Preamble

Declaration

1.The participants to the Third Global Forum on Hydropower for Today acknowledge the efforts of Peoples Republic of China in the sustained development of small hydropower, reaching currently an annual addition of 6000 MW and appreciate China’s joint initiative in co-organizing this discussion forum by the International Center on Small Hydro Power (ICSHP), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Hydropower Agreement of International Energy Agency (IEA), Natural Resources of Canada (NRCan) and the International Network on Small Hydro Power (IN-SHP).

2.In view of the very low percentage of electrification in Africa, not exceeding 10% except in a verylimitednumberofcountries and the abundance of hydro resources in the African continent, the Millennium Development Goals of the UN which can never be fulfilled without provision of clean and affordable energy to the poor, and in view of the emergence oflocalentrepreneurship and initiative on SHP, as well as the urgency for bringing the rural population into the main stream of nation building to create employment and enhance incomes, the Forum considers it appropriate to focus immediately on the environmentallyfriendly and affordable small hydropower resources in Africa during the rest of the decade.

3.The Forum recognizes the need to integrate hydropower development with other demands on water resources such as drinking water supply, irrigation, flood prevention, pollution abatement, tourism, environmental protection, regional biodiversity maintenance and other local economic development needs, and requests all concerned to develop innovative methods for realizing this opportunity, taking note of the experience of China for over five decades in intensive SHP development.

4.The Forum appreciates the need for development of small hydropower potential in Asia and Africa in, as distributed a manner as possible, linking it with productive use and not for lighting alone, in view of the cost advantages and the urgency to meet the aspirations of the rural poor in preventing damage and loss to their perishable agricultural produces and improving communication and quality of life in remote rural areas through modern technology innovations. However, with increased initiative from private sector to develop SHP in these countries, there is need for effective guidance and control by the respective governments and regulatory agencies, as it is governments that should draw up plans for hydro-energy utilization and mandate the amount of river runoff that must be maintained free and to build capacity to manage this critical resource for the benefit of society as a whole.

5.The Forum also recognizes the roles of international agencies including the United Nations and in particular the UNIDO, in promoting global small hydropower development and calls for developing models of cooperation, for ensuring social equity and ecological balance and to optimize and ensure maximal use of water resources for the benefit of those deprived of energy for their sustenance and development.

6.The Forum takes note of the fact that the regions in focus, viz., Asia and Africa still need the capacity building for undertaking independent pursuit of creating data bases on pico/micro/small hydropower, selection of sites, choice of equipment, their installation, and managing the operation and maintenance, and calls upon the IN-SHP to have within the framework of South-South cooperation, a massive training programme and exchange of experts for such capacity building in selected countries of Asia and Africa.

7.The Forum recognizes the need for the ready availability of equipment for such a massive drive for exploitation of small streams in the off-grid areas, including the extended utilization of the water mills prevalent in this region, and further calls upon all countries having capacity to manufacture SHP equipment, and in particular to China, to meet the challenges in this regard, notwithstanding their domestic compulsions.

8.Realizing the challenges ahead, the Peoples Republic of China announced the decision of its State Council to rename and register the INSHP within China as International Association of Small Hydro Power and the organization’s intention to participate actively in the Lighting Up Africa program, which the Forum notes with great appreciation.

This Third Forum on Hydropower for Today, while looking hopefully at the innovations in hydropower turbine technology and the encouraging views expressed by many presenters at the Forum, look forward to the next Forum, to have reports on a surge of renewable energy development, especially SHP, in IN-SHP member countries, in the wake of urgency to alleviate poverty and ward off global warming, on a new note of high environment compliance and increased social responsibility and pledges itself to the realization of the above objectives.