Ryan's List: Making Africa's Dam Deals Public

Turning the spotlight on Africa's shady dam planning has been a goal of mine since joining International Rivers in July 2004. I'm proud to announce our latest "spotlight" - the 2010 African Dams Briefing, a summary of key public data on Africa's proposed large dams.

The roots of this briefing can be traced

2010 Africa Dams Briefing Map of Proposed Dams (International Rivers)

back to my first day with International Rivers almost six years ago. By the afternoon, I was settling into my new desk reading a memo left by my predecessor, Ryan Hoover. It was a list of proposed dam projects in Africa, the various concerns about each dam, and his estimation of whether or not each project would go forward.

Ryan’s list became a daily reference for sharing what International Rivers knew about any particular dam in Africa being planned behind closed doors. I started expanding the list, adding new dams and updating information. By 2006, the list had turned into a full fledged reference. We published the 18 page briefing, along with a map, to show the significance of proposed dams in Africa. Our dams briefing has been visited over 3,000 times.

Since then, we've captured information from news items as they pass our computer screens. And after four years, VOILA! We have published the next version – our 2010 African Dams Briefing. The briefing has now grown to 68 pages. Check it out. Send it to your lists. Tell your friends. Turn that spotlight on!

But we are not about to sit back and relax. We are already preparing for our 2011 Briefing. If you have comments or updates on a specific dam project in Africa to be included in our next version, please send an email to africadb [at] internationalrivers [dot] org. Insiders and whistleblowers welcome!