ABSTRACT

Climate change is a current concern in our society, with consequences increasingly felt worldwide. Alongside territories and communities, large infrastructures such as dams may be vulnerable to climate change and need to be resilient to related impacts. Consequently, their approval should require a comprehensive assessment of associated climate change risks. This concern is addressed by several international guidelines that suggest incorporating the evaluation of climate change risks in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process to overcome it. It is also evidenced in several national EIA regulations updated accordingly. Based on a systematic review of scientific literature published in the last twenty years, this paper explores how has the scientific community addressed the integration of climate change risks in the EIA of dams. The findings show that the potential of EIA to address climate change risks is widely acknowledged. However, published systematic studies assessing how the analysis of these risks is being included in dams’ EIA current practice, are rare. This gap suggests a research potential around the topic and a new niche for research.

摘要

气候变化是我们社会当前关注的一个问题，其后果在全球范围内日益感受到。除了领土和社区外，水坝等大型基础设施可能容易受到气候变化的影响，需要能够抵御相关影响。因此，他们的批准应该需要对相关的气候变化风险进行全面评估。一些国际指南解决了这个问题，这些指南建议将气候变化风险评估纳入环境影响评估 (EIA) 过程以克服它。相应更新的若干国家 EIA 法规也证明了这一点。基于对过去二十年发表的科学文献的系统回顾，本文探讨了科学界如何将气候变化风险纳入大坝环境影响评估。调查结果表明，EIA 在应对气候变化风险方面的潜力得到了广泛认可。然而，已发表的评估这些风险分析如何被纳入大坝 EIA 当前实践的系统研究很少见。这种差距表明围绕该主题的研究潜力和研究的新利基。