The new era of contested hydropower development: A systematic review from 2000 to 2022

• Presents a systematic review of 116 peer reviewed journal articles and 180 EJ Atlas profiles, covering a total of 265 hydropower projects, with the most coverage concentrated in Asia and South American, and with significant differences between the two datasets. • Alternatives to large dams, such as run-of-river, pumped storage, and small hydropower projects, have risen in prominence and are often framed as more sustainable, yet are still being contested in many areas. • While hydropower is being framed by proponents as key to addressing climate change, there is not widespread evidence of opponents engaging with concepts related to climate change or climate justice. • The shift away from multilateral funders and toward domestic, private, and blended finance has reshaped the strategies available to opponents of hydropower projects, since the complex arrangements can be difficult to navigate and result in variable levels of sensitivity to social unrest. • Despite international standards like those set by the World Commission on Dams and the International Hydropower Association being heralded as catalysts for a paradigm shift in hydropower development, there was very little documentation of hydropower opponents engaging directly with these standards. Since 2000, there has been a surge in hydropower development globally. This contemporary hydropower boom is distinguished from earlier periods by four key dynamics: 1) an increase in small-scale, run-of-river, and other alternative forms of hydropower, 2) the growing urgency for decarbonization, 3) a rise in bilateral and public–private finance, and 4) the existence of international standards for minimizing the socio-environmental impacts of hydropower development. Despite these shifts, hydropower development continues to spark fierce social resistance. We conducted a systematic review of 116 peer-reviewed articles and 180 Environmental Justice Atlas profiles to better understand the nature of contested hydropower development and the dynamics of social resistance to it. From this dataset, we gathered information about 265 unique hydropower projects that have sparked conflicts. We found that there was relatively little overlap among the cases featured in the peer-reviewed and EJ Atlas datasets, suggesting opportunities for further exchange between scholarly and social movement actors. Both datasets included projects of all types and sizes, demonstrating that many small and alternative forms of hydropower remain contentious. We found very few cases that discussed social movement actors engaging directly with the shifting global dynamics of hydropower development. We found only 12 cases of anti-dam activists evoking climate justice discourse or engaging with climate justice movements. In most cases, contested projects were backed by multiple types of funders, with a notable shift toward public–private and bilateral finance. The sensitivity of these emerging funders to local opposition remains unclear. We found few cases in which international standards had been used or invoked to hold hydropower developers accountable for social and environmental impacts. Ultimately, there remains a disconnect between local struggles and the shifting global dynamics shaping hydropower development, highlighting potentially fruitful future directions for both scholars and social movement actors.