Socio-environmental impacts of hydropower construction in Burundi

Abstract

Hydropower serves as a very important element of the power system all over the world. And it has positive impacts on both economic development and on slowing down climate change related events such as floods and hydropower do not directly emit greenhouse gas which are ones of the main challenges facing humanity in the world. However, apart from its advantages, there are also various disadvantages of hydropower mainly related to its impacts on natural environment. This article overviews, presents and discusses various socio-environmental impacts of hydropower construction and operation in Burundi. Also, the study classifies direct and indirect impacts of hydropower as well as proposing their mitigation strategies. In this article a crucial aspect that is discussed is a new look at the installed capacity in terms of energy production and the presentation of insufficient generation capacity in Burundi which is one of the Sub-Saharan African countries still with a constant problem of lack of energy. The major negative impacts are changing in water quality, relocation of people, changes in the structure of the land and aquatic communities, loss in agriculture production, landslides and slopes destabilization and changing in climate. Another relevant aspect related with the design and construction of hydropower dams is that there are possibilities of creation of low flow reaches, downstream the reservoir, Therefore the river stretches should be remained with a minimum water flow to lessen the potentialities of the occurrence of hydrological drought and ecological damages.

Keywords

• Hydropower
• Socio-environmental impacts
• Sustainable development
• Burundi