The MRC refers to the balancing of the 3Es as IWRM's triple bottom line (MRC 2006). A triple bottom line approach evaluates any proposed development in terms of its contribution to economic efficiency, social equity and environmental sustainability. Consequently, economic, social and environmental outcomes are all ‘seen as part of the development benefit/dis-benefit...not that there is a simple trade-off between economic benefit, on the one side, and socio-environmental costs on the other (Hirsch 2006a: 24). In the current hydropower debate, the MRC is using the language of triple bottom line and benefit/dis-benefits. However, the debate is largely framed by a range of actors, including civil society organisations, in terms of the three goals being antagonistic, with economic benefits on one side and socio-environmental losses on the other, such that an increase in hydropower will lead to a decrease in fisheries and livelihoods.