Katy Yan

Kaziranga National Park in IndiaFar Horizon India ToursDuring this year's UNESCO World Heritage meeting, the World Heritage Committee issued some of the strongest language yet to countries with dam building activity in their World Heritage properties. While it awaits to be seen how this language is translated into action, it could be a positive step forward for many of the activists, experts, and dam-affected peoples who have been working tirelessly for months, and at times years, to protect their natural and cultural heritage. Thanks to their perseverance, the Committee this year has called on three countries to halt dam construction within their properties, and issued warnings to four others.

Photo: Saoud, FlickrMathematical errors in the classroom or on tests usually don't carry a whole lot of consequences besides a blot on your grade and maybe a deflated sense of self-esteem.But what happens when the mathematical error occurs in a major government energy agency? The ramifications could be huge, especially when a country is dead set on reducing its carbon footprint through building more hydropower projects – and it's precisely the greenhouse gas emissions from these projects that are being miscalculated.

The Omo River Valley and Lake Turkana downstream, both home to World Heritage Sites, will be impacted by Gibe III DamAndrzej ZarzeckiThe UNESCO World Heritage Committee just concluded its 35th session in Paris, and for the activists and experts who worked long and hard to protect many dam-threatened World Heritage Sites, the results were a mixed bag.In early June of this year, 18 organizations and individuals sent a letter to World Heritage Committee members urging them to list a number of threatened sites on the List of World Heritage In Danger.

In a new feature-length documentary, Trading on Thin Air (available on Hulu and Netflix), director Susan Kucera shows that the same actors and strategies that were behind the financial crisis are currently behind today's massively lucrative carbon markets of the world – and the next big bubble. The film shows that the losers in this high stakes game are not only the climate and the environment (the supposed beneficiaries of this market's carbon offset schemes), but also the indigenous and local communities in developing countries that are being displaced by the hydropower dams, palm oil plantations, and eucalyptus farms on the receiving end of these carbon credit scams.Besides featuring a diverse group of scientists and authors on both sides of the climate change spectrum (from Nation Magazine contributor and Counterpunch editor, Alexander Cockburn to best selling author and climate change activist Antonia Juhasz to name a few), the film also features Patrick McCully, International Rivers' previous Executive Director, as well as footage and interviews of activists opposed to the Teesta Dam in India, which is currently trying to apply for carbon credits.

This is part two of a three-part blog describing my recent trip to the Nu River valley in April 2011. All names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees. Part 1 sets the scene and Part 3 discusses the Nu River's future."We will not move"Village near the proposed Fugong Dam siteKaty YanWhat made the long drives along windy roads bearable were the stops we made to talk to the local people. While none of the dams in Yunnan have been built, many villages have heard of them, and one village has already been relocated to state-built housing.

Carpenter in front of his home, before and after it was demolishedLinda Butler, 2001 and 2003"Art goes around our neatly arranged arguments. Art allows us to see beauty, feel joy and anger. Art doesn't follow a party line, but punches us in the stomach when we least expect it."- Peter Bosshard, opening of Artists Respond to Three Gorges.For the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest and most (in)famous dam, you could throw around some impressive facts and figures and everyone would shake their heads at them:1.3 million people displaced and 13 cities, 140 towns and 1,350 villages submerged12% of resettlement funds embezzled by corrupt officialsUp to $88 billion spent to build the project and deal with the environmental aftermath A reservoir that could stretch from San Francisco to Los AngelesWhile the list goes on, what moves the heart is not data. It's the stories and images of those most affected by the project and by the displacement and destruction it induced.

A community leader speaks to his people and visiting NGO representatives about Barro Blanco projectASAMCHIAs far back as the 1970s, civil society groups and the Ngobe indigenous people have been fighting to protect the Tabasara River and the lands belonging to them from destructive dam projects. The most recent such project is the 29 MW Barro Blanco Hydroelectric Project in western Panama. In late 2010, groups from across Panama and Europe were successful in prompting an investigation by the European Investment Bank (EIB) into human rights abuses, which forced the dam developer, Generating of Istmo SA (GENISA), to pull out their EIB loan request.

Lu Guang, www.smithfund.orgOver 70% of China's rivers and lakes and 90% of its groundwater are polluted. In addition, large dams often gather wastewater discharge from nearby factories and farms in a toxic soup behind their gates, further exacerbating the environmental and human health crisis.

350 eARTh - Santa Fe, New MexicoMichael Clark, www.michaelclarkphoto.comIn less than a week, government leaders, civil society participants, and media will be gathering in Cancun for COP16 to once again try to hammer out a climate treaty. And with it's usual impeccable timing, 350.org has once again mobilized it's worldwide supporters to send a powerful message to world leaders.

Save the Mary River campaignThis weekend, communities throughout the Mary River Valley in Australia will be partaking in some hard-earned festivities. One year ago, Australia's Environment Minister announced the rejection of the proposed Traveston Dam on the Mary River, due to its ''unacceptable impacts on matters of national environment significance.'' The Save the Mary campaign had won.

Bhagirathi River at Gangotri, Uttarakhand, IndiaAtarax42For the third year in a row, one of India's most eminent scientists, Professor AD Agarwal, has carried out a "fast-unto-death" in protest against the 600 MW Loharinag Pala hydropower project in Uttarakhand, India. Last year, project construction stopped after Prof. Agarwal came close to dying on the 38th day of his fast, only to resume a year later.Earlier this week, lead by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a group of ministers (GoM) announced they would scrap the project completely. As part of the decision, the government has created India’s first dam-free zone in the ecologically sensitive area, through which the river will flow freely for 135 kilometers. Prof. Agarwal has called off his fast as environmental, religious, and social justice groups rejoice at the news.

In weighing the costs and benefits of large-dam hydropower within the context of climate change, how do the scales add up?You've heard us talk about how large reservoirs contribute to climate change through the emission of methane, how dams make rivers less resilient to climate change, threaten biodiversity, and of course, displace thousands of people upstream while negatively impacting thousands more downstream. That's the costs side.

The most comprehensive guidelines for large dams that protect the rights of river-dependent communities were outlined by the World Commission on Dams (WCD) report in 2000. When it was published, dam-affected communities and their allies worldwide celebrated its recommendations, which charted a better way forward for dam-building and community-centered development.