The past decade has seen increased international recognition of the importance of the services provided by natural ecosystems It is unclear however whether such international awareness will lead to improved environmental management in many regions We explore this issue by examining the specific case of fish migration and dams on the Mekong river We determine that dams on the Mekong mainstem and major tributaries will have a major impact on the basin’s fisheries and the people who depend upon them for food and income We find no evidence that current moves towards dam construction will stop, and consider two scenarios for the future of the fisheries and other ecosystems of the basin We conclude that major investment is required in innovative technology to reduce the loss of ecosystem services, and alternative livelihood strategies to cope with the losses that do occur

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Fish Migration, Dams, and Loss of Ecosystem Services in the Mekong Basin

Hydropower is a clean and renewable energy source. Considering the economic, technical and environmental benefits of hydropower, most countries give priority to its development. China has the richest hydro resources on the planet with a total theoretical hydropower potential of 694 GW. Developing hydropower is of great importance to alleviate the energy crisis and environmental pollution resulting from the rapid economic growth of China in the 21st century. This paper provides a survey of hydropower development in China. Over the last five decades, China's hydropower has developed quickly. The installed capacity of hydropower is 145.26 GW presently. Some large hydropower plants have been in operation and many are still under construction, including the Three Gorges Project (TGP) and pumped-storage power stations. Small hydropower development accelerates rural electrification of this country.

Present situation and future prospect of hydropower in China

The recent literature about peer review of scholarly articles is reviewed, with particular emphasis on the cost of the peer-review process. Possible impacts of electronic scholarly publishing upon peer reviewing are discussed. Opinion among academics in their roles as authors, editors and referees seems likely to insist upon preservation of a pre-publication refereeing system in most disciplines. As the administration of any such system seems to have a cost of about $400 per published article, any scholarly publishing system will need to locate financial support to at least that extent, and a system of lump-sum payment by the authors' funders is best placed to cover this cost while providing universal free access to scholarly material.

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The peer-review process

Turkey has a total gross hydropower potential of 433 GWh/year, but only 125 GWh/year of the total hydroelectric potential of Turkey can be economically used. By the commissioning of new hydropower plants, which are under construction, 36% of the economically usable potential of the country would be tapped. Turkey presently has considerable renewable energy sources. The most important renewable sources are hydropower, biomass, geothermal, solar and wind. Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of most of these renewable energy sources. Over the last two decades, global electricity production has more than doubled and electricity demand is rising rapidly around the world as economic development spreads to emerging economies. Not only has electricity demand increased significantly, it is the fastest growing end-use of energy. Therefore, technical, economic and environmental benefits of hydroelectric power make it an important contributor to the future world energy mix, particularly in the developing countries.

Hydropower for sustainable water and energy development

Hydropower development has significant impacts on the society and community economically, environmentally and socially. These impacts may go beyond the regional level, even across the nation. As one of the largest scale hydropower developments in the world, the Three Gorges Project has attracted attentions right from the conception stage. This paper adopted a case study approach to investigate the sustainable development practice in the Three Gorges Project. The case study shows that under the guidance of the State Council, the China Three Gorges Corporation has devoted to manage environmental, economic and social sustainability issues of the Three Gorges Project across various project stages (e.g. conception, design, construction and operation). The sustainability practice adopted in the Three Gorges Project generally follows the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol developed by the International Hydropower Association. As a result, the environmental auditing is satisfactory to the national standards and the project has achieved numerous social and economic benefits. However, resettlement, coordinated development and ecological impacts on the local ecosystem present significant challenges to future hydropower developments. This study highlighted a number of factors contributing towards better sustainability performance of hydropower developments in China, e.g. international collaboration, system approach, ongoing monitoring and strategic human resource management. The experiences gained from the Three Gorges Project have been applied into other hydropower developments in China. This study provides a useful reference to the sustainable energy development practice over the world.

R. Taylor

Papers

The role of hydropower in sustainable development