Table 1.
Impacts of hydropower dam construction illustrated by average changed values of five indices of the buffer zones for different global regions
| Region | Global | Africa | Asia | Europe | North America | South America | ||||||
| △GDP (Million dollars) | ||||||||||||
| Zone 1 (<5 km) | −6,021,947 | −19% | 19,063,010 | 78% | −10,991,470 | −28% | 48,748,587 | 303% | 37,872,421 | 659% | −18,183,144 | −53% |
| Zone 2 (5 to 20 km) | −8,731,524 | −27% | 5,705,802 | 23% | −9,250,586 | −24% | 12,032,548 | 75% | 30,547,340 | 532% | −18,622,539 | −54% |
| Zone 3 (20 to 50 km) | −7,381,805 | −23% | −7,673,398 | −31% | −9,356,665 | −24% | 8,488,121 | 53% | 15,990,569 | 278% | −12,002,126 | −35% |
| NAHD (0 to 50 km) | −7,570,664 | −23% | −5,399,154 | −22% | −9,357,101 | −24% | 9,422,390 | 59% | 18,392,903 | 320% | −13,056,998 | −38% |
| Reference Zone (50 to 60 km) | 32,326,438 | 24,433,029 | 38,767,215 | 16,102,404 | 5,746,072 | 34,614,073 | ||||||
| △Urban (km2) | ||||||||||||
| Zone 1 (<5 km) | −2.52 ×10−08 | −49% | −3.78 × 10−08 | −64% | −4.38 × 10−08 | −52% | 3.12 × 10−08 | 941% | 4.96 × 10−08 | 87% | −3.06 × 10−08 | −97% |
| Zone 2 (5 to 20 km) | −2.05 × 10−08 | −40% | 1.17 × 10−08 | 20% | −3.16 × 10−08 | −38% | 1.55 × 10−08 | 467% | 1.97 × 10−08 | 35% | −2.54 × 10−08 | −80% |
| Zone 3 (20 to 50 km) | −1.68 × 10−08 | −33% | −2.83 × 10−08 | −48% | −1.69 × 10−08 | −20% | 1.55 × 10−08 | 468% | 9.15 × 10−09 | 16% | −2.49 × 10−08 | −79% |
| NAHD (0 to 50 km) | −1.74 × 10−08 | −34% | −2.24 × 10−08 | −38% | −1.94 × 10−08 | −23% | 1.57 × 10−08 | 472% | 1.11 × 10−08 | 20% | −2.50 × 10−08 | −79% |
| Reference Zone (50 to 60km) | 5.14 × 10−08 | 5.93 × 10−08 | 8.34 × 10−08 | 3.32 × 10−09 | 5.68 × 10−08 | 3.17 × 10−08 | ||||||
| △NTL (DN) | ||||||||||||
| Zone 1 (<5 km) | 1.0 | 54% | 1.3 | 65% | 0.6 | 26% | 0.5 | 61% | −0.4 | −47% | 1.6 | 87% |
| Zone 2 (5 to 20 km) | 0.2 | 9% | 0.1 | 4% | −0.2 | −8% | 0.4 | 45% | −0.5 | −58% | 0.5 | 28% |
| Zone 3 (20 to 50 km) | 0.1 | 7% | −0.1 | −3% | −0.2 | −10% | 0.4 | 51% | −0.2 | −20% | 0.5 | 24% |
| NAHD (0 to 50 km) | 0.2 | 8% | 0.0 | −1% | −0.2 | −10% | 0.4 | 50% | −0.2 | −26% | 0.5 | 26% |
| Reference Zone (50 to 60 km) | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.9 | ||||||
| △Pop (Person/km2) | ||||||||||||
| Zone 1 (<5 km) | −2.4 | −16% | 27.5 | 49% | −3.2 | −15% | −5.2 | −210% | 4.1 | 32% | −4.1 | −43% |
| Zone 2 (5 to 20 km) | −5.2 | −35% | 4.1 | 7% | −5.8 | −27% | 0.5 | 21% | 2.3 | 18% | −7.4 | −77% |
| Zone 3 (20 to 50 km) | −6.9 | −46% | −25.2 | −45% | −9.0 | −42% | 1.9 | 77% | −2.5 | −19% | −6.2 | −65% |
| NAHD (0 to 50 km) | −6.6 | −45% | −20.3 | −36% | −8.5 | −40% | 1.6 | 66% | −1.7 | −13% | −6.4 | −66% |
| Reference Zone (50 to 60 km) | 14.8 | 56.1 | 21.4 | 2.5 | 13.1 | 9.6 | ||||||
| △NDVI (index number) | ||||||||||||
| Zone 1 (<5 km) | −0.004 | −34% | −0.003 | −53% | −0.005 | −35% | −0.006 | −47% | −0.002 | −11% | −0.004 | −38% |
| Zone 2 (5 to 20 km) | −0.002 | −15% | −0.004 | −73% | −0.003 | −26% | −0.003 | −22% | 0.001 | 4% | −0.001 | −9% |
| Zone 3 (20 to 50 km) | −0.001 | −4% | −0.002 | −35% | −0.001 | −8% | −0.001 | −9% | 0.000 | −1% | 0.000 | 0% |
| NAHD (0 to 50 km) | −0.001 | −6% | −0.002 | −40% | −0.001 | −11% | −0.002 | −12% | 0.000 | 0% | 0.000 | −1% |
| Reference Zone (50 to 60 km) | 0.013 | 0.005 | 0.013 | 0.014 | 0.021 | 0.011 | ||||||
Note that the table indicates the average changed values of five indices in different sizes of buffer zones (Zones 1 through 3) in NAHDs and a reference zone in five global regions. It also shows their relative proportions to the changes in the respective reference zones. Globally, these recently constructed dams were linked with reduced economic production, population, and greenness of areas within 50 km of the dams. While recently constructed dams were associated with increased GDP in North America and urban areas in Europe, they were related with decreased economy (reflected by GDP and urban land) and population for the Global South (Africa, Asia, and South America) and greenness for Africa. Furthermore, as distance increases from the construction site to 50 km (from Zone 1 to Zones 2 and 3), while population decreased more, NTL increased less and urban land and greenness decreased less, with GDP declining the most in the area of 5- to 20-km distance to the construction site.