Dams, Rivers and Climate Change

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Dams, Rivers and Climate Change
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Status of Rivers

• gt54,000 large dams/diversions moderately/severely
  impact 60 rivers
• gt 500,000 km altered for navigation
• 90 sewage in developing countries untreated
• Half the worlds wetlands destroyed
• Watershed degradation, climate change disrupting
  flows
• 37 freshwater fish species threatened,
  endangered or extinct
• 40-80 million people displaced
• 472 million suffer livelihood losses downstream

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How Do Dams Worsen the Climate Crisis?

• Large dams are the wrong response because
• River flows are increasingly unpredictable
• Reduced generation drought and evaporation
• Hydro 50 supply in 63 countries
• Safety threatened by extreme floods
• Dam reservoirs emit greenhouse gases
• Tropical reservoirs are globally significant
  sources of methane
• Healthy rivers are critical for supporting life
• Big dams reduce water quality and quantity, dry
  up forests and wetlands, flood productive land,
  exacerbate biodiversity loss, and destroy
  fisheries.
• Free-flowing rivers help trap carbon