Editorial: Green or red: Challenges for fish and freshwater biodiversity conservation related to hydropower
Editorial: Green or red: Challenges for fish and freshwater biodiversity conservation related to hydropower
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社论：绿色或红色：与水电相关的鱼类和淡水生物多样性保护面临的挑战
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发表时间：
2021
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通讯作者：
J. Geist
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作者：
J. Geist
联合国的全球可持续发展目标（United Nations, 2015）和相关的必要转型，如能源脱碳（Sachs等人，2019），导致全球水电开发增加（Zarfl等人，2015）。水电的支持者指出，这种形式的能源对减少二氧化碳排放的重要贡献，它的低成本，以及它作为一种稳定的能源来源，证明它是一种“绿色”能源，与其他形式的可再生能源相比，它对电力供应做出了重要贡献。2018年，国际能源署（IEA）列出的全球水电能源供应量为4,325,111吉瓦时，而风能为1,273,409吉瓦时，太阳能/光伏为554,382吉瓦时（IEA， 2020年）。与风能或太阳能相比，水力发电在一天中的任何时间都可以使用，而且对当前天气条件的依赖程度较低。根据柯林斯词典（www.collinsdictionary.com， 2021年2月14日访问），“绿色能源”被定义为“来自不损害环境的能源……”。关于绿色能源到底有多“绿色”的争论是有争议的（Gibson, Wilman & lawrence, 2017）。反对水力发电的人通常将其称为“红色”能源，因为鱼类在通过涡轮机时面临死亡和伤害（Mueller, Pander & Geist, 2017; Mueller et al., 2020b），以及与栖息地破碎化和改变相关的自由流动河流的其他生态危害。水电通常被认为是对河流生态系统的多种影响之一，与其他压力源具有潜在的协同效应（Ormerod等人，2010；Mueller等人，2020a; van der Lee & Verdonschot, 2020）。在许多情况下，水电站是在对河流系统进行其他结构改造之后建造的，例如已经发生的筑坝和矫直（其中一些是不可逆的）（Auerswald et al., 2019）。尽管如此，全球普遍的共识仍然是水力发电可以显著改变河流系统。保护自然生境和野生动植物的若干国际目标（《生境指令》，欧洲共同体理事会，1992年）与进一步发展水力发电相冲突。这包括实现《欧洲水框架指令》（欧洲共同体理事会，2000年）所要求的水体“良好的生态状态”（或“良好的生态潜力”，在“严重改变的水体”的情况下）。这些政策导致了巨大的努力（财政和物质）致力于改善淡水保护和恢复（Geist, 2015; Geist & Hawkins, 2016）。如果按照计划实施，预计将会阻碍水电开发的进一步扩大，如果保护目标没有达到，也会支持拆除大坝的论点。尽管存在这种悖论，但全球水电容量预计将比2010年的装机容量增加约一倍，这就要求世界各地流域的水电大坝数量大幅增加（Opperman, Grill & Hartmann, 2015）。如果扩大水电和恢复溪流和河流都得到公共资金的支持，尽管目标相互矛盾，这将是非常无效的——从财政角度来看也是如此。因此，弥合水电利用与保护水生生物多样性、生态系统及其为人类社会提供的服务之间的差距非常重要。这显然是一项艰巨的任务，许多专家质疑这一雄心勃勃的目标的可行性。收稿日期：2021年1月18日修稿日期：2021年2月21日收稿日期：2021年3月1日
The global sustainable development goals of the United Nations (United Nations, 2015) and the associated necessary transformations, such as energy decarbonization (Sachs et al., 2019), have resulted in increased hydropower development around the world (Zarfl et al., 2015). Advocates of hydropower point to the important contributions of this form of energy to the reduction of CO2 emissions, its low cost, and its use as a stable source of energy, justifying it as a ‘green’ energy that makes an important contribution to electricity supply compared with other forms of regenerative energy. For the year 2018, the International Energy Agency (IEA) lists a global energy supply from hydropower of 4,325,111 GWh, compared with 1,273,409 GWh for wind energy and 554,382 GWh for solar/photovoltaic energy (IEA, 2020). In contrast to wind or solar power, hydropower production is available at any time of day and is less dependent on current weather conditions. According to the Collins Dictionary (www.collinsdictionary.com, accessed 14 February 2021), ‘green energy’ is defined as ‘power that comes from sources that do not harm the environment ...’. The debate about how ‘green’ the green energies really are is controversial (Gibson, Wilman & Laurance, 2017). Opponents of hydropower production often refer to it as a ‘red’ energy because of the mortalities and injuries that fish face when passing turbines (Mueller, Pander & Geist, 2017; Mueller et al., 2020b), as well as other ecological harm to free-flowing rivers associated with habitat fragmentation and alteration. Hydropower is often referred to as one of multiple impacts on river ecosystems that has potentially synergistic effects with other stressors (Ormerod et al., 2010; Mueller et al., 2020a; van der Lee & Verdonschot, 2020). In many cases hydropower plants were built after other structural modifications of river systems, such as damming and straightening (some of them irreversible) that had already taken place (Auerswald et al., 2019). Still, the general global consensus remains that hydropower can significantly alter river systems. Several international targets in the conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora (Habitats Directive, Council of the European Communities, 1992) conflict with further hydropower development. This includes achieving ‘good ecological status’ of water bodies (or ‘good ecological potential’ in the case of ‘heavily modified water bodies’) as required by the European Water Framework Directive (Council of the European Communities, 2000). Such policies result in enormous efforts (financial and physical) dedicated towards improving freshwater conservation and restoration (Geist, 2015; Geist & Hawkins, 2016). If applied as intended these would be expected to hinder any further expansion of hydropower development, and would also support an argument for dam removal if conservation targets are not met. Despite this paradox, global hydropower capacity is projected to approximately double from the 2010 installed capacity, requiring a dramatic increase in the number of hydropower dams in river basins around the world (Opperman, Grill & Hartmann, 2015). It would be highly ineffective – also from a financial point of view – if both the expansion of hydropower and the restoration of streams and rivers received support from public funds in spite of conflicting targets. It is thus important to bridge the gap between hydropower use and the conservation of aquatic biodiversity, ecosystems, and services that they provide to human society. This is clearly a difficult task and many experts question the feasibility of this ambitious target. Received: 18 January 2021 Revised: 21 February 2021 Accepted: 1 March 2021