By: Pai Deetes, Thailand & Myanmar Campaigns Director FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Today, the Network of Thai People in Eight Mekong Provinces submits additional evidence to the Thai Supreme Administrative Court in the ongoing lawsuit regarding the Xayaburi dam on the Mekong River in Laos. The lawsuit targets five Thai state agencies and challenges the legitimacy…
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By: Pai Deetes, Thailand and Myanmar Campaigns Director In a momentous win for the Mekong River, this week the Thai Cabinet formally called for cancellation of the Lancang-Mekong Navigation Channel Improvement Project, popularly known as the Mekong “rapids-blasting” project. The cabinet decision is the culmination of decades of campaigning by Thai Mekong communities and civil…
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In an open statement to ASEAN leaders as they gather in Bangkok for the 34th ASEAN Summit, 110 community and civil society organisations and networks have urged ASEAN to respect people’s rights and livelihoods. Noting that ASEAN economic integration has prioritised the interests of investors with little regard to the negative impacts on people’s territories, livelihoods…
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By: Maureen Harris, Programs Director This article originally appeared in The Myanmar Times The International Finance Corporation’s Vikram Kumar published a letter in the September 20 Myanmar Times in response to an article on civil society and community boycotts of IFC-sponsored consultations on hydropower in Shan State. The consultations form part of a cumulative impact assessment of…
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International Rivers’ advocacy training in DRC aimed at strengthening the movement of civil society partners and community groups to effectively advocate for the protection of rivers, rights of dam affected communities, and energy access. At the end of the training, groups were encouraged to sing their visions for their campaigns, which helped them take ownership…
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By: Pianporn Deetes, Thailand and Myanmar Campaigns Director This article originally appeared in The Bangkok Post. A year ago, the cabinet issued a resolution recognising an obligation to protect human rights in Thai outbound investments. With Thai companies increasing their operations in neighbouring countries in sectors that carry significant risks for human rights and the environment, further…
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By: Kate Horner, former Executive Director & Igor Vejnovic This article originally appeared on Open Democracy. This week, activists from across the world are meeting in Tbilisi to share their experiences of resisting hydropower projects and the money that supports them. Free-flowing rivers are often the unsung heroes of the natural world. They support immense biodiversity, as…
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By: Sarah Bardeen, former Communications Director Dipti Vaghela is passionate about micro hydro. To be fair, she’s also obsessed with other mini-grids, including biomass gasifiers and small-scale solar. But since 2006, Vaghela has been deep in the weeds on this subject, working as both a researcher and a practitioner to develop community-based micro-hydro in South…
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In August 2012, 37 plaintiffs made up of villagers living in eight provinces along the Mekong in Thailand from Chiang Rai to Ubon filed a lawsuit against five government bodies, including the National Energy Policy Council, the Thai Cabinet, and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) for their role in the Xayaburi Dam. In…
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The closely-watched lawsuit filed by Thai Mekong communities against the Xayaburi Dam’s power purchase agreement (PPA) reaches a critical juncture Friday, as it is the final day that the Administrative Court will accept evidence into the case. It has been just over a year since the case was accepted by the Thai Supreme Administrative Court, in an…
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In June 2014, 37 Thai villagers filed a case against the signing of the Power Purchase Agreement for the controversial Xayaburi Dam. This week, the court heard directly from the community members in their own words. It was the first time this had happened since the case was accepted. During an hour-and-a-half hearing at the Administrative Court…
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