Blogs

A new report written by your blogger discusses China’s environmental footprint in Africa. Are Chinese investors Africa's new colonizers? Are they simply following the mold of Western investment? Or does China's investment offer new opportunities of South-South cooperation? This is a hot topic, and my report has already triggered controversial reactions.

former Brazilian environment minister, Marina Silva (Roosewelt Pinheiro/ABr)

Marina Silva´s resignation yesterday as environment minister has shredded the last guise of any environmental credibility in the Brazilian government. It´s not that Marina´s tenure was so incredibly successful - her opposition to GMOs resulted only in getting two companies to put a tiny "T" symbol on their soy oil, and we´ll never be able to forgive Marina, as good soldier dismantling the environmental protection agency Ibama, and pulling the switch executing the Madeira River at Lula´s orders.

(This is part 3 in a 3 part series. Read part I: Take Me to the River)

Dust in the Wind: Ahai Dam Barrels Ahead

Raft Approaching the Ahai Dam Site

If the 160-meter-high Ahai Dam is completed, its designers will be able to proudly say that their concrete work erased a thousand years of lovingly crafted Great Bend terraces in just a few years of reservoir filling. The legacy they are focusing on is surely a more positive one: increased distribution of eletricity to a power-hungry China, and increased efficiency for the Three Gorges Dam. According to the engineers, the main purpose of this eight-dam cascade will be regulating flows and sediment for the world's largest hydroelectric power station downstream. Whether or not all eight dams are actually required to make this work, and what that says about the design of Three Gorges itself, are all unknowns in China's disordered grand plan.

(This is part 2 in a 3 part series. Read part I: Take Me to the River)

Meeting the Golden Sands

Just Another Day on the Jinsha

I awoke at 7am to the sound of tent poles being dismantled - a luxury after the previous day's pre-dawn start. If we were going to do the full 120 miles we needed to be ready to go by 10am. On a weekend backpacking trip that would be a piece of cake - but for 28 people to pack tents, cook and eat breakfast, and load the aforementioned two tons of gear back onto the boats in two groggy hours, it would be quite a challenge.

Click image to enlarge

In my short tenure at International Rivers, I've come to expect dams in every corner of every country around the globe. Still, I was shocked by the ubiquitous nature of these concrete beasts as we flew above China. On the three-hour flight south from Beijing to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, I counted over 70 dams.

Dorothy Stang, murdered American nun (archive)

Seeing him waving the "V' for victory sign yesterday, and hearing him thank divine justice for his acquittal on appeal after initially being convicted and sentenced to 30 years, rancher Vitalmiro de Moura Bastos, or "Bida" reminded me of the killers of civil rights workers in the South who smirked when were absolved for their crimes. But, this is the Amazon, not the South, and it´s 2008. And, the murder Bida was absolved of was that of an American nun, Dorothy Stang, rather than a Black youth who dared to assert his rights.

India campaigner Ann-Kathrin Schneider brought to my attention this great video about dam-development in India:

Fernando Lugo, new Paraguayan president (Antônio Cruz, ABr)

The victory by Fernando Lugo last Sunday in Paraguay´s presidential elections has sent ripples through the energy ministries of Brazil and Argentina, based upon his assertion that the Itaipu and Yacyretá Dam treaties must be re-negotiated to guarantee a fair deal for his country.

There was a time when Brazil´s groundbreaking environmental laws, based upon its
constitution (article 225) which guarantees its citizens the right to a healthy environment were considered a global model. Not anymore.