The Role of Large Dams in Promoting Economic Development under the Pressure of Population Growth

Haiyun Shi,Ji Chen,Bellie Sivakumar,Suning Liu

doi:10.3390/su11102965

Abstract

The close relationship between large dams and social development (i.e., water, food, and energy consumption) has been revealed in previous studies, and the vital role of large dams in sustaining societies has been recognized. With population projections indicating continued growth during this century, it is expected that further economic development of society, e.g., Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, will be greatly affected by possible challenges, such as water, food, and energy shortages in the future, especially if proper planning, development, and management strategies are not adopted. In our previous study, we have argued that construction of additional large dams will be considered as one of the best available options to meet future increases in water, food, and energy demands, which are all crucial to sustain economic development. In the present study, firstly, we will emphasize the vital role of dams in promoting economic growth through analyzing the relationship between large dam development and GDP growth at both global and national scales. Secondly, based on the projection results of future large dam development, we will preliminarily predict the future economic development represented by GDP. The results show that the impacts of large dams upon GDP are more significant in countries with higher levels of socioeconomic development, which generally supports large dams as the vital factor to promote economic development.

Highlights

Regarded as a driving force in demands of water, food, and energy, the world’s population has been increasing rapidly since the beginning of the 20th century, and will reach 9.7 billion by 2050 according to the medium-growth projection scenario of the United Nations [1]
This study, based on the analyses of the large dam data and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data, concludes that large dam construction has essentially played a role in promoting economic development
The results show that the impacts of large dams on economic development represented by the GDP data were more significant in countries with higher levels of economic development

Summary

Introduction

Regarded as a driving force in demands of water, food, and energy, the world’s population has been increasing rapidly since the beginning of the 20th century, and will reach 9.7 billion by 2050 according to the medium-growth projection scenario of the United Nations [1]. Consumptions of water, food, and energy have all been increasing along with population growth [2,3,4,5,6], and among these, water is the key factor in consideration of its various uses, e.g., drinking, irrigation, and hydropower [7]. There is no doubt that water scarcity, as well as the associated issues of food and energy security. will affect economic development to a large extent, and sometimes economic development will be the dominant factor of water scarcity in turn, e.g., economic water scarcity, the symptoms of which include scant infrastructure development either at the small or large scale, is mainly caused by a lack of investment in getting enough water or a lack of human capacity to satisfy the water demand [11]

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion