The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol aims to help project developers and governments make an early judgement on the environmental, economic and social effects of large projects, and minimise conflicts with local populations.
The International Hydropower Association is part of an industry council set up to oversee the use of the protocol, which is backed by environmental group WWF.
The nonprofit group International Rivers, however, calls the measures “weak, in that they do not require developers to comply with national legislation nor with international policy standards.”
WWF water security leader Joerg Hartmann says the complex process of large dam building can pit environmental and economic interests against each other.
“But
