Event description

Hydropower reservoirs provide a variety of water and energy services and are a catalyst for driving global decarbonisation and achieving the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals.

Reservoirs can have varying effects on aquatic biodiversity, caused by changes to river flow regulation, fragmentation and changes in water quality.

To identify these effects, Researchers from Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) and Hydro-Québec undertook a multi-scale analysis to understand fish community trajectories after river impoundments across different regions.

During this webinar, IHA members will hear from the researchers about:

• Lessons from the analysis for fish community dynamics in reservoirs across boreal, temperate and tropical regions
• The effects on fish productivity and biodiversity
• Useful metrics to understand how fish populations respond to impoundment

The webinar will take place at 3pm GMT on Wednesday 16 January 2019. It will be hosted by the International Hydropower Association in partnership with the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) and Hydro-Québec.

Register your interest

This webinar is for IHA members only. To learn more about membership, visit the webpage.

If you are a member and interested in registering for this webinar please email Cristina Diez Santos, IHA Hydropower Analyst, at cds@hydropower.org

Presenter biographies

Christian Turpin

After a 22-year environmental career in the pulp and paper sector, Christian joined the Hydro-Québec's Environment Team in 2010. As part of this team, he coordinates various project life cycle assessments and associated research projects.

Katrine Turgeon

Katrine has had quite a unique career path, leaving and coming back to academia. She obtained her PhD in 2010, where she tested the efficiency of marine protected areas as a conservation and management tool. She then did a first postdoc at the university of Guelph where she tested socio-ecological models to predict how human decisions can affect fish stocks with the Canadian Fisheries Research Network. She did a second postdoc at McGill University, with Hydro-Québec as a research partner, where she studied the short and long-term impacts of river impoundment on fish and fisheries. Before her PhD, she worked as a research agent for Environment Canada. She was a research scientist at Hydro-Québec before taking her current researcher and professor position at UQO.

Cristina Diez Santos

Cristina joined IHA's Knowledge Building Team in August 2017. Her work focuses on building and sharing knowledge on sustainable hydropower development, working on topics such as hydropower benefits and river basin development. Cristina holds a master’s degree in civil engineering and a master of advanced studies in sustainable water resources from ETH Zurich. Prior to joining IHA, Cristina worked in a consulting firm as an international tender coordinator, working with over 30 different countries, international financial institutions, the private and public sector and NGOs.