How to balance power generation and protection of biodiversity? How to harmonize the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, which requires us to achieve "good ecological status" of aquatic environments with the desire, for example, to implement the rule on eel restoration, on the one hand, and, on the other, reaching 23% renewables in the French energy mix by 2020? How to remove, by consensus, the structures most harmful to migratory fish? How best to manage the legacy of 60,000 structures built on the 500,000 km of French rivers? How to install in the best way possible new generation capacity and avoid the fierce conflicts which accompany any proposal for hydroelectric development in our country? How to renew concessions in an aging fleet? How to preserve the last "wild rivers", jewels of natural capital? In short, how to move to a more sustainable hydropower?

Indeed, if the dams generate a fully renewable electrical current, the electricity sold on the market is far from being "green by nature". Its impact on aquatic environments is significant, through the extinction of populations of migratory fish including Atlantic salmon, to the erosion of rivers and coastlines because of the retention of sediments in reservoirs, and the degradation of water quality.

Since September 2008, all stakeholders (politicians, EDF, GDF Suez, the French Union of Electricity, France Hydro Electricity Authority of France and NGOs) met to develop a project "Agreement of commitments for the development of a sustainable hydropower consistent with the restoration of aquatic environments, following the "Grenelle Environment Round Table.""

At the heart of the draft agreements, the governance of which was inspired by the Grenelle Environment Round Table, is the Grenelle commitment to remove the most problematic barriers to fish migration with the aim of achieving or preserving, by 2015, the good ecological status or good potential for surface water bodies. Another major constraint was the setting of numerical targets on the number of additional TWh from hydro-electricity. In July 2008, the Minister of State for Energy and Ecology gave a target to increase hydro-electricity by 7 TWh by 2020. This target was been reduced to 3 TWh in December 2009 during the negotiations.

In November 2009, another very important step was taken with the announcement by the Secretary of State for Ecology, Chantal Jouanno, to remove the two dams Vezins and La Roche qui Boit on the Sélune river in La Manche (NW France) in the framework of the "Plan for the renaturation of stream ecological continuity". Another step should be done with the removal and replacement of the dam Poutès on the Upper Allier, one of the last "wild rivers" of Europe. Today, to implement solutions and restoring aquatic ecosystems without increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, the vast majority of NGOs are working alongside representatives of local authorities, hydro-electricians and government departments to try to build the hydropower of tomorrow. The work is huge and the situation will not change overnight. Indeed, the gap between planners and ecologists is still very wide, as evidenced by the ongoing construction of the dam Rizzanese on the most beautiful river in Corsica. The undersigned NGOs welcome without reservation, a major breakthrough and are betting that the cooperation that is now starting will be full of commitments taken for the benefit of all.