TY - GEN
T1 - Trade off relationships
T2 - 7th European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2010
AU - Beevers, Lindsay Catherine
AU - Tilmant, Amaury
AU - Mwelwa, Elenestina
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - In large hydropower-dominated river basins, reservoirs are mainly operated so as to maximize revenues fromenergy generation regardless of the consequences of reduced flow fluctuation on downstream ecosystems. Revenuefrom hydropower plants is essential to a country’s economy; however the impact on ecosystems downstream canbe large-scale. The timing of flow releases does not mimic natural systems, which has impacts over differenttemporal and physio-spatial scales to the ecosystem. To inform decision making often hydro-economic modelingis used and it is essential that the response of the system is understood and incorporated adequately into assessmentdesign, to allow for trade-offs to be identified. This requires issues of timing and spatial scale to be understoodand incorporated over different planning horizons. Nesting these issues of scale into decisions is complex; wheredecisions are made on timescales from hours to months and spatially within a basin depending on the operation ofthe system. Up-scaling the most critical interactions between flow, form and ecosystem into the decision makingprocess, for different time horizons or planning scales, is essential. A proposed framework is illustrated with theZambezi basin.
AB - In large hydropower-dominated river basins, reservoirs are mainly operated so as to maximize revenues fromenergy generation regardless of the consequences of reduced flow fluctuation on downstream ecosystems. Revenuefrom hydropower plants is essential to a country’s economy; however the impact on ecosystems downstream canbe large-scale. The timing of flow releases does not mimic natural systems, which has impacts over differenttemporal and physio-spatial scales to the ecosystem. To inform decision making often hydro-economic modelingis used and it is essential that the response of the system is understood and incorporated adequately into assessmentdesign, to allow for trade-offs to be identified. This requires issues of timing and spatial scale to be understoodand incorporated over different planning horizons. Nesting these issues of scale into decisions is complex; wheredecisions are made on timescales from hours to months and spatially within a basin depending on the operation ofthe system. Up-scaling the most critical interactions between flow, form and ecosystem into the decision makingprocess, for different time horizons or planning scales, is essential. A proposed framework is illustrated with theZambezi basin.
M3 - Conference contribution
T3 - Geophysical Research Abstracts
BT - Geophysical Research Abstracts
PB - Copernicus Publications
Y2 - 2 May 2010 through 7 May 2010
ER -