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Dam IndustryA New Climate for Water PlannersPatrick McCully
The central assumption governing the design and operation of all major
water projects has just been declared dead by a group of leading water
and climate scientists. Designers and builders of dams need take note. Related content:
India’s Ugliest Dam Builderby Heffa Schücking
India's ugliest dam builder is undoubtedly the state-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). While the company is currently angling to acquire new capital, its operations at home and abroad have left a trail of ruined livelihoods and misery in its wake. Related content:
Protest Opens Global Dams ConferenceInitiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive – Fools of Munzur – Association for Conservation of Munzur Valley and Natural Life – Yusufeli Culture Association – WEED – International Rivers Antalya, Turkey -- Dam-threatened people today demonstrated at a major dam-building conference in Turkey to call attention to major problems with Turkish dam development. Attendees at the organization’s annual world congress in Antalya, Turkey were met with a huge banner declaring "No development, but destruction by many dams in Turkey." Related content:
Fizzy Science: Loosening the Hydro Industry's Grip on Reservoir Greenhouse Gas Emissions Research
Related content:
Bribery Taints World Bank–Funded Lesotho Water Project
A dozen major
international dam–building companies involved
in the World Bank–funded
Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP)
have lavishly bribed at least one
top official on the project,
allegedly giving nearly US$2 million in
bribes over ten years,
reports the South African newspaper Business Day.
The information
was revealed as part of a court case for the bribed
official.
Related content:
Statement on the World Summit on Sustainable Development
Johannesburg Summit
Endorses Business as Usual for River Destroyers
The outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development will do nothing to halt the rapid degradation of the world's rivers and the impoverishment of the communities who directly depend on them. Rampant dam building, pollution, bad farming practices, channelization, deforestation, urban sprawl, and climate change are sickening the rivers of the world. The agreements made at the WSSD at best fail to rein in the forces destroying rivers, and at worst encourage them. Related content:
Private Gain - Public Risk?
The International Experience with Power Purchase Agreements of Private Power Projects
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Reservoir EmissionsAn emerging body of science indicates that reservoirs, especially in the tropics, are a significant source of global greenhouse gas pollution. The latest estimate, published in March 2007, is that methane from dams is responsible for around 4% of human-caused global warming. Big Hydro Hides its Role in Global WarmingA bitter debate has broken out in the scientific community over hydropower’s contribution to global warming. A leading Brazil-based climate scientist calculates that startlingly high levels of greenhouse gases are emitted when water is released from the turbines and spillways of tropical dams. But hydro industry-backed researchers have fiercely attacked his work. In an effort to settle the debate, International Rivers is releasing a report, just prior to the UN Climate Change conference in Nairobi (Nov. 6-25), calling on the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to determine hydropower’s culpability in global warming. Related content:
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