Dammed Dams: Prioritising Long-Term Gain or Short-Term Completion
By Barnaby Dye The movement for dam reforms in the 1990s generated more detailed methodologies in assessing environmental and social impacts. They also advocated reform in the contracting process whereby the credentials of the prospective companies are considered with...
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Watch: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Nile controversies in the media
Dr. Emanuele Fantini, Senior Lecturer at the IHE Delph Institute for Water Education, recently outlined the initial findings of his research project on media narratives and trans-boundary cooperation in the Nile basin, as part of the FutureDAMS lecture series....
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Theorising the political economy of dams: towards a research agenda
The FutureDAMS working paper series is now fully underway. The latest piece is by two researchers on the project, Dr Tom Lavers and Dr Barnaby Dye. They present an overview of the literature on the politics of dams, which has been analysed from a range of disciplinary...
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Dam building by the illiberal modernisers: ideology and changing rationales in Rwanda and Tanzania
The FutureDAMS working paper series has begun! Barnaby Dye, a research associate on the project, has produced the first of these papers, focusing on the resurgence of dams. Barnaby’s work analyses the why of this notable infrastructure-building trend. Taking...
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FutureDAMS lecture series
We've been putting the finishing touches to a new FutureDAMS lecture series at The University of Manchester. Each of the lectures will be video and audio recorded, then posted here, so don't despair if you're not on campus! The first lecture features Professor Dale...
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Dam Failures Demonstrate the Need for Effective Regulation
By Barnaby Dye The Brumadinho dam collapse in Brazil has shocked the world, ranking as one of the worst hydraulic infrastructure failures. An earth-wall dam collapsed releasing run-off water from a large mine operated by Vale. 110 are confirmed dead and authorities...
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Briefing: Gender considerations in hydropower resettlement
A recently published briefing from Jamie Skinner of IIED and Director of Capacity Building at FutureDAMS examines the gender implications of resettlement following large hydropower projects. The briefing summarises the evidence, identifies best practices and...
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Floating solar on hydropower reservoirs – a low impact energy hybrid ?
By Barnaby Dye, FutureDAMS Research Associate A recent study financed by the World Bank suggests that low-cost floating solar panels could produce an equivalent amount of power at a fraction of the footprint of a large dam’s reservoir. Many developing countries have...
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Call for papers: Dams, Development and Decison-making
Call for papers: Development Studies Association Annual Meeting 2019, Milton Keynes, UK 19-21 June Deadline for abstracts: 14 January 2019 Session Title: Dams, Development & Decision-making Organizers: Pon Souvannaseng (University of Manchester); David Hulme...
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Who should carry the financial risks in large private sector financed hydropower projects?
By Judith Plummer Braeckman (CISL) and Jamie Skinner (IIED) Large hydropower projects can cost more than a billion dollars to build. For the private sector, to whom Governments are increasingly turning for infrastructure finance, this represents a significant...
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