Peter Bosshard

World Bank President Zoellick with a FriendWorld BankA new report entitled, Directions in Hydropower, summarizes the World Bank’s current approach to hydropower projects. The report says that the Bank will scale up its support for hydropower, and claims that it will respect the triple bottom line of social, environmental and economic sustainability in doing so. If we look at the World Bank’s report and practice in more detail, the social and environmental bottom lines still mainly seem to be meant for public consumption.

Three Gorges Dam constructionChris De BodeOn his eight-day visit to China, Nepal’s Prime Minister Prachanda planned to visit the Three Gorges Dam this week. He would have followed in the footsteps of dignitaries from South Africa, Congo, Switzerland and many other countries. China is aggressively marketing the Three Gorges Project to the rest of the world. As it happened, Nepal’s Prime Minister resigned just before leaving for China. Yet the propaganda efforts around the Yangtze reservoir beg the question: Is the Three Gorges Dam still China’s model for the world?

Marc Ona with the Goldman PrizeMarc Ona Essangui, one of our most inspiring partners from Africa, will receive the Goldman Environmental Prize in San Francisco today. The Prize recognizes Marc’s personal courage and perseverance, and gives a boost to our network.

I did not feel well through much of the World Water Forum, which concluded in Istanbul today. To be sure, there are many things that can make you feel sick at the Forum after a few days: The omnipresence of 8,000 police men and women – in the meeting halls, the corridors and even the toilets. The deportation of my two colleagues for a simple banner drop. Or the constant talk of corporate managers and bureaucrats about the needs of the poor for large dams and private water supply.

  There was a time when we were all expected to follow the law. There was a time when we had to respect clear social and environmental standards if we wanted to build a dam with international funding. These days may soon be over if the hydropower industry has its way. A new initiative called the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum puts social and environmental rights and standards at risk.

Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen singing “This Land Is Your Land” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was one of the highlights of the presidential inauguration this week. The traditional folk song deeply moved me, like millions of other people. Yet it is also illustrates the founding lie of this country.

Peter at the Berne DeclarationOne of my favorite movies is The Big Lebowski. In this film by the Coen brothers, Jeff “the Dude” Lebowski gets into serious trouble because some mobsters confuse him with a namesake. Little did I suspect that I would one day face namesake troubles of my own.

We live in times of unprecedented economic and environmental crisis, and historic opportunity. A Green New Deal can rebalance our economy and address the looming environmental collapse at the same time. An editorial in the latest issue of World Rivers Review, our flagship publication, presents a few concrete suggestions.

Jagatsukh village, IndiaMichelle Arevalo, IAPUntil recently life in Jagatsukh, a village nestled in the Beas Valley among Himalayan peaks, followed its traditional course. Apple plantations and local tourism brought modest prosperity to many inhabitants. The irrigation channels were well maintained, and the sturdy houses withstood the region’s harsh climate. When we visited, the local farmers were happy to share their stories over glasses of hot chai with us. Jagatsukh’s culture and economic development are now being sacrificed for the glitzy middle class consumption which is on display in the nearby holiday resort of Manali. With support from the World Bank Group, the Norwegian government and the CDM, private investors are currently building the Allain Duhangan Hydropower Project on village lands. The project has brought 2,000 workers, illegal logging, serious accidents and conflict to Jagatsukh. The dam will divert the creeks on which the farmers have so far depended for their livelihoods. But since the villagers will not be physically displaced, they are falling through the cracks of the World Bank’s safeguard policies.

The indigenous Ixcan communities are strongly opposing the proposed Xalala Dam in Guatemala. Partly due to their opposition, private funding for the dam has now dried up. Will the World Bank and the IDB bail the project out, or will they realize that the time for change has also come for them?

Barack Obama is considering appointing Larry Summers as his Treasury Secretary. Summers, a former World Bank chief economist and Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton, shot to fame with his suggestions that Africa is under-polluted, and that women are genetically less qualified to become scientists. A debate is raging in the blogosphere whether these cynical memos disqualify Summers from becoming Treasury Secretary. The real question is what policies Summers has promoted in his long career.

The European Parliament last week awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, Europe’s most prestigious human rights award, to the Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia. The new generation of civil society activists whom Hu Jia represents is China’s best hope for addressing the country’s enormous social and environmental problems. The award’s condemnation by the Chinese government is a sign of weakness and fear.

Anonymous CrusaderA high-level independent evaluation found two years ago that the World Bank’s research agenda was often politicized, and that “technically flawed and in some cases strong policy positions have been supported by such (non) evidence”. A new book, Indirect Economic Impacts of Dams, is the latest example of such politicized research. The book, astonishingly, only considers the benefits and ignores the costs of dams. It is the parting shot of the Bank’s main large dam crusader, John Briscoe.

By sending an Environmental Failure Notice to the Turkish authorities, the governments of Germany, Austria and Switzerland have started the process of withdrawing their financial support for the Ilisu Project in Turkey. This is a fantastic success of the European anti-Ilisu campaigners. While the German government has pushed for this unprecedented step, the attitude of the Austrian and Swiss governments is ambiguous. The next two months will decide over the fate of the project.