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The purpose of this paper is to show a practical case of dialogic web‐based learning that has provided a set of questions analysing two complex technological projects in “southern” countries with effects on multicultural equity.

Structured online review processes in multicultural and systems science curricula allow for high density of literature‐based reflection and analysis.

The entirety of the set of over 50 questions developed by the proposed web‐based dialogic procedure represents a starting point for an in‐depth assessment of the effects of deploying “northern” technology in “southern” countries.

The present case study concentrates on energy technology, notably on two hydroelectric plants presently under construction in Ilısu, Turkey, and Belo Monte, Brazil.

The multitude of questions calls for complex technological construction projects that have to undertake sound interdisciplinary in‐depth analysis of technological, environmental, economic, cultural and social consequences in order to secure a necessary level of economic, environmental and social sustainability.

Application of widely accepted planning tools such as technology assessment, environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment are useful but have to be complemented by analogous tools at a cultural and social level.

This case study operates through questioning, largely in the Socratic tradition. Questions may trigger a broad discussion process within civil societies – which is the intention of the present text.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the stringency of different types of public financing institutions' safeguard mechanisms in the financing of large dams in developing countries. It seeks to do so by examining: the institutional strategies and policies currently in place in a set of key public financing institutions; and project‐level case studies of dams financed by these institutions and the stringency with which existing policies are applied by the key financing institutions. It aims then to cite the key factors determining why the “safeguard‐performance” between these types of financing institutions differs and what the implications are for leaders working to effect improvements in these areas.

The study compares the safeguard mechanisms of two types of financing institutions by applying a set of benchmark criteria to both existing strategy and policy documents and to the actual application of those policies at the project level, through correspondence, interviews, and site visits.

The study argues that leaders may make a difference on improving the sustainability performance gap in the financing of large dams – with more difficulty in those cases where the current gap is mainly to be explained by “systemic” factors; and arguably with more ease in cases where the current gap is caused mostly by other factors.

The study leads to the above findings for the case of public financing institutions and large infrastructure projects (with a focus on dams). To make for greater generalisability of the findings, future research should complement this work by focusing on private financing institutions and on the financing of other types of projects.

Large infrastructure projects have massive social and environmental impacts, and public financial institutions have a large stake in determining the sustainability (or otherwise) of these projects. The paper seeks to help make large infrastructure investments more sustainable by providing guidance to leaders as to where and how sustainability aspects could best be integrated in financing decisions for these projects.

The value added lies in helping leaders define where sustainability efforts in large infrastructure finance are warranted – and where, conversely, they represent largely wasted efforts.

Dam industry projects have significant economic, social and environmental impacts. However, very little has been carried out to improve their lifecycle performance. The purpose of this study is to identify success criteria applicable to different stages of such projects.

This study adopted a quantitative research design where the potential success criteria for dam engineering projects were evaluated. The applicable success criteria were determined for the four phases of project lifecycle by three rounds of Delphi technique with the participation of experts from dams industry in Australia.

The findings of this research suggest that project success is a multidimensional notion and varies over lifecycle of projects. This study on project success criteria shows that certain criteria can be applied to measure success in different phases over lifecycle of Australian dam industry projects.

The results of this research present the first exclusive quantitative assessment of success criteria for dams industry. The success criteria presented in this study enable project practitioners to measure success at various stages of dam industry projects. This can serve as a tool to put more management efforts into achieving success on those criteria.

This paper aims to study dams on transboundary rivers. In this study, the case of the Nu–Salween–Thanlwin River is reviewed. This study is an attempt toward developing a conceptual model to explain the unequal hydropower exchange of hydropower dams on transboundary rivers.

This paper reviews big dam project plans on the Salween–Thanlwin River near the Myanmar–Thailand border from the perspective of critical hydropolitics. The evidence is drawn from an extensive review of academic literature, reports, newspapers and websites on this topic. Cascao and Zeitoun’s (2010) four pillars of power, namely, geographical, material, bargaining and ideational power, are reviewed in the case of the Salween–Thanlwin River and its riparian states.

On the basis of a realist discourse, power relationships between dams and their socio-environmental effects are discussed from the perspective of critical hydropolitics. Multiple levels of power asymmetry regarding geographical, material, bargaining and ideational power are observed. The powerful states are high electricity consumers and importers. They invest in hydroelectric dams of adjacent developing states and buy back most of the electricity generated to fuel their industrialization and urbanization. Weak states generally do not have high bargaining power. They depend on the investment of high material power states for domestic and economic development and gain from the export of electricity. However, the externalities of hydropower dams are transferred to these weak states. This contributes to an unequal hydropower exchange model.

The model provides an analytical framework for hydropower dam projects through which comprehensive and multidimensional views are extracted. Academia, policymakers, private developers, international development agencies and nongovernment organizations will have a better understanding of hydropower dam projects and the interactions among riparian states.

This conceptual model stems from Cascao and Zeitoun’s (2010) four pillars of power – geographical, material, bargaining and ideational power. The author limits the framework to hydroelectric dams in transboundary rivers. The powerful states are high electricity consumers and importers that dominate the dam development projects and exchange process.

This study aims to assess how small check dams built across rivers in India’s drylands can revitalize rivers during dry season and mitigate local climate change consequences. The surface- and groundwater resources are increasingly under pressure throughout India. The imminent climate change consequences will further aggravate the crisis and this paper has addressed this difficult issue.

This study was conducted in India’s dryland districts, namely, Dahod in Gujarat and Jhalawar and Banswara in Rajasthan state, to assess the impacts of small dams. Data on dams, sustainability, groundwater levels and benefits to farmers were systematically collected to analyze advantages offered by check dams with reference to climate change mitigation.

The study shows that 356 check dams built during 1990-2012 across the tribal drylands of India, with a cost of USD 17 million, benefited over one million people from farming communities. The dams also increased groundwater levels in villages, revived rivers during dry season and increased forest growth along rivers, ultimately mitigating local climate change-imposed negative consequences.

Data on small dams are limited in India, as public have no access to such data because the work is done mainly by local contractors.

The check dams, the role of which is highlighted here, are simple, eco-friendly and cost-effective. If it is adopted across the vast drylands of India and elsewhere, it has the potential to increase agricultural output; guarantee food security; enhance groundwater resources; and, above all, mitigate local climate change consequences.

If check dams are built in large numbers across India, it has the potential to increase agricultural output; guarantee food security; enhance groundwater resources; and, above all, mitigate climate change.

The highlighted results and discussion will guide scientists, politicians and policymakers to make informed decisions to combat India

s future climate change consequences.

As the small Southern African country of Lesotho grapples with implementing one of the five largest dam-development projects in the world today, the local people impacted confront the challenges of resettlement, loss of means of production, and changed access to natural resources. This chapter reveals the ways in which the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) serves to reorganize and commodify rural resources for the benefit of the nation-state in gendered ways. Based on interviews of rural households conducted during 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Lesotho, this chapter analyzes impacted people's experiences of the gendered implications of the extraction and sale of water from the rural highlands of Lesotho to South Africa. This case study documents the gendered environmental and social impacts of the LHWP on local communities, and illuminates the everyday lived experiences of the affected people as they effectively subsidize this international project with their environmental resources, labor, money, and, in some cases, their nutritional status.

There has been a general promotion of small and medium sized dams as the solution to supply water for domestic, sanitation and other livelihood purposes in the less industrialised countries of the world. This paper aims to communicate and share ideas and experiences with policy makers and other engineering practitioners in issues related to the sedimentation of, and the development of small and medium sized dams so that relevant issues are taken into account in the planning, design and implementation of such small and medium sized dams.

This paper, which is a viewpoint, utilises the findings of various research work carried out in Zimbabwe and findings from other regional and international literature as a basis for discussion and arriving at some engineering and other developmental policy recommendations. The research work utilised and analysed in this paper is based on actual field work carried out by others as cited.

The paper concludes that the following policy and technical issues should always be borne in mind in the promotion of small and medium sized dams: the predicted increase in rainfall intensities due to climate change/variability requires the review of existing small and medium sized dam spillway capacity designs; an increase in the minimum storage ratios of small and medium sized dams should be made from the current recommended 0.1‐0.3; further research work is required to validate the postulation that rainfall intensities are increasing due to the effects of climate change/variability resulting in increased sedimentation of reservoirs; whilst sediments are required for ecosystem sustenance, they can also be viewed as a pollutant in respect of certain other human water supply needs; do not build small dams on large catchments as such small dams will silt‐up quickly and thereafter pose challenges in the management and disposal of the accumulated sediments and nutrients when decommissioning/rehabilitating them; every dam site, irrespective of the resultant dam size, should be developed to its maximum potential in respect of the dam site's water yield and/or prevailing topography; WHO predicts that road traffic injuries will rise to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030. The “vulnerable road users” and/or their estates should also receive like attention and timely compensation benefits as advocated for the large dam's “disadvantaged and vulnerable” people.

Every year, about 1 per cent of the world's reservoir capacities are lost to sedimentation. Most researchers postulate that an increase in the intensity of rainfall due to climate change/variability is imminent and will result in increased sediment loads with resultant negative impacts on dam reservoir life‐spans and usefulness. This paper discusses the advantages, disadvantages and efficiency of small and medium sized dams in satisfying the various beneficiary needs in the less industrialised countries of the world. The technical issues that have to be considered in the design and construction of such small and medium sized dams in order to minimise the negative impacts of sedimentation in their development are also presented and discussed. The opinions and conclusions drawn in the viewpoint are those of the author.

The increase in issues pertaining to the strategic assessment of territorial transformation has made it necessary to find new methods and tools that are able to consider the several factors at stake. The purpose of this paper is to examine the full range of impacts produced by a project in a territorial context and propose a real application concerning the construction of a new hydropower plant in Bulgaria.

Making use of checklists, network chains and specific impact matrixes, the paper tries to evaluate the overall environmental compatibility of the project.

The performed analysis highlights a final compatibility that in most cases is satisfactory, where the most critical states concern the disturbance to the fauna species living in the area and, above all, the impacts of the project on the landscape.

The work puts in evidence the necessity of further investigations for the definition of mitigation measures that are able to reduce the most relevant effects of the project, especially the visual impact of the dams.

A part from the environmental issues, a key‐role in the general feasibility of large dam projects is played by the analysis of the social impacts. The paper puts in evidence the importance of considering in the evaluation, the effects of the hydropower plant on the community.

The general theme has an interdisciplinary nature and requires several issues to be considered: technical, economic, social and environmental aspects. The paper provides a comprehensive assessment framework in order to implement such an interdisciplinary approach.

There is growing apprehension about climate change and the role played by fossil fuels. Exploration of renewable sources of energy as an alternative to fossil fuels reveals that there is no path forward toward a true green economy that does not have negative environmental side effects. Thus, the improvement of managerial and financial accounting to provide more environmental information and accountability by governmental and nongovernmental institutions is increasingly important in guiding us toward wiser choices. Since the 1970s, the increasing concerns about the environment in the United States have led to improved regulation and more comprehensive environmental reporting requirements and accounting standards. Also, global institutions have been created to foster voluntary reporting of both direct and indirect environmental impacts of their activities by institutions. However, evidence suggests that, while some large global firms have found it useful to engage in sustainability reporting throughout their operations, in general, the US organizational environmental reporting is not strong and is oriented toward the legal minimum when present. If we are to take account of the many direct and indirect ways in which our production choices affect our environment, then our institutions need to play a larger role in informing our choices. Both the Environmental Managerial Accounting Initiative and an enhanced balanced scorecard approach are recommended as frameworks for future efforts; public and private institutions must also include life cycle analysis in decision-making systems in order to enhance their ability to help achieve sustainable economic progress.

The purpose of this paper is to present a model for a comprehensive and integrated approach to managing interface conflict from the early stages of a dam construction project.

A case study methodology is adopted. Following comprehensive literature review, qualitative data were gathered from case studies through interviews conducted on the Middle Marsyangdi Hydroelectric Project (MMHEP) dam project in Nepal. Causal loop diagrams on the typical evolution of key indicators of interface conflict were then developed and a simulate‐able model of interface conflict was derived using system dynamic modeling technique. The model was then simulated to derive viable policies for future management of dam construction projects in developing countries.

The study reveals that interface conflicts at the construction stage of projects are caused mainly by lack of effective Environmental Impact Assessment, public participation and mutual consultation, on timely basis and accurate information from the early stages of projects. The system dynamic model is able to replicate general behavior of evolution of interface conflict in a dam construction project. Furthermore, the study explored three viable policies to avoid and minimize interface conflict in the construction stage of a dam project. The policies were tested and demonstrated to be useful in improving the value of projects to stakeholders. It is demonstrated that a combination of policies is better than adopting a single policy to stakeholder management.

The paper demonstrates the utility of system dynamics as a modeling tool for understanding the dynamics of conflicts on dam construction projects. The model should be helpful to policy makers on large projects, especially those likely to be subject to social and environmental conflict. Policies derived from the model have the potential of being used to assess and take proactive measures to manage conflicts effectively and efficiently from early in a project's life.