By Rin Sohsai In early October, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC) sent a letter to Thailand’s Prime Minister expressing serious concerns about the plans for four more hydropower projects to be built on the mainstream of the Mekong River near the Thai-Lao territorial border— namely, the Sanakham, Pak Chom, Ban Kum and…
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The World Bank is poised to repeat the mistakes of the past in its embrace of megadams
By Joshua Klemm, Co-Executive Director As world leaders gather this week in Washington, DC for the World Bank’s Annual Meetings, over 100 civil society organizations are raising the alarm over the World Bank’s plans to lend billions of dollars for ill-conceived and destructive megadams around the world. A letter sent to the World Bank today…
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PRESS RELEASE: Breaking News: The Biobío River becomes the first ecosystem in Chile to have a Declaration of Rights
Photos here (credit: Defensa Ambiental) Download the press release here: English Version For Immediate Release September 25, 2024 MEDIA CONTACTS: Isadora Armani, Communications of International Rivers,iarmani@internationalrivers.org (English, Portuguese) Dario Cuellar, Communications of Defensa Ambiental, dario@ongdefensaambiental.cl (Spanish) CONCEPCIÓN, CHILE – The Biobío River is now the first ecosystem to have a Declaration of Rights in Chile. …
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PRESS RELEASE | Vietnam Climate Defenders Coalition Statement on Release of Hoang Thi Minh Hong
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 MEDIA CONTACT: v4climateleaders@gmail.com The Vietnam Climate Defenders Coalition, a group of over 30 international and regional environmental, climate justice, and human rights organizations, celebrates the early release from prison of climate advocate and environmental defender Hoang Thi Minh Hong. Hong was released in the early hours of 21 September…
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Asia Pacific Feminist Forum Event | Asserting rights to rivers, territories and life in the face of authoritarian crack-downs: lessons from cross-border organizing
Date: Thursday, September 12th Time: 11am Location: Asia Pacific Feminist Forum, Chiang Mai, Thailand Hydropower continues to be promoted as part of the energy transition, backed by vested interests across the region, including energy, construction and consultancy companies, bankrolled increasingly in the context of ‘climate finance’ schemes. However, damming our rivers creates sacrifice zones, causing…
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Biocultural Community Protocols, a powerful tool to affirm and protect Indigenous Peoples’ rights
by Sherelee Odayar, Senior Programme Officer, Standing with Communities, Natural Justice The Process of developing the Biocultural Community Protocol of the OvaHerero of the Kaokoland in Namibia and Angola For centuries, Indigenous peoples have depended on the natural environment to sustain their livelihoods. Knowledge of plants and animals, as well as the performance of certain…
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Webinar: Operating the Principles for Free-Flowing River Protection, Restoration and Management
DATE: September 18, 2024 TIME: 7am – 8am MDT (UTC -6) REGISTER: Zoom link for the event Join us to discover how the Global River Protection Coalition’s (GRPC) Principles of Free-flowing River Protection, Restoration, and Management can be applied to meet freshwater conservation needs at various scales, including achieving the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 30×30 Targets…
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PRESS RELEASE | Klamath River Runs Free for First Time in a Century as Largest Dam Removal in US History Nears Completion
Tribal and conservation advocates celebrate as river is returned to historic channel; restoration activities to continue for several more years FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 28, 2024 CONTACT Ren Brownell, ren@klamathrenewal.org, KRRC PIO, 530-598-8255Craig Tucker, craig@suitsandsigns.com, Consultant for the Karuk Tribe 916-207-8294Matt Mais, mmais@yuroktribe.nsn.us, PR Director for the Yurok Tribe 707-954-0976 Klamath River Renewal Corporation • Karuk Tribe • Yurok Tribe • American…
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STATEMENT | International Rivers statement on Teesta-V hydropower station destruction in Sikkim
On August 20, 2024, the world witnessed another major landslide that badly damaged a hydropower project in the fragile Himalayan ecosystem along the river Teesta. This latest landslide caused major destruction of the 510 MW NHPC Teesta-V hydropower power station in Sikkim, India. Fortunately, no casualties have been reported but the region is still reeling…
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Placing the Interests of the Public and Planet at the Center of Thailand’s Power Development Plan 2024
By Rin Sohsai and Tanya Lee Roberts-Davis. Originally published in the Bangkok Tribune. Opinion piece highlights are below. In the coming months, Thailand’s updated draft Power Development Plan (PDP 2024-2037) is due to be submitted to the Cabinet for approval. This master plan underwent limited online public hearings in mid-June. Yet to date, the text…
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Vietnam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership is not ‘Just’
Poor financing and governance, suppression of activists put energy future at risk Opinion Editorial by Maureen Harris and Liangyi Chang originally published in Nikkei Asia. Below are highlights Relying heavily on coal, Vietnam is considered one of the fastest-growing per capita greenhouse gas emitters in the world, with emissions quadrupling between 2000 and 2015. It…
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