***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** Manila, Philippines –Civil society groups across South, Southeast and Central Asia are raising the alarm as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) gears up to announce a new Energy Policy that — unless recalibrated — will fail to reflect the realities of climate science and local peoples’ burning concerns. On September 6th, the…
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For immediate release OXFORD, UK and OAKLAND, US, August 25, 2021—A new geospatial assessment tool for hydropower, Riverscope, launched today. Riverscope was developed by TMP Systems in collaboration with International Rivers. It is the first comprehensive tool to assess often-overlooked environmental and social risks and connect them quantitatively to the commercial performance of hydropower projects….
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Yesterday, International Rivers’ Southeast Asia Program Director Gary Lee joined partners at the NGO Forum on ADB press conference. The science and historical evidence is clear–if we want to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis, increase resiliency and food security, and protect the rights of people, the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) energy policy must prohibit…
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By: Cooperacción, Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN), International Rivers, China-Latin America Sustainable Investments Initiative At the end of April, 263 civil society groups from around the world sent a letter to the heads of various Chinese institutions about financial aid to help coronavirus-affected projects connected to the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s global infrastructure program. They…
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In a brief published today, FIDH and seven brasilian and international NGOs alert on the serious governance gaps that need to be urgently addressed.
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April 30, 2020 – Today, International Rivers joined 265 civil society groups around the world in calling upon the Chinese government to ensure that COVID-19 related financial relief for struggling Belt and Road projects flows only to high-quality overseas investments that meet stringent criteria aimed at protecting people and safeguarding the environment. The organizations urged China to…
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By: 276 civil society organizations On behalf of 276 civil society organizations from around the world, we are calling upon the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) to abandon the certification of destructive hydropower projects as climate-friendly. The proposed hydropower criteria developed by CBI and its technical working group fall far short of acceptable standards and practice, and…
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By: Africa Program On the occasion of the visit of African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), International Rivers calls on the institution to withdraw its support from the Inga 3 Dam. President Adesina was scheduled to visit the Inga site on Wednesday, June 19 as part of…
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By: Josh Klemm, Policy Director Last month, after a long-running saga, the World Bank signed away its legal obligation to protect Uganda’s Kalagala Falls, a site of immense spiritual and biodiversity value near the headwaters of the Nile River. By granting Ugandan authorities permission to flood Kalagala, the Bank has harmed thousands of local people…
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Since his election in 2012, World Bank President Jim Kim has trumpeted the Bank’s return to large hydropower including so-called “transformational” mega-dams. Kim himself championed the controversial Inga 3 Dam, the first phase of an extremely ambitious suite of dams envisioned on the Congo River. This marked a new chapter in the Bank’s support for…
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By: Peter Bosshard, former Executive Director “We find that even before accounting for negative impacts on human society and environment, the actual construction costs of large dams are too high to yield a positive return,” a new report states. “Large dams also take inordinately long periods of time to get built, making them ineffective in resolving urgent energy…
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