The International Hydropower Association is a non-governmental professional association founded in 1995 under the auspices of UNESCO. Today, it is represented through corporate and individual membership in 83 countries spanning six continents.

The International Hydropower Association (IHA) has produced Sustainability Guidelines to promote greater integration of environmental, social and economic aspects in the sustainability assessment of new hydro projects and the management and operation of existing power schemes. In adopting their own sustainability guidelines, the members of the International Hydropower Association are committed to developing and operating their projects, in collaboration with all stakeholders, in a way that is environmentally friendly, socially responsible and economically efficient so that hydropower projects can make a major contribution to achieving sustainable energy and resource development.

The IHA Sustainability Guidelines outline a number of broad sustainability principles for the hydropower industry. The guidelines recognise the core values identified in the World Commission on Dams (WCD) report ^[1] of equity, efficiency, participatory decision-making, sustainability and accountability.

The IHA Sustainability Guidelines emphasise the importance of a preliminary assessment that demonstrates the need for a new hydropower project. This should be followed by a comprehensive assessment incorporating environmental, social and economic aspects. These assessments are facilitated where comprehensive national or regional energy development strategies have been developed.

The guidelines identify that sustainable development of hydropower schemes is best achieved where sound governance, and solid legal and institutional arrangements are in place. The guidelines also make the point that each development is unique, and therefore it is difficult to extrapolate sound approaches for one scheme to other regions or locations.

Further to the Guidelines, the IHA has developed a Sustainability Assessment Protocol which is essentially an auditing tool. The Sustainability Assessment provides a mechanism to assess sustainability of new and existing hydropower schemes, by requiring objective evidence to support ratings of each of the key sustainability aspects.

It should be emphasised that issues and management of aspects of sustainability need to be considered individually but do not exist in isolation. For a hydropower scheme to be sustainable it must address all three aspects of economic, social and environmental sustainability.

^[1] Dams and Development: a New Framework for Decision-Making. The report of the World Commission on Dams, Earthscan Publications Ltd, November 2000.