Technical Exchange on River Basin Management Planning

13-14 February 2017, Hyderabad

Future infrastructure development, their cumulative contribution in river basins and

management in the EU

IEWP Technical ExchangeDevelopment of IWRM Plans in India13 – 14 February 2017, Hyderabad (India)

Birgit Vogel – IEWP TA Team (Vienna, Austria)

Future Infrastructure Projects(FIPs)

Future Infrastructure Projects are important

for socio-economic development (national; State; river basin level), and

take an important role in IWRM

Challenge:

FIPs can impact on water environment and in some cases on livelihoods

Enable socio-economic development and implementation of future infrastructure projects

in a sustainable, balanced way –

also ensuring the achievement of environmental objectives

Types of Future Infrastructure Projects

Various types of FIPs caused by various water uses Consider the ones that can impact on water quantity and/or status

Directly Indirectly

Planned development an related pressures/impacts, e.g. Hydropower; navigation; flood protection measures

Pressures: hydromorphological alterations Agricultural irrigation

Pressures: hydrological alterations; diffuse pollution Industry and urban:

Pressures: pollution; hydromorphological alteration

Understand new pressure/impacts and link these to existing ones

Future Infrastructure Projects and IWRM

IWRM and IWRMPs need to address future infrastructure projects

However, role is often underestimated and/or FIPs are not addressed

Regarding what aspects ?

Integrated planning of future development in the basin-wide context to manage/limit impacts; conflicts of interest between water uses;

Linkage of planned projects to existing projects and their impacts

Consideration of cumulative impacts

(i) of and between future infrastructure projects per se

(ii) between FIPs and existing projects/impacts

Planning and management of future projects is a challenge – worldwide !

How to address and manage Future Infrastructure Projects? Future Infrastructure Projects are addressed through EIAs Usually assessment on a case-by-case basis

Basin-wide context and accumulation of impacts from various projects often not considered as well as

the transboundary impact dimension

Address future development in the overall context of river basins and not as individual cases.

Consider existing AND planned projects together

Example from the EU

(i) Hydropower Development

(ii) Reflection in Danube River Basin Management Plan

(iii) Lower Mekong River Basin

Legal Framework

Various legal frameworks that are relevant for FIPs – e.g hydropower

EIA and SEA Directives Overall planning of FIP and impact assessment

EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) Sets environmental objectives; FIPs have to be part of RBMPs Foresees exemptions to achieve objectives also regarding FIPs

EU Directive on Renewable Energy Sources (RESe)

20% share of renewable energy in place by 2020What are the interrelations?

What are conflicting requirements?

How to achieve a balance and solutions ?

Risks of impacts on water status due to

hydropower pressures

Other pressures can add up the

impacts as cumulative effects

EU WFD

Yes

Permit/License

No

No Permit/Lice

nse

More investigations

RESe Implementation

Hydropower programme or

project

Exemption WFD Article 4 incl. FIPsEffective Mitigation Measures OR

Not At Risk At Risk

Possibly At Risk

Ecological status

Significant (cumulative)

impacts

EU Environmental Impact Assessment

Example: Danube River Basin

Example Danube RBM Plan

Basin wide overview is aimed for - for rivers with catchment areas > 4.000 km2

Danube RBM Plan addresses existing pressures and impacts (SWMIs) Planned projects/FIPs are also addressed

Contracting partied report FIPs to the ICPDR and in more detail to EC Only 40 FIPs have been reported by countries in 2015

32 of these are located in the Danube River 20 relate to navigation 15 relate to flood protection measures 4 relate to hydropower generation

How are FIPs responded to on the basin-wide scale?Implement inter-sectoral cooperation activities for common understanding Joint Statement on Navigation Guiding Principles of Sustainable Hydropower Development in the Danube RB

ISH01Lower Mekong River BasinPressure/Impact Assessment – existing and planned hydropower

Lower Mekong River BasinPressure/Impact Assessment:Existing and planned hydropower

76% of the total investigated river length was classified as “at risk”24% as “possibly at risk” and 0% as “not at risk” regarding possible impacts from hydropower.

Questions to be asked….

What development strategies are in place and what is planned ?

What projects are existing ?

How will the existing and planned projects interact ?

Will there be additional pressures impacts on environment/livelihoods? Are objectives at risk to be failed ?

To prevent/limit conflicting interests among sectors: Implement a stakeholder process Implement further investigations

Follow stepwise approaches that can also be implemented to a certain extent in case of data gaps

Thank you for your attention !

Contacts:Professor Vinod Tare: vinod@iitk.ac.in

Birgit Vogel: bv@rbm-solutions.com

What can we tackle today?

What FIPs are planned in the three river basins?

What existing and future pressures might cause significant impacts in the river basin?

Where are potential hot spots?

Do you think that mitigation measures could be effectively applied for FIPs?

What policy tools are in place ?

What are the key challenges?