3.2 National and regional energy policies
The social,envir on mental and econo mic trade-offs required to establish national and regional devel op ment plans are t he responsibility of gover n ments.
I HA encourages countries to have in place national and/or regional ener gy policies.Each jurisdiction should clearly set out its ener gy develop ment strategy so that the rules are known to all and ar bitrary decisions are mini mised.
National and/or regional ener gy policies shoul d incl ude a Strategic Assess ment(SA)process t hat incl udes assess ment of cu mulative i mpacts,deter mination of land use and environ mental priorities,as well as goals f or poverty alleviation and economic growth.The policies shoul d be framed in t he context of the global need to reduce greenhouse emissions.They should also incor porate t he t hree elements of sustainability—econo mic,social and environ mental—in energy planning.(https://www.daowen.com)
A Strategic Assess ment process allows the high level identification of environ mental,social and econo mic concer ns and t he resol ution of co mpeting needs.This pr ocess is a mechanis m by which sustainable develop ment and global trends concerning environ mental goals can be reconciled wit h the management and conser vation of natural resources.It should be a participatory,streamlined process,f ocused on major issues,using co mmon sense and readily available inf or mation,and wit h short and definite ti me li mits f or its co mpletion.
One i mportant objective of an SA f or ener gy policy woul d be to reduce uncertainties f or developers by prioritising project options.Gover n ments should give guidance on which social costs shoul d be bor ne by developers and which shoul d be t he gover n ment’s responsibility.Guidance can also be given in relation to priority areas or regions by,f or example,defining river reaches which should be available f or hydr opower devel op ment and,conversely,those reaches protected from water resource develop ment.
I HA also supports resol ution of issues bet ween nations where river basins cr oss national boundaries.This should be achieved through collaborative decision-making,under a framewor k of shared water management policy.Coor dination of river basin research and policy develop ment can be facilitated by multi-lateral agencies.An example of such an agency is t he Mekong River Co mmission.