FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JANUARY 24, 2025 Media contact: v4climateleaders@gmail.com Bach to Receive Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty for Human Rights While Behind Bars Vietnam – Today – Friday, January 24th – marks three years since climate leader Mr. Dang Dinh Bach (Bach) was sentenced to prison for his campaign to reduce Vietnamese reliance on coal…
Read More2024 has been a transformative year for rivers, thanks to you—our incredible supporters, partners, and river champions. Together, we’ve advanced protections, restored ecosystems, and amplified the voices of river defenders worldwide. Your support has fueled incredible progress, and we’re excited to share the highlights in our 2024 Year in Review. As we look ahead to…
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By Flávio Montiel, Manager, Brazil Program Text in Portuguese follows below Every visit to Santarém, along the banks of the Tapajós River, stirs deep memories. For over 14 years, International Rivers has worked with local organizations to defend rivers and community rights in the Tapajós Basin, one of the Amazon’s most biodiverse regions. This commitment was…
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The Tapajós River, a lifeline in Brazil’s Amazon basin, has reached historically low levels this year amid an unprecedented drought. The urgent situation made the National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA) declare a water scarcity emergency for the river’s lower stretch, from Itaituba to Santarém cities, marking the first time the agency has issued such…
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By Monti Aguirre, Director, Latin America Program Returning to Colombia, my birthplace, for the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Cali was both deeply nostalgic and profoundly meaningful. The city’s warm weather and intermittent showers over the past few weeks mirrored the vibrant yet urgent tone of the conference. With its unparalleled biodiversity and mounting pressures on…
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By Isabella Winkler and Josh Klemm, Co-Executive Directors “It is an easy answer, but it is hard to digest.” This is how The New York Times opinion page put it this morning. The state of democracy affects everything downstream – including, quite literally, our rivers. At International Rivers, where we work with communities living alongside…
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The Civil Court of Loreto issued a ruling this week that upholds the rights of the Marañón River, marking a significant victory for environmental justice and Indigenous rights in Peru. Originating in the Andes and flowing into the Amazon, the Marañón is critical to biodiversity and Indigenous communities, particularly the Kukama people who have long…
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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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This week marked the removal of the last remnants of four large hydropower dams on the lower Klamath River. On the occasion of the community celebration taking place on October 5 in Yreka, California, International Rivers extends its heartfelt congratulations to the many groups that worked together to make this happen. The decades-long struggle to…
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By Monti Aguirre, Director, Latin America Program In a long overdue victory, Colombian President Gustavo Petro last week handed over nearly 1000 hectares of land to close to 100 families displaced by the construction of El Quimbo dam. Built on the Magdalena River—Colombia’s most important waterway, vital for the country’s ecosystem, culture, and economy—the dam effectively…
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By Monti Aguirre, Director, Latin America Program For the Spanish version, click here. The Biobío River was Chile’s first major river protection campaign, which later helped shape and inform efforts to protect iconic rivers in Patagonia. The lessons learned from the Biobío campaign laid the groundwork for future advocacy, driving the successful movements to safeguard rivers…
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