World Bank

Carlos Chen Osorio, who lost his wife and two toddler daughters in the massacre, leads the row during the Via Crucis. Photo by James Rodriguez For more than 20 years, the Maya-Achi people displaced by the Chixoy Dam have sought justice for the massacre of their husbands, wives and children that took place during Guatamala's civil war in the early 1980s. Last week their years of effort were finally recognized when the Inter-American Court on Human Rights found Guatemala guilty of the violation of human rights against the communities of Rio Negro. “After so many years struggling to seek just

The World Bank has approved a transmission line that will link Kenya's power grid to the controversial Gibe III Dam, which is considered to be Africa's most destructive dam.

As I get ready to head up to Nevada City, CA for screenings of Patagonia Rising at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival today, I can't help but reflect on the current state of the campaign to protect Patagonia from the HidroAysén dams and transmission lines. The Supreme Court of Chile heard the case against HidroAysén on Friday December 23, 2011. A verdict is expected sometime this month, although the court could be sneaky and issue their ruling in February, when everyone in Chile is on vacation (think August in Europe and the US), and the likelihood of mass protests would be at its lowe

The idiocy of carbon credits. Nitrozac and Snaggy - joyoftech.com The Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), a wing of the World Bank charged with assessing the Bank's activities, has advised the Bank to stop buying carbon credits from hydropower projects because "it has minimal impact on project bankability".  We've known all along that hydro credits are NOT additional. For projects to be eligible for carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism, they must fulfill two criteria: sustainable development and additionality. Unfortunately, host cou

Meles Zenawi and Italy's Foreign Minister inaugurate Gilgel Gibe 2 On Jan. 13, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi inaugurated the Gilgel Gibe 2 scheme, the country's biggest hydropower project. "It is possible to speed up development without polluting the environment," Zenawi proudly declared as he cut the ceremonial ribbon. Yet this was wishful thinking. Due to shoddy preparation, the project had already been delayed by more than two years. And less than two weeks after the inauguration, the project's core component, a 26 kilometer-long tunnel, collapsed part

A short documentary by the Dutch group BothEnds offers a clear, concise "you are there" view of problems being caused by the Bujagali Dam, now being built on the Nile River in Uganda. This well-done piece of activist filmmaking shows the viewer firsthand what is at stake in this controversial project. You'll see what the dam will flood, visit a village forced to move for the project, hear from Ugandans who hope their businesses can afford the project's costly electricity, and see the beautiful Bujagali Falls themselves – soon to be submerged by the dam. People on both sides of the debate gi