International Hydropower Association
organization
The International Hydropower Association (IHA) is an international lobby group and membership association representing the global hydropower sector.
IHA has members in more than 120 countries, including over 100 corporate and affiliate members working across sectors such as electricity generation, water management, construction, engineering and related industries. IHA also partners with international organizations, research institutions, governments and civil society. The association's mission is "to advance sustainable hydropower by building and sharing knowledge on its role in renewable energy systems, freshwater management and climate change solutions."
History
The International Hydropower Association (IHA) was formed under the auspices of UNESCO in 1995 as a forum to promote and disseminate good practices and further knowledge about hydropower. IHA employed its first full-time member of staff in 2001. It now consists of five departments, a central office (London), a regional office (South America) and a national office (China).
Following the publication of the World Commission on Dams final report in 2000, IHA participated in the United Nations Environmental Programme’s Dams and Development Project.
In 2004, IHA became a founding member of the International Renewable Energy Alliance (REN Alliance) along with partner organisations representing the bioenergy, geothermal, solar and wind industries. The REN Alliance was established to advance the role of renewable energy systems.
IHA published its first sustainability guidelines for hydropower projects in 2004, followed by the IHA Sustainability Protocol in 2006.
The public source identifies “International Hydropower Association” as organization. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around International, Hydropower and Association.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2176077. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1995, 2001, 2000 and 2004.
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This entry incorporates text from “International Hydropower Association” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.