Blogs

Tree of Life (http://firstpcalbuquerque.wordpress.com/)

All life on Earth began in the sea some 3.5 billion years ago. Yet there is a twist to this story. New research shows that almost all fish species that inhabit the oceans today moved there from rivers and lakes. This sheds new light on the importance of freshwater ecosystems for life on Earth. And it suggests that by damming and polluting rivers, we may destroy the seed banks of future generations.

Ngobe People Protesting- Cortesia de Patria Grande

The heavy weight of a law that would let foreign companies build mines, dams, hotels, and other projects on Ngöbe-Buglé indigenous lands in Panama has the local indigenous people quite worried.

Last week, I sat in Washington in a Senate Hearing Room to give a testimony on the grim situation facing China's rivers. Alongside Elizabeth Economy - a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Jennifer Turner - Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's China Environment Forum, we laid out the frightening and significant water challenges that China is facing. Unlike many at the US-China Economic and Security Commission hearing, I left feeling optimistic and inspired, which begged me to ponder what is the basis of my optimism? Do I just have a bad case of blind faith?

Past Actions: Creativity, Celebration, and Courage

Something I love that was said to me when I first arrived at International Rivers was, “The Day of Action for Rivers will happen whether or not you’re ‘coordinating’ it.” I love this, because for a moment I can glimpse all the things being planned around the world right now…people getting together and talking, putting their energy into protecting the river-life networks around them. And I appreciate it because I am immediately reminded of the gravity that also accompanies this Day of Action for Rivers – people organize their actions because they have to continue standing up for the protection of rivers, their connected ecosystems, and people. It is an ongoing struggle.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is meant to catalyze climate-friendly and sustainable projects in low-income countries. Instead, it's provided massive subsidies to hydropower developers while increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Through deception and abuse of the system, at least two-thirds of all CDM projects are likely not additional, and more are slipping in each year. 

In an attempt to cure its ills during the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the CDM Executive Board has initiated a year-long policy dialogue. Having failed to reach any decisions about reform at Durban, the CDM policy panel members will examine unresolved issues ranging from stronger rules for public participation to an appeals procedure. Of particular concern to the global movement for rivers is ensuring that the CDM imposes greater limitations on large hydropower projects, which are more likely to create enormous environmental and social problems for local communities than smaller community-driven decentralized projects.

The World Bank's social and environmental standards face an uncertain future as Bob Zoellick leaves this year.

The World Bank's Board of Directors has approved a new lending instrument called Program-For-Results (P4R). The instrument is supposed to fund programs, not provide project finance, and is meant to work within a borrower's existing regulatory framework – what the Bank calls a country systems approach. However, not all country systems are made equal. Some of today's largest dam financiers operate within a highly unaccountable national policy framework, where human rights, transparency, and civil society participation may take a back seat to the "national interest." 

My name is Katherine, I'm the 2012 Day of Action for Rivers coordinator and will be writing this blog for the next two months. The more I learn about the global events which have taken place over the last fourteen years on this symbolic day, the more amazed I am. There are so many courageous people out there working to protect their river ecosystems and communities from the harmful effects of dams and pollution. The Day of Action for Rivers is a time for people to represent and move forward with their struggles, and also celebrate the beauty and benefits of a local river - and all the world's rivers.

Costa Rica - National Forum Against Dams 2009

What is International River's role in this worldwide time of action for rivers? Our role is to find out what individuals and groups are doing in support of healthy rivers. We want to hear from those at the grassroots level and provide a stage for their voices, to connect people across the world fighting in their many ways for clean and free-flowing rivers, and to celebrate every individual's effort to speak out. As photos and stories come our way, we'll be sharing them here, in the hope that they spread around the world. A saying I recently heard from the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) is ringing in my ear: "Globalizar la lucha! Globalizar la esperanza! Globalize the struggle! Globalize the hope!"

Milestone birthdays are opportunities to take stock of our family, health and financial situation. So how is Planet Earth doing 20 years after the Earth Summit, the historic UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro? The planet’s economic output has more than doubled since 1992. Some members of the global family are doing extremely well, but the number of hungry people is increasing. And the planet’s health is steadily deteriorating, with vital ecosystems nearing the point of collapse.

Fish are dying at an alarming rate because of the Santo Antônio Dam. (Instituto Rio Madeira Vivo)

This blog in Brazil caught our eye recently: catfish are now disappearing at an alarming rate from the Madeira River, thanks to the reservoir of the Santo Antônio Dam.

When the environmental license for the Santo Antônio Dam was approved against the findings of fish experts, Lula controversially claimed that the dams would not be stopped because of "some catfish." Now, the catfish are disappearing. Don't say we didn't warn you. 

On December 8th, we watched the future of the Mekong River hang by the threads of a single meeting. Government ministers from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam met to decide whether to approve Laos’ controversial Xayaburi Dam, the first of 12 large dams across the Mainstream Mekong River. Scientists warn that the dams would decimate the Mekong River’s fish population and threaten the food security of more than 2 million people, but the projects have crept forward nonetheless.