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: 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: Pai Deeetes, Thailand and Myanmar Campaigns Director One word stood out on the screen, above all others: Stories. It was the answer to a question posed on Day 1 of the first-ever Women & Rivers Congress, and it appeared above the crowd thanks to an interactive, real-time voting app. The question: What was your…
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By: Michael Simon This article was originally published on the International Business Times This month, the 3,000 inhabitants of Hasankeyf, Turkey, await rising floodwaters that will permanently drown their 12,000-year-old village. With it will go a unique ecosystem and countless cultural artifacts from millennia of human history. Hundreds of miles downstream, the marshes thought to…
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By: Michael Simon There is no defensible way to continue damming the world’s rivers. That was the message that a powerful uprising of individuals, NGOs and social movements delivered to the World Hydropower Congress last week. (It’s not too late to lend your voice here.) Civil Society Constructively Challenges the World Hydropower Congress 9 MAY 2019 from Todd…
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By: Civil Society Organizations The False Promises of Hydropower How dams fail to deliver the Paris Climate Agreement and the UNA Joint Statement by Civil Society Organizations on the occasion of the Sustainable Development Goals 2019 World Hydropower Congress in Paris, France We live in an age of urgency. Scientists have warned that we have little…
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The Marañón River is one of the most important water sources in Peru and a key Amazon tributary. With its source at the Nevado de Yapura glacier high up in the Andes mountains, the Marañón runs northwest through Peru along the eastern base of the Andes before it turns eastwards to flow into the Amazon plains. The…
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By: Brent Millikan, Latin America Program Director In response to the brutal assassination of Dilma Ferreira Silva, a leader of Brazil’s Movement of Dam-Affected Peoples (MAB) in the area impacted by the notorious Tucuruí hydroelectric dam, a joint statement drafted by International Rivers and AIDA, and co-signed by over 100 human rights and environmental organizations from 25 countries,…
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By: Maureen Harris, Programs Director This article was originally featured on Asia Times Usually at this time of year during the dry season in northern Thailand, the Mekong River recedes, and sand and pebble beaches appear. Covering the pebbles, through the clear and shallow water, one can see the pale green kai, a river weed of…
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By: Sam Smith, Nathan Fritz Bank of China – financed Batang Toru dam threatens the Tapanuli Orangutan’s shrinking forest home In 2020, China will host the biannual meeting of the Assembly of the Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), a multilateral treaty that commits its signatories to developing strategies to conserve and sustainably use the…
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By: Pianporn Deetes, Thailand and Myanmar Campaigns Director This article originally appeared in The Nation. As a new year dawns, the waters of the Mekong River remain turbulent with uncertainty. While many take holidays and prepare for the new year, the people of the Mekong face an unknown future. Earlier this month, residents along the Mekong…
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