Take Action!

All over the world, people are fighting to protect their rivers and their communities from new dams. They are demanding compensation for problems caused by old dams. And they are proposing better solutions to meet their water and energy needs. Your help is critical for their struggles to succeed!

Please take a moment to respond to these Action Alerts and make your voice heard!

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Tell President Piñera to "Pull the plug on Patagonia dams!"

Michelle Bachelet handed over the Presidential Sash – and the controversial HydroAysén project – to Sebastian Piñera in Feb, 2010 (Washington Post)

Michelle Bachelet handed over her Presidential Sash – and the controversial HidroAysén project – to Sebastian Piñera in February 2010. The HidroAysén project – a proposal to build five dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers in southern Chile – would wreak havoc on an ecosystem found nowhere else in the world.

HidroAysén's EIA  - initially submitted in August 2008 under President Michelle Bachelet - is still going through the environmental review process. At the end of June, the new Chilean government – headed by billionaire President Sebastian Piñera – granted the project a fourth extension, to enable them to yet again address the hundreds of flaws and omissions in the EIA. The burden of responsibility for Patagonia's rivers is now clearly on President Piñera's shoulders.

The good news is, President Piñera can "Pull the plug on Patagonia dams" by rejecting the HidroAysén EIA.

• Email President Piñera and other members of the Chilean government, and tell them to "Pull the plug on Patagonia dams!"

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Ask Italy to Stay Out of Gibe 3!

Lake Turkana is an important source of food for fishing families (Friends of Lake Turkana)

The fight to stop the Gibe 3 Dam is gaining momentum. Our Kenyan partner Friends of Lake Turkana has been tirelessly fighting to protect Lake Turkana and the 300,000 indigenous Kenyans who depend on the lake for survival. Many of you have already supported the Stop Gibe 3 Dam campaign by signing a petition asking international donors to stay out of this destructive project. The campaign needs your help again.

The Gibe 3 Dam is likely to receive critical funding from Italy. Stand with the affected people of Kenya and Ethiopia as they fight to protect their environment and their livelihoods.

• Please send a letter to the Italian government to stop the destructive Gibe 3 Dam!

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Call the Brazilian Embassy to stop Belo Monte Dam!

Kayapó with homemade anti-dam signs (Glenn Switkes)

The Brazilian government is pushing through plans to build the massive Belo Monte Dam in the Amazon. The dam would devastate an extensive area of the Amazon rainforest and threaten the survival of thousands of indigenous and traditional peoples who depend on the Xingu River for their livelihoods. Construction could begin this year.

Indigenous people are out in the streets, public opinion in the Brazilian media is starting to come out against the project, and a group of national and international organizations is working hard to get the project cancelled.

• Please call the Brazilian Embassy now and ask them to cancel Belo Monte Dam! 
  

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Ask the President of Mexico to protect human rights and cancel El Zapotillo Dam!

"Since the 6th Century, Temaca Welcomes You" (Berklee Lowrey-Evans)

The small town of Temacapulin and its long history will be washed away if El Zapotillo Dam is built.

The citizens of Temacapulin and local organizations have been fighting the project for two years. But things are getting dangerous. On April 3, three strangers identifying themselves as federal employees entered Temacapulin and began harrassing and threatening residents and their allies with death.

 

• Please send a letter to the President of Mexico and other government officials to demand an investigation into these incidents, protection of human rights, and the cancellation of El Zapotillo Dam.

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