Abstract:
Management of hydroelectric dams is an aspect of sustainability that comes with resolving
problems locally. The use of global indicators has not been a sustainable solution, thus the need for
local indicators. Besides, current sustainability assessment tools lack the integration of climate, making
assessments in a climate change context impossible. In this paper, we present management and
sustainability assessment in a climate change context using sustainability indicators. We modeled a
change in the climate using normal, moderate, and extreme climate conditions defined by Standardized
Precipitation Indices (SPI) values. Out of 36 years analyzed, 24 years fall in the near-normal climate
regime, and the remaining 12 years in moderate and extreme conditions, making near-normal
climate regime the basis for managing the Taabo Dam. The impact of climate, techno-economic,
and socio-environmental indicators on sustainability were investigated, and the results were analyzed
according to scenarios. Climate adaptation shows higher sustainability indices than techno-economic
and socio-environmental scenarios. Probability matrices show high and low values, respectively,
for environmental and flooding indicators. Risk matrices, on the other hand, show that even with
small probability values, risks still exist, and such small probabilities should not be taken as an
absence of risk. The study reveals that sustainability can be improved by integrating climate into
existing assessment methods.
