DFID and DANIDA initiated a project titled “Economic Impacts of Climate Change in Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda” which is executed by an international consortium. Focus of the project will be on the economics of adaptation strategies. FutureWater was asked by SEI-Oxford to perform a rapid assessment on the impact of climate change on hydropower generation in the Tana basin in Kenya using the WEAP (Water Evaluation And Planning tool) approach.

Given the limited time available to undertake the assessment only two climate change projections and four adaptation strategies were evaluated, leading to a total of 11 combinations to be evaluated and compared. The developed approach can be used subsequently in a RDM (robust decision making) process, or, given the strength of WEAP, in an interactive stakeholder setting.

The approach applied here to use a minimum and maximum climate change projection, provide decision makers with a range of options on which policies should be developed. The analysis showed that the impact of climate change without any adaptation strategies ranges from a positive US$ 2 million to a cost of US$ 66 million for the hydropower, irrigation and drinking water sector.

Taking into account the costs and benefits of adaptation strategies the so-called demand-side measures are always positive ranging from US$ 11 million to US$ 29 million for the low and high climate projection, respectively. The supply-side and ecosystem adaptations are only profitable if the climate will evolve in the direction of the high projection.

Related publications

• 2009 - FutureWater Report 85Droogers, P.. 2009. Climate Change and Hydropower, Impact and Adaptation Costs: Case Study Kenya. FutureWater Report 85X

  Climate Change and Hydropower, Impact and Adaptation Costs: Case Study Kenya

  Droogers, P.