Ways toward Food Security -Lessons Learned from Fish Passages in the Paraná River-

Transcription

1 Ways toward Food Security -Lessons Learned from Fish Passages in the Paraná River- A contribution to Environmental Baseline Monitoring October 2012 SV Policy Advice for Sustainable Hydropower Alejandro T. García Alejandro.garcia@giz.de Seite 1

2 Agenda 1. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH 2. Sector Project: Policy Advice for Sustainable Hydropower (NaWa) 3. Environmental Baseline Assessment 4. The lower & middle Paraná River basin 5. The Yacyreta hydropower Dam 6. Key lessons from Yacyreta Dam 7. Outlook for the Mekong River Seite 2

3 The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Established on 1 January 2011, GIZ brings together under one roof the long-standing expertise of the German Development Service, GTZ and Inwent Capacity Building International Sector Project: Policy Advice for Sustainable Hydropower (NaWa) Evaluation and monitoring of hydropower projects for the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Support BMZ in the further development of global sustainability standards Support to participatory Multi-Stakeholder Dam Dialogue processes in partner countries (Uganda, Togo, Ghana) Support to bilateral and multilateral development cooperation projects for hydropower use Seite 3

4 Environmental Baseline Assessment Describes conditions before construction It is needed as a reference to assess potential impacts it is most important to influence and to modify the projected infrastructure in a more sustainable way. So what happened to the Yacyreta Dam on the Parana River?? Seite 4

5 The Parana River basin Seite 5

6 Fish biodiversity in the Parana River basin Seite 6

7 Fish biodiversity in the Parana River basin Seite 7

8 Yacyreta Dam: Nominal height: 21 m Annual discharge: m³ Reservoir: km² Max. generation: GWh Seite 8

9 A typical large dam on the main stream, where the dam wall is nearly 67 km long! Seite 9

10 Fish lifts at Yacyretá Dam Close proximity of the fishways entrances to dam outlets is appropriate only for salmonids! Seite 10

11 Yacyreta main spillways and fish meeting point Seite 11

12 The fish-lifts at the dam should help migrating fish and organisms to reach their spawning grounds. Seite 12

13 Iteroparous species waiting for the river Seite 13

14 Fish passages The artificially generated current is usually far too small to attract fish in the right direction. Seite 14 Seite 14

15 The Yacyreta fish passage facility Carefull with semelpaourus salmon or migratory species they would do everything to take the lift. Seite 15 Seite 15

16 None of the large, economically "significant" fish species that previously have migrated hundreds of kilometers in Paraná, can really utilize the fish lift. Seite 16 Seite 16

17 A Fish elevator and his complementary infrastructure is an experiment that tries to squeeze the whole river environment though a tiny space/gap!!! 1000 meters wide and 20 meters high 2x2 m² - Seite 17

18 Key lessons from the Yacyreta case: All results from the fish lifts success rates nowadays are useless without the previous Environmental Baseline Assessment The Fish passage systems or lifts: are undersized in relation to the sizes and numbers of target species are undersized in relation to approach channel dimensions (1,1/1,8 %) Provide for inadequate cycling rates & inability to exclude undesirable species Elevator channel entrance is not contiguous with thalweg fail to transfer sufficient numbers of upstream migrants to sustain populations of migratory species. = help (maybe) to prevent genetic isolation but definitely NOT to maintain a fish population Seite 18

19 The following aspects need to be considered: Physical, toxicological and biological variables & fish swimming capabilities Hydrodynamic characteristics of different fishway systems Hydrodynamic cues used by fish to either select their swim path to upstream spawning areas or their return to adult habitat Inputs from fishery managers, stakeholders, anglers, NGOs, economists and social scientists are also very important to ensure that all ecological and socio-economic factors are considered when designing fish passage systems Seite 19

20 Outlook for the Mekong River The MRC needs to define the target and most important species for each section of the Mekong. Future projects developers need to assess the right mitigation infrastructures or passage facilities prior to deployment for each target species. All mitigation measures which were projected after the deployment of the dam and without accurate environmental information turnout to be more expensive. In other words: EBA (or Monitoring) saves money!!! Seite 20

21 Thank you for your attention Policy Advice for Sustainable Hydropower Seite 21