South Asia / key documents

There will always be abundant snow and glaciers on the highest mountains of the world, the Himalayas. This snow will always feed the Indus and Ganges rivers and forever supply water to millions of people in South Asia and China.

These statements may no longer be true. Our warming climate is changing the Himalayas faster than any other region of the world. The mountains’ mighty glaciers, the source of most large Asian rivers, are melting.

Report Cover: NHPC, People Don't Matter (Heffa Schücking, urgewald)

This report by Heffa Schücking, director of the NGO urgewald, unveils the business operations of India's premier dam-building agency, the National Hydroelectrict Power Corporation, NHPC. Schücking contends: "If there were an international competition for the title of "Most Ruthless Corporation," India's entry should undoubtedly be the National Hydroelectrict Power Corporation."

To read the report, click on the link to the pdf below.

The Unresolved Legacy of the World Bank's National Drainage Program in Pakistan - an Eyewitness Account

The World Bank's Inspection Panel (IP) issued its investigation report for the Bank-funded Pakistan National Drainage Program in 2006. The IP report found that Bank management had violated six of the Bank's safeguard policies in the NDP project, contributing to the loss of lives and livelihoods in Pakistan's southern Sindh province. In response to the findings of the IP investigation, Bank management outlined measures they would take to address the policy violations and problems in the NDP.

Narmada River Valley Trip Report

The reservoir of the Sardar Sarovar dam, which is being built on the Narmada River in India, will submerge 245 villages and displace over 43,000 families. Each year, the rains of the monsoon season add more water to the reservoir, permanently submerging villages and towns. This process will continue until the reservoir is full.

This article by Ann-Kathrin Schneider first appeared in World Rivers Review in February 2007. It is a plea to the World Bank to take responsibility for the Bank's failed projects and to compensate those harmed by its failures. The article discusses the World Bank-funded National Drainage Project in Pakistan that violated six of the Bank's safeguard policies and led to the loss of lives and livelihoods in Sindh province, Pakistan.

In ancient Greece, a nine-headed snake called Hydra lived in the marshes of Lerna. She was the daughter of a giant and a nymph, and the sister of Sphynx, Cerberos, and Chimaera. Again and again, Hydra ravaged the fields, destroyed the crops and devoured the cattle of the local farmers. At last, King Eurystheus asked the Greek hero Herakles to bring Hydra’s reign of terror to an end. A horrible battle unfolded in the marshes of Lerna. Every time Herakles cut off one of the serpent’s heads, two new ones grew from the ghastly body. In the end, of course, the courage of the hero prevailed over the serpent’s evil blood.