The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) - Perspective of the Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Hydropower can be an important factor for development and also poses a challenge around sustainability for the stakeholders involved. This is still the case, even after the public release of the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD), which serve as the point of reference for the German development cooperation. Supporting the multi-stakeholder-dialogue of the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forums (HSAF) offered the possibility to take the sustainability discussion beyond the range of WCD supporters and to work towards improvements in the hydropower sector. Therefore the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) mandated the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to participate as an observer in the HSAF.