Sustainable Mountain Development - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 628

Such small-scale initiatives are one end of the spectrum of hydroelectricity genera-
tion in the mountains. At the other end are large projects, often with sequences of large
dams, such as the cascade of dams on the Columbia River system in Canada and the Un-
ited States, one of the world's most altered river systems. Hydropower provides about
20 percent of the global electricity supply, in over 150 countries (Hailun and Zheng
2009). While the global potential for hydropower development is huge, levels of devel-
opment vary greatly. For example, the countries of the Alps have developed 76 percent
of their hydropower potential (Romerio 2008; Fig. 12.15). Nepal and Ethiopia have de-
veloped less than 1 percent of theirs (Mountain Agenda 2001). Currently, China, along-
side India, Brazil, Pakistan, and Vietnam, has particularly high rates of dam construc-
tion, driven by its rapidly growing economy and based on its hydro resources, which
are among the richest on Earth (Yonghui et al. 2006). Chinese hydropower development
includes small, decentralized plants for rural electrification as well as large facilities,
such as the Three Gorges scheme, providing power to urban centers and industries.
Such large projects primarily benefit lowland people and economies, who often gain not
only electricity, but also water for irrigation, flood control, and more reliable navigation.
Mountain people often lose land—sometimes the most valuable for agriculture (Tefera
and Sterk 2008)—as well as transport routes, requiring them to move when their settle-
ments are flooded. While some people close to power stations may obtain the resulting
electricity at reduced prices, many do not have access to this resource, especially in the
developing world. It is therefore often hard to argue that such large projects contrib-
ute to SMD. At a global scale, they have faced increasing obstacles (World Commission
on Dams 2000), largely based on social motives in developing countries, such as inad-
equate compensation for resettled communities; and on environmental motives in indus-
trialized countries, such as the fear of destroying the few remaining pristine mountain
landscapes, or rare and endangered mountain ecosystems.