Authors: Oksana Tarasova, Ruslan Havryliuk, Ilya Trombitsky, Aram Gabrielyan, Elchin Sultanov and Oksana Stankevych-Volosianchuk.

Ecosystem approach to hydropower: facilitating the implementation of European requirements to development of hydropower sector in states of Eastern Europe Partnership / О.Tarasova, R.Havryliuk, I.Trombitsky, A.Gabrielyan, E.Sultanov and Oksana Stankevych-Volosianchuk.

This brochure presents the project “Ecosystem Approach to Hydropower: Facilitating the Implementation of European Requirements to Development of Hydropower Sector in states of Eastern Europe Partnership”, which aims to identify the specific features of the environmental impact assessment of hydropower projects, programs and plans in the four countries of the Eastern Partnership – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The overall objective of the Project is to facilitate the implementation of the ecosystem approach and the integration of ecosystem services into sectoral economic activities (namely, hydropower development and integrated water management), as provided by horizontal EU environmental directives and relevant conventions to which the EaP states are parties, to substantiate the feasibility of implementing hydropower plans, programs and projects..

The ecosystem services of rivers in the Eastern Partnership countries are often undervalued, leading to their loss in the event of an overburdening of rivers, primarily for hydropower purposes. The situation is exacerbated during the construction of new hydroelectric power plants without proper environmental assessment of impacts from such structures. The latter is explained by imperfect Eastern Partnership legislation in the field of water management, weak regulatory and methodological tools for assessing the environmental impact of plans, programs and projects, lack of transparency in decision-making procedures, low public access to environmental information and understanding of its role and understanding a selective approach to the rule of law.

The subject of the project activity is to identify key weaknesses in national practices and ways of its elimination.

The project promotes the role of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in the development of the partnership and in the European integration processes in the region.

Eng_2+vs

 

Download: Brochure: Ecosystem approach to hydropower: facilitating the implementation of European requirements to development of hydropower sector in states of Eastern Europe Partnership>