11/10/2025
14:00 - 15:30
CR A-D: Forum - Session Room 6
, Hybrid (onsite with livestreaming)
Session with interpretation
Why attend
Increasing demands for water security and renewable energy will promote future dam projects; hence this session welcomes IUCN’s Members and partners to bring expertise across ecological, social, cultural, and legislative fields that can inform governments, funders and the private sector for best practices and alternatives for future dam development.
Session Description
Dams are a major driver of the freshwater biodiversity crisis and freshwater ecosystem degradation. Dams and their reservoirs have displaced tens of millions of people and compromised the livelihoods of hundreds of millions. But dams also generate benefits to people. We will review these issues through plenary discussions and via ecological, social, economic and legislative focused breakout groups, followed by report-backs in plenary and discussion and revision of recommendations. The discussions will be framed around how to build upon and strengthen existing guidance, such as the 2000 World Commission on Dams (WCD) report. Despite providing important, strategic priorities and related policy principles for development of dams, the WCD report’s principles have not been routinely integrated into decision making or implementation. Key partners for the session include Synchronicity Earth, IUCN Water & Wetlands, Low Impact Hydropower Institute, Global Youth Biodiversity Network, IUCN WCEL Ethics Specialist Group, and IUCN Climate Crisis Commission.