For decades, river communities have suffered from a top-down, profit-driven development model that exploits them without input or accountability. The profits flow outwards and away – to urban centers, elites and foreign investors – while local people and ecosystems suffer the adverse impacts.
Our Work to Elevate Grassroot Power
We believe that communities must have a say in how their river systems are governed, managed, developed and protected. In supporting local movements, we prioritize guidance from indigenous and ethnic minorities and develop inclusive strategies to ensure gender equity. We support indigenous and local communities’ rights to FPIC with lawsuits and public actions.
As a result, our regional and international networks have become some of the most effective, sustained civil society movements in the world. Our most notable river protection victories have been collective achievements, strengthened by these vibrant and interconnected movements.
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Latest News
- Today is a ‘Day of Action for Rivers’
Two decades of indigenous peoples working to keep the Salween River free-flowing By Pai Deetes, Thailand and Myanmar Campaigns Director of International Rivers Originally published in the Bangkok Post On… - The youth say NO to destructive large hydropower! – Alternative development exists!
By Ayesha DSouza, South Asia Program Coordinator. Mega Hydropower projects continue to be pushed in the fragile Indian Himalayas, often at the cost of the local communities and disguised as… - A ticking time bomb: Tomorrow’s hearing can decide the fate of companies responsible for dangerously built dam that threatens more than 3,400 families in Ecuador.
Powered by Canadian, Ecuadorian, Spanish and Swiss investors, the São José del Tambo dam (Hidrotambo S.A.) is considered a rudimentary and dangerously built hydro project and has been threatening the… - Women and Rivers’ Defender Spotlight: Zerin Ahmed
by Petro Kotze and Nalori Chakma Connecting to riverine communities gave direction to her career Globally, young activists have increasingly taken a stand calling for social change. Zerin Ahmed is…