Climate Crisis Biggest Threat to Global Dams
Guadalajara (Mexico),/New Delhi May 25: International Commission on Large Dams President Devendra Kumar Sharma on Monday warned that climate change has emerged as the biggest challenge before the global dam community and called for urgent innovation to ensure water, food and energy security across the world.
Addressing the inaugural session of the International Symposium on “Water, Energy, and Society:
The Evolving Role of Dams in a Changing World” during the 94th Annual General Body Meeting of ICOLD in Guadalajara, Sharma said dam engineering professionals now have a far bigger responsibility in view of increasing climate uncertainties.
The symposium, attended by nearly 1,000 professionals from 70 countries, was inaugurated in the presence of Pablo Lemus Navarro, Governor of Jalisco, Mexico. Sharma, who is also a member of India’s National Security Advisory Board and former Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission, said ICOLD has remained a global platform of experts committed to public welfare since its formation in 1928.
Highlighting the role of dams in managing the world’s most precious resource — water — Sharma said the focus must now shift towards rehabilitation, modernization and safe management of aging dams.
He stressed that more than 64,000 large dams worldwide need continuous maintenance, environmental stewardship and structural monitoring to remain efficient and safe.
Raising concern over limited participation from developing countries in ICOLD activities, Sharma announced a major decision to make ICOLD technical literature freely accessible to all member engineers from September 1, 2026.
He said the move would especially benefit engineers from developing nations who often find the costly foreign publications unaffordable.
Calling the decision a step towards safer dams globally, Sharma said free access to technical knowledge would help strengthen water, food and energy security in many vulnerable regions of the world.
