On March 30, 2021, the Aspen Institute Italia awarded the sixth edition of the "Aspen Institute Italia Award for collaboration and scientific research between Italy and the United States" to the study "Improved trade-offs of hydropower and sand connectivity by strategic dam planning in the Mekong”, published in 2018 in the journal Nature sustainability. Among the authors there is also Dr. Simone Bizzi, currently researcher in geomorphology at the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padua and previously employed at the Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria of the Politecnico di Milano.

The research focused on the Mekong River basin and aimed at analysing the impact that the construction of various dams can have on the transport of sediment and on the ecosystems. As described by Dr. Bizzi, “the study was based on the example of the Mekong River in South East Asia, where a massive hydropower development occurred in the recent past, and more development is foreseen in the near future. Results show that existing dams, exploiting around 50% of the basin’s hydropower potential, reduce sand flux to the river Delta of the 91% compared to the scenario without dams. This reduction in sediment supply will have consequences on eco-geomorphic processes of the delta, potentially with dramatic effects for the quality of life of the 20 million of people living in the delta area. The key finding of the study is that the same amount of hydropower could have been generated with much smaller impacts (stopping only 21% of the sand to the Delta) if dam sites would have been selected strategically such as to reduce their cumulative impacts. While the results were derived for the Mekong River, the findings have broad implications for renewable water and energy systems world-wide where 3700 major dams are planned in the coming years”.

The other authors are Rafael J.P. Schmitt (Natural Capital Project, Department of Biology and the Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, USA; Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Italia; Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, University of California, Berkeley), Andrea Castelletti (Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Italia; Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurigo) e G. Mathias Kondolf (Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, University of California, Berkeley; Collegium-Lyon Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Lyon, Lione).

The award ceremony will take place online on 23^rd June 2021