Kathryn Hochstetler interviewed in Science magazine about deforestation and hydropower
Hydropower dams may be an unlikely new weapon for conservationists trying to save tropical trees. A new study reveals that vast forests are necessary to keep rivers flowing and turbines spinning. Without them, the dams produce significantly less power than they would otherwise. "The idea that protecting tropical forest is necessary for sustainable hydropower is a new argument," says Kathryn Hochstetler of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the University of Waterloo in Canada. The findings could encourage forest conservation, she says, but they might also encourage construction of dams that are more damaging to the local environment.
Brazil generates about 80% of its electricity from dams, and the government is planning a lot more. For example, when engineers complete the $14 billion Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River in Para state, it will have the third greatest capacity for generating hydropower in the world. But opponents of the dam worry about its environmental impacts, including harm to fishes and flooding of land for its reservoir. The original design called for five reservoirs that would have destroyed 1225 km² of forest. Because of objections, the design was changed to a single reservoir of 441 square kilometers