Rivers control biophysical processes that underpin essential ecosystem services. Myanmar’s rivers provide great opportunities for increasing energy supply at low costs from hydropower plants and make important contributions to the national economy. However, associated environmental impacts, as well as input and output flows of hydropower developments, remain less well understood. In this paper, we report on an investigation of the overall environmental effects of five hydropower plants in Myanmar, using a life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) approach. The primary objective of the paper is to generate detailed life-cycle inventory data and quantify the environmental impacts of the existing five hydropower plants in Myanmar. This paper reports on a “cradle to grave” LCIA for five hydropower plants in which environmental impacts associated with construction, operation and maintenance, transportation, and decommissioning of large-scale hydropower plants in Myanmar were systematically assessed. Construction, transportation, operation and maintenance phases are most sensitive to global warming, mineral resource depletion, acidification, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, human toxicity and photochemical ozone creation. There is heterogeneity in hydropower plants’ effects on the environment, based on the size of the power plant. Strategic selection of hydropower projects is suggested to enhance resilience in environmentally sensitive areas. It is concluded that more comprehensive and rigorous environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) is needed, not only for mega-dams but also for the smaller-scale hydropower plants. Graphical abstract Graphical abstract

中文翻译：

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大型水坝对环境有害吗？缅甸大型水电站的生命周期环境后果

河流控制支撑基本生态系统服务的生物物理过程。缅甸的河流为以低成本增加水力发电厂的能源供应提供了巨大的机会，并为国民经济做出了重要贡献。然而，相关的环境影响以及水电开发的输入和输出流量仍然不太清楚。在本文中，我们报告了使用生命周期影响评估 (LCIA) 方法对缅甸五座水电站的整体环境影响进行的调查。该论文的主要目标是生成详细的生命周期清单数据并量化缅甸现有五座水电站的环境影响。本文报告了五个水电站的“从摇篮到坟墓”LCIA，其中系统评估了与缅甸大型水电站的建设、运营和维护、运输和退役相关的环境影响。建设、运输、运营和维护阶段对全球变暖、矿产资源枯竭、酸化、淡水水生生态毒性、人类毒性和光化学臭氧产生最为敏感。根据发电厂的规模，水力发电厂对环境的影响存在异质性。建议对水电项目进行战略选择，以增强环境敏感地区的复原力。结论是需要更全面、更严格的环境和社会影响评估（ESIA），不仅适用于大型水坝，也适用于小型水电站。图形摘要图形摘要