FutureDAMS has delivered its first programme of four high level online seminars, delivered by thought-leading speakers, discussing the future of sustainable infrastructure in water-energy-food-environment systems, reflecting on three years of FutureDAMS research. The second programme will run from January to March 2022 – details to be announced soon.
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The role of dams is changing dramatically with the world striving towards ‘zero carbon’, renewables integrating with hydropower, the climate becoming less predictable and food security being challenged. Today dams are being built, they are being re-operationalised and they are being knocked down.
The seminar series explores the findings of the FutureDAMS Research Consortium and draws on the experience of leading researchers to give their perspective on the technics and politics that shape decisions about dams and major water management infrastructure. FutureDAMS research has contributed to technical advances in assessing the costs and benefits of dams but has also revealed the limited ability of scientific analysis to guide the political actors who take decisions about selecting, designing and managing major investments in dams and water management.
Past webinars and recordings
Click on the titles to access the recordings.
Water, energy and sustainable development: Past, present and future
Recording now available.
Achim Steiner, Administrator United Nations Development Programme
Chair: David Hulme, Executive Director, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester
Integrating water-energy-food-environment planning for climate adaptation and resilience
Recording now available.
John Matthews, Executive Director, AGWA
Claudia Ringler, Deputy Director of Environment and Production Technology Division, IFPRI
Julien Harou, Chair in Water Engineering, University of Manchester
Chair: James Dalton, Director IUCN water programme
Moving to a zero carbon world and the future role of hydropower
Recording now available.
- Joao Costa, Head of Sustainability, International Hydropower Association
- Jeff Opperman, Global Freshwater Lead Scientist, WWF
- Mathaios Panteli, Assistant Professor, University of Cyprus
- Jamie Skinner, Principal researcher, natural resources, IIED
Chair: Judith Plummer Braeckman, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
Perfecting the River: Dams, Dreams and Organic Machines
Recording now available.
- Bill Adams, Moran Professor of Conservation and Development, University of Cambridge
- Chair: Tim Foster, Senior Lecturer in Water-Food Security, University of Manchester