PRESS RELEASE | Namibia at an Energy Crossroads: continue relying on climate-risky hydropower or harness its abundant and cost-effective renewables

TMP Public electricity sector assessment demonstrates that solar and wind represent the least-cost pathway to meeting Namibia’s current and future energy demand FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 18, 2023 Media contacts: Aqeelah Hassen, Communications and Campaigns Coordinator, International Rivers, ahassen@internationalrivers.org Windhoek, Namibia – Today, International Rivers and EarthLife Namibia released a study by TMP Public on…

Africa

Africa’s great rivers have nourished some of the world’s most significant civilizations. They have shaped the rhythm of life for untold generations of riparian peoples, linking cultures across political borders.  Unfortunately, from the Nile to the Zambezi, many of these rivers have been dammed, diverted, dredged and polluted in the name of meeting water and…

Small Hydro a Potential Bridge for Africa’s Energy Divide

By: Wim Jonker Klunne Africa is home to one of the world’s largest off-grid populations: approximately 590 million people live with no connection to their national electric grid, according to the International Energy Agency. Grid expansion in Africa has been notoriously slow, and thus new solutions are needed to bridge this energy divide. Small hydropower can play a pivotal role…

Press Release | COP27: Groups warn of severe climate and human rights risk of new hydropower dams and schemes

Dams and hydropower schemes create major loss and damage, including producing significant amounts of methane, biodiversity loss, and community displacement. In a warming world, droughts and flooding make hydropower an unreliable energy choice and an increasing danger to downstream communities. An urgent shift away from false solutions that harm people and ecosystems is essential. For…

Women & Rivers Accelerator

Calling All Women River Defenders in Africa and Asia… who are protecting our water, communities, and ecosystems from environmental and climate threats. Join a powerful and diverse cohort of leaders who are ready to accelerate their impact and deepen their work to protect our world’s rivers. The world is calling you to expand your leadership!…

PRESS RELEASE | COP26: UN human rights experts highlight continued human rights impacts of dams as civil society, Indigenous leaders call for UN climate financing mechanisms to exclude hydropower

For Immediate Release: November 9, 2021 For Spanish: https://intlrv.rs/3C4CUOS For Portuguese: https://intlrv.rs/3qoyD6A Glasgow, Scotland – As negotiators convened at COP26 in Glasgow attempt to break the deadlock on emissions cuts and financing mechanisms, a diverse set of voices are calling for the UNFCCC to exclude hydropower from consideration, citing dams’ grave human rights and climate…

2020 Year in Review: Building a new paradigm for our rivers

At the end of a difficult year, I encourage us all to meditate and reflect on rivers, which endlessly flow, which cleanse and renew, and which nourish and sustain life for us all.  From the Mekong region to the Amazon and Patagonia, authoritarian regimes and profit-hungry corporations have been using the pandemic as cover to…