International Rivers in the Media

The following radio interview appeared on PM with Mark Colvin, ABC News.

The following radio interview appeared on July 1, 2011 on Worldview on WBEZ, Chicago.

Chile’s $2 billion HidroAysén project is a controversial hydroelectric dam complex that would flood almost 15,000 acres of Patagonian wilderness. Chile’s government says they need it to help double the country’s energy output in the next 10 years. But activists against the dams have growing popular support to stop the project.

Berklee Lowrey-Evans, Latin America Program Associate at International Rivers, which works to protect rivers and the communities that depend on them, discusses the project.

• Read the Press Release about the controversial approval of Belo Monte Dam

Below is an interview with Aviva Imhof, Interim Executive Director of International Rivers. She was interviewed on Uprising Radio, a daily radio program hosted by Sonali Kolhatkar.  Aviva talks about the social struggles in Brazil and Chile that are taking place in reaction to large hydropower projects being built against the will of the people. Listen now!

A Brazilian environmental agency yesterday gave final approval for the hotly contested Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project. Once completed, the Belo Monte dam will generate about 11% of Brazil's current energy needs. It will be the world's third largest dam at 3.75 miles long, and, if construction begins soon, will be completed in 2015. Belo Monte has been in the works for 30 years but has been stalled repeatedly by opposition. Indigenous groups and environmental and human rights activists maintain the project will cause catastrophic harm to the Amazon rain forest and tribes living within it.

Over the estimated 8 years of construction heavy machinery and thousands of workers will be introduced to sensitive forest areas. The Guardian reports that 30,000 indigenous people will be displaced by the dam, and 62 miles of the Xingu river will go partially dry. Meanwhile in Chile, a proposed hydroelectric dam project there has been the target of protests for months. On May 21st in the nation's capitol, Santiago, 20,000 Chileans rallied against the Hidro Aysen project. Comprised of five dams, the Hidro Aysen would flood an estimated 14,000 acres of farmland and forests. It would require a 1,500 mile transmission line corridor to be cut through rainforest and other protected lands.

On April 20, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China in Beijing organized an event on the topic, Environmental Reforms for China’s Overseas Dams? The speakers were Ikal Angelei of Friends of Lake Turkana, Johan Frijns of BankTrack, and Peter Bosshard of International Rivers. Peter gave a presentation on the environmental progress that has been achieved and the remaining challenges with Chinese overseas dam builders and financiers.

Listen to the full event to learn more.

International Rivers featured on NHPR radio.  Listen now!

"Clean energy will be a major topic when President Obama tours South America later this month. Brazil draws 80% of its energy from hydropower. Last year, the Brazilian government accepted a bid for construction of an enormous dam in the Amazon rainforest. Filmmaker James Cameron made a short documentary about the project this year, which like his movie Avatar, pits native tribes against big government and mining companies. Former Wall Street Journal wire reporter Kenneth Rapoza wrote about the collosal and controversial hydroelectric dam project known as Belo Monte for In These Times magazine."

Medha Patkar in Berkeley on November 19, 2010

Medha Patkar speaks on KPFA.  Recorded at the house of Patrick McCully, Executive Director of International Rivers. From the description, "We bring you the voice of Medha Patkar, leading environmental activist from India, who heads the Narmada Bachao Andolan -- a major people's and environmental justice movement that has been fighting for the rights of the displaced indigenous people or Adivasis in west India."

The interview with Patkar starts at 35:40.

Kate Ross at November 10th, 2010 Action

Kate Ross, speaks about the November 10th International day of action for the cancellation of El Zapotillo Dam with University of Guadalajara radio. The interviewer asked questions about the protest going on outside of the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco and about the broader events of this international day of action. Why were we taking action? What was so special about the town of Temaca, why was there so much concern about the project? Finally what messages do we have for our friends in Mexico?

The Nam Theun River, Downstream of the Nam Theun 2 Dam - 2008 © Marcus Rhinelander

Carl Middleton is interviewed about the Mekong river and Nam Theun 2 on "Living on Earth."

Across Southeast Asia, hydroelectric dams are being planned and built along the biologically diverse Mekong River and its tributaries. In Laos, seven large dams are currently under construction, tapping much of the electricity for export to bring in needed revenue and development for the struggling nation. But environmental groups in the region oppose these big dams, calling them threats to Laos' amazing biodiversity. Mary Stucky traveled to Laos and has the report.

Julie McCarthy, NPR’s South American correspondent filed this in-depth, detailed and evocative feature about the struggle of the Amazonian Indians to stop the damming of the Xingu River. Her eyewitness report on the Xingu Encounter aired May 31 on Weekend Edition—NPR’s most widely listened to show.

Listen to Patrick McCully on the award winning NPR show “Living on Earth", as he discusses the failed carbon offset model to slow global warming and misguided dam projects in Africa and other parts of the developing world.

Carl Middleton, International Rivers' Mekong Program Coordinator, critiques Cambodia's plans to expand electricity production by building nine new hydro electric dams over the next eleven years. He was part of a panel of experts speaking on the subject for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Aviva Imhof discusses the Chinese earthquake and its threats to dams in China with New Zealand's equivalent of NPR.

Listen to Aviva Imhof, International Rivers' Campaigns Director, talk to Warren Olney of National Public Radio’s “To The Point” about the fate of the Zipingpu Dam after the massive earthquake in China on May 12, 2008. While Chinese authorities are now saying the dam and its reservoir are safe, Imhof suggests such reassurances may be premature.

Aviva Imhof, International Rivers' Campaigns Director talks to Scott Tong of "Marketplace."
Marketplace says "Troops have been dispatched to shore up nearly 400 dams damaged by the Sichuan province earthquake. Mother Nature's mostly to blame, but there are worries over human error, too, since China has been exporting its dam-building expertise."

Listen to International Rivers Terri Hathaway critique the Grand Inga Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the BBC World Service's Africa Service.

Listen to International Rivers' Aaron Sanger on San Francisco's Green 960AM speaking about the campaign to save the Rio Pascua and Rio Baker from damming.

Listen to this presentation about China's global role and the environment which Policy Director Peter Bosshard gave at the San Francisco Commonwealth Club on February 13, 2008.

Listen to this interview with Policy Director Peter Bosshard about China's role in global dam building.

Mean Veasna, of VOA Khmer, reports that five major Chinese companies have been grants licenses to invest in Cambodian dam projects. International Rivers argues "the dams seriously threaten the environment" in a report released on Jan. 28, 2008. 

This story is in Khmer - see an English language translation of the story on the VOA website.

Interview with International Rivers' Executive Director, Patrick McCully, about our report, "Failed Mechanism: How the CDM is subsidizing hydro developers and harming the Kyoto Protocol." The interview was broadcast on the BBC World Service's 'World Business Report,' December 4, 2007.

Listen to two stories about the implications of Nam Theun 2 for local people and a critique of the project by Carl Middleton, International Rivers' South East Asia Campaign Consultant.