation:

Chairman Committee "Role of dams on the development and management of River Basins" ICOLD

Abstract :

The main objective is to analyze and share experience on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), and to develop  Flood Mitigation and Hydropower Development into IWRM plans for shared water bodies as multipurpose reservoirs.

Floodplains use to involve poor people which cannot afford huge flood control projects. On the other hand, Hydropower schemes  as more and more considered as promoter of multipurpose projects where electricity becomes an opportunity to finance other explicit or hidden benefits. Sometimes hydropower is the unique partner for those poor communities, giving them some hope on the feasibility of the flood control measures. However, those friendly conceived purposes use to have ontroversial conditions at operation phase.

Synergies and concerns, and successful experiences have been proven as possible. On the other hand, most of people reatened by floods are into transboudnary basins. The activities of the workshop revolve around the political, economic, social and environmental benefits that can be achieved through effective cooperation in the management of transboundary waters, especially when flood control is needed. Learning, knowledge sharing and dissemination are supported to strengthen capacity of  cooperating parties at the institutional and individual level.

The aim of this Workshop is to enhance the practical capacity of key stakeholders on priority issues of integrated management  of shared rivers, hence assisting in advancing practical application. Some case studies will be presented in order to take advantage of the lesson learnt from them. These case studies must be selected according their ability to provide enough  information to be put on the table as much wide as possible.

The main objectives will be:

1. To discuss on the legal framework as well as on international agreements related to flood management.

2. To understand how climate change, based on the current projections, is likely to affect flood occurrence and severity ; understand how this factor of uncertainty can be introduced/taken in consideration in IWRM planning. Also to consider how new expected hydrological risks can recommend increasing freeboards with energy losses to keep dam safety unchanged.

3. To understand the mechanisms of preparedness and mitigation regarding floods and their application in a transboundary context.

4. Understand the linkages between hydro-energy production and floods - how management of dams can be introduced as a parameter in river basin management - reference to good practices as well as bad examples.

5. Management of floods and river basin management - how the first can be integrated in the second. How can this aspect be  decisive in some regions of the world where heavy rainy seasons require specific reservoir volumes exclusively dedicate to flood routing.

6. The challenges in terms of cooperation at the transboundary level (on the flood management and preparedness), bad and  good examples.

Duration : 3 hours

Center Place : IRIB International Conference