Sponsored Projects for Undergraduate Research

We are currently in the midst of a global hydropower boom. A 2015 study found that ​​3,700 major dams are either planned or under construction globally. And that figure does not account for the major uptick in small hydropower projects, ‘run-of-the river’ diversion schemes, and pumped storage projects.  This new hydropower development is being promoted as essential low-carbon energy production by the International Hydropower Association, and scientists in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have argued that hydropower has “significant potential for carbon emissions reductions.” However, hydropower also has a high environmental and social cost. 

To capture water and generate electricity, dams fundamentally change ecosystems by disrupting upstream-downstream connectivity and threatening biodiversity by altering habitats. Hydroelectric dams also have major social impacts. Proponents of dams argue that they are catalysts for economic and social development, but their construction can have major consequences for nearby communities. The World Commission on Dams in 2000 estimated that between 40 to 80 million had been displaced by dams. This staggering number predated mega-projects like the Three Gorges Dam that displaced 3.6 million people in central China. Furthermore, dams are not carbon-free. Reservoirs release carbon dioxide and highly potent methane, accounting for 4% of emissions from inland waters, challenging the notion of hydropower as “clean” and “green.” 

There has been long-standing opposition to hydropower development. Yet, the terms of those debates have shifted amid the rise of climate policy.  During the 1990s, mass anti-dam protests broke out around the world in reaction to a decades long international dam boom. The World Commission on Dams convened a diverse group of representatives, including civil society actors, to review the development effectiveness of dams and establish best practices for future dam development. Dam development waned somewhat in the wake of its 2000 report. In the 20 years since, however, another dam boom was spurred by climate finance and the drive for clean energy. How social movements are mobilizing in response to this newest hydropower boom, however, is unknown. There have been no systematic reviews of where and how anti-dam social movements are confronting the unique challenges of this new surge in hydropower development. This project is focused on the following research question: What opposition movements have arisen in response to hydropower development during the 21st century?

To answer this question, we have undertaken a systematic analysis of peer-reviewed literature on social resistance to dam development between 2000-2021. During this fall semester SPUR, we are looking for two students interested in utilizing geospatial skills to create maps to visualize data generated through this review. This will include cleaning and organizing data, creating shapefiles, conducting basic spatial statistics, and generating maps. This geospatial data will then feed into a Story Map on this topic.