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Dams and Development E-Paper Contents

p. 15 of 74 BACK | NEXT Home Page of Dams and Development Foreword I. Why an e-paper on dams and development? II. Assessing options What is options assessment? Where does options assessment fit in the project cycle? What do ADB policies say? Sector specific guidance Tools for options assessment Examples and case studies III. Participatory processes IV. Social impacts V. Environmental impacts VI. Benefit distribution VII. Dam safety and sustainability VIII. Existing projects IX. Improving governance X. What other organizations say XI. ADB, Dams, and Development XII. References Contact Us

Tools for options assessment

A number of analytic and process tools are being used and proposed as part of the options assessment process to supplement more conventional tools such as cost-benefit analysis and least cost analysis. They include:

Multi-criteria analysis - aids decision-making processes by introducing explicit steps to evaluate alternative proposals taking into account a range of parameters (technical, financial, social, environmental etc). Some can be valued, some can not. It offers an opportunity to increase ownership of the final decision by involving stakeholders in:

• identifying and structuring the criteria,
• evaluating options in terms of these criteria, and
• aggregating preferences across criteria

An introduction to multi-criteria analysis can be found in Section 4.1 of the WCD Thematic Review V.1 Planning Approaches and also in Guideline 6 on page 285 of the WCD report.

Life Cycle Analysis - (LCA) is an options assessment procedure used in the energy sector to compare 'cradle-to-grave' performance, environmental impacts, and market barriers and incentives for different demand and supply options. An outline is provided in Guideline 7 on page 286 of the WCD Report and in Annex E of thematic review IV.1.

More information on Life Cycle Analysis is provided in the International Energy Agency's Hydropower Agreement (Annex III) in Chapter 3 Comparative environmental analysis of power generation options available at page 51.

The Environmental Manual for Power Development (EM) was developed under a GTZ project as a computerized tool for environmental and cost assessment of options in the energy sector of developing countries.

See also the section in this e-paper on Strategic Environmental Analysis and its application in the options assessment process.

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