Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environment International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envint Review article The development of biodiversity conservation measures in China's hydro projects: A review Ruiqiao Bai a , Xuehua Liu a,⁎ , Xiaofei Liu a , Lanmei Liu a , Jianping Wang b , Sihui Liao b , Annah Zhu c , Zhouyuan Li a,d a State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control and School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China b Development Research Center, Ministry of Water Resources, People's Republic of China c Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, USA d Water Systems and Global Change Group, Wageningen University & Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Biodiversity conservation China Hydropower Policy Research ABSTRACT The hydropower capacity of China ranks first in the world and accounts for approximately 20% of the total energy production in the country. While hydropower has substantially contributed to meeting China's renewable energy targets and providing clean energy to rural areas, the development of hydropower in China has been met with significant controversy. Ecologically, hydro projects alter the landscape, with potential impacts to the country's aquatic biodiversity. Over the past four decades in China, various mainstream opinions and mis- understandings have been presented concerning how to alleviate the negative impacts of hydro projects on aquatic ecosystems. This article reviews research concerning potential mitigation measures to enhance aquatic biodiversity conservation in hydro projects in China. Based on the academic attention such research has at- tracted, three technical measures for aquatic biodiversity conservation are considered: (1) fish passages, (2) restocking efforts and (3) river and lake renovations. This article provides a historical comparison of these three practices in China to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of each method. The article also reviews the relevant legislation, regulations and technical guidelines concerning China's hydro projects dating back to 1979. The dynamics in research, publications, and patents concerning these three mitigation measures are summarized to demonstrate their technological developments in the context of legislative and policy advances. Data were gathered through the China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China. Based on the analysis provided, the article recommends an expansion of China's environmental certification system for hydro projects, more robust regional legislation to bolster the national framework, the cooperation between upstream and downstream conservation mechanisms, and better monitoring to determine the efficacy of mitigation measures. 1. Introduction The negative impacts of high-intensity human activities on biodi- versity have drawn global attention, making biodiversity conservation a central research focus in the 21st Century (Velasco et al. 2015). Impacts to aquatic biodiversity from the implementation of hydro projects have received considerable attention in China due to the country's depen- dence on hydropower as a significant source of energy production. Research on the relationship between hydro projects and aquatic bio- diversity loss in China continues to grow (Shi et al. 2015). This article summarizes the history of protective measures for aquatic biodiversity conservation in China's hydro projects to evaluate their development and provide policy suggestions and guidance for the future. Hydro projects include dam construction and operation, water uti- lization, river and lake renovation and aquatic ecosystem restoration and preservation. Since 2004, China has ranked first in the world in hydropower, with an installed capacity that exceeds 100 million kW (Shen 2008). Hydropower now accounts for 20% of China's total energy production (Shen 2008). As shown in Fig. 1 (Qian 2013), hydropower stations cover the country, with the highest concentration located in the southern part of China. There are > 6055 hydropower stations that are in operation or under construction in China, with a total installed ca- pacity of 130.98 million kW and an annual power generation of 525.9 billion kWh (Qian 2013). Table 1 shows the distribution of the installed capacity and annual hydropower generation in ten river basins in China. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2017.09.007 Received 11 June 2017; Received in revised form 21 August 2017; Accepted 6 September 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: stu07010611@sina.com (R. Bai), xuehua-hjx@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn (X. Liu), zhouyuan.li2009@gmail.com (Z. Li). Environment International 108 (2017) 285–298 Available online 14 September 2017 0160-4120/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T