Kate Ross
Job title:
Former Mekong Program Coordinator
Tagline:
For Rivers, Water and Life
Date: Monday, October 23, 2017 - 02:18
Date: Friday, April 14, 2017 - 22:51
On the International Day of Action for Rivers, we recognize the efforts of Mekong communities who are working to protect and preserve the unique ecosystems and resources of the river. We stand in solidarity with communities along the Mekong River. We re-affirm our commitment to work together across the basin, prioritizing the voices of Mekong communities in decision-making over the future of the Mekong River for current and future generations.
Date: Monday, February 20, 2017 - 01:35
More than 500 people gathered along the banks of the Mekong River in one Thai village to celebrate the river, and protest plans to blast ecologically important rapids upstream. Here's why they're demonstrating.
Date: Tuesday, January 3, 2017 - 09:00
2017 brings with it an opportunity for Mekong governments to change course: to stem the tide of unsustainable hydropower development and invest in sustaining the health of Mekong River as a regional asset capable of supporting millions of people throughout Southeast Asia.
Date: Friday, July 29, 2016 - 14:06
Water diversion is not a new idea for Thailand. Three decades ago, the Thai government initiated the Khong-Chi-Mun (KCM) scheme, a water diversion scheme for Thailand’s northeastern region that was only partially realized, while the full project was shelved many years ago. Yet recent moves by the Thai government to resurrect the KCM project are bringing back nightmares for many communities, particularly in Northeast Thailand. Rather than the delivering the prosperity that was promised, the scheme brought many problems to the local people. And now it is likely to threaten water security across the entire Mekong region.
Date: Monday, July 11, 2016 - 19:28
Life in Siphandone, in southern Laos is shaped by the Mekong River.
Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - 03:11
More than 500 people gathered over the course of two days along the banks of the Mekong River in Chiang Khong in honor of the International Day of Action for Rivers. There were representatives from more than seven different river basins who came together in solidarity with Mekong communities to declare that the Mekong River is not for sale.
Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 - 02:48
It is early morning along the Mekong River in Siphandone, site of the remarkable Khone falls in Southern Laos. Boats are beginning to pull up to the banks of the river, and fishers are unloading their daily catch to be sold at the nearby market.
Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - 02:43
Vietnam has ratified a United Nations treaty on transboundary rivers, and it is time for other Mekong countries to do the same. Vietnam’s decision sends an important message in the Mekong region.
Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 - 03:32
Last week, the government of Laos conducted a second visit to the site of the Don Sahong Dam in Southern Laos. The visit appears to be yet another attempt by Laos to sell the Don Sahong Dam to regional governments on its own terms.
Date: Sunday, December 15, 2013 - 01:52
This weekend's Mekong-Japan Summit marks two years since an agreement between the Mekong governments to work together to conduct further study on the sustainable development and management of the Mekong River, including the impacts of dams on the Lower Mekong River’s mainstream. The study was by strong regional and international concerns over the transboundary impacts of the Xayaburi Dam, the first of 11 dams planned on the Mekong mainstream. However, two years later we are no closer to seeing the results of this study or understanding the true impacts that the Xayaburi Dam, along with other proposed mainstream dams, will have on the Mekong River.
Date: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - 14:56
Vietnam has cancelled plans to build two dams on the Dong Nai River that would threaten a world biosphere reserve. The Dong Nai 6 and Dong Nai 6A dams would destroy more than 327 hectares of forests, 128 hectares of which are in the Cat Tien National Park. The Cat Tien National Park received UNESCO recognition as a Biosphere Reserve Zone in 2001, and is now one of the six biggest biosphere reserves in the world.
Date: Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - 14:57
Chile’s presidential front-runner Michelle Bachelet recently made a very public statement against HidroAysén when she appeared on a billboard for Senator Guido Girardi’s campaign next to the slogan “Somos Patagonia Sin Repreas.”
Date: Monday, June 24, 2013 - 14:16
The campaign to protect Patagonia has become the largest environmental struggle in the country’s history. Chileans have shown their opposition to HidroAysén by taking to the streets in the thousands.
Date: Monday, June 17, 2013 - 11:19
"The North of Chile has the best solar potential in the world. In the world! So why do they want dams in the South? It’s crazy. Absolutely crazy."
Date: Monday, June 10, 2013 - 01:00
It was a good rain that morning in Aysén up a glacial tributary of the Río Baker. Drips came down through the roof of a one-room house where a young man named Filipe Henriquez stood next to the crackling cocina telling me about how the privatization of water in Chile, the selling of rivers, has interrupted the flow of life.
Date: Monday, June 3, 2013 - 01:49
People say that the “Patagonia Without Dams” campaign is epic. No wonder. This campaign is not only about saving two of Patagonia’s most magnificent rivers, the Baker and Pascua. It is not only about protecting the legendary, magical beauty of this planetary bio gem, its biodiversity and complex ecological mosaic. It is not only about saving the unique natural and cultural heritage.
Date: Friday, April 26, 2013 - 12:39
Chileans took to the streets Monday – in celebration of Earth Day – to demand that the state regain control of water management in Chile. More than 6,000 people, including many of our partners, took part in a peaceful march through the streets of Santiago “for the recovery and defense of water”
Date: Monday, April 8, 2013 - 15:54
Last month the newly elected Governor of Jalisco, Mexico Jorge Aristóteles Sandoval, officially took office and with his appointment comes a renewed sense of hope for the community of Temacapulin in their struggle to stop El Zapotillo Dam.
Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - 13:31
In remote villages, in large cities, along rivers and lakes, from New Zealand to Russia to the US, more than 150 actions took place this year in 40 countries to honor the 16th annual International Day of Action for Rivers.
Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 11:35
On March sixteenth, seventy-five people gathered on the banks of the Rio Futaleufú to float down a calm stretch of the world-renowned whitewater river. The crowd was an eclectic mix of Chileans and foreigners, raft guides and shopkeepers, professional kayakers and tourists. The local municipality had provided transportation from the town plaza in its yellow micro-bus, and a handful of local outfitters had contributed guides and rafts for those without their own boats.
Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - 10:13
What struck me first was the sheer scale of the landscape, the backdrop of snow-capped mountains and glaciers juxtaposed with green rolling hills, and the blues and greens of Patagonia’s largest and most powerful rivers.
Date: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - 06:04
Tawang, the enchanting land of the ethnic Monpa tribe, with seven rivers that pass through it, is the hub of ancient Buddhist culture. However Tawang is experiencing a dramatic spike in social unrest and protests against fifteen proposed hydropower dams, which has even lead to violence by police against Buddhist Lamas (monks) who joined the protests.
Date: Monday, December 10, 2012 - 13:20
Make your voice count today – take action to defend the rights of communities fighting all over the world to protect the rivers that sustain them and to work for change in how and whether dams are planned, designed and built.
Date: Saturday, December 8, 2012 - 17:28
On Sunday afternoon the heart of Santiago will be filled with the sounds of cumbia, salsa, and reggae music as Chilean musicians take the stage in front of the National Fine Art Museum as part of the cultural event “Juntos Desenchufemos HidroAysén – Together Lets Unplug HidroAysén!”
Date: Monday, November 12, 2012 - 15:41
Miguel Pabón, a community leader and ardent defender of the Sogamoso River has gone missing in the region of Santander, Colombia.
Date: Friday, November 2, 2012 - 12:32
The Government of Manipur is threatening to forcefully evict and relocate the villagers of Chadong and Lamlai Khullen, in the Ukhrul District of Manipur, Northeast India, to make way for the Mapithel Dam. Despite strong objections and protests by affected communities, the forced verification of these two villages began on October 29th, and was accompanied by heavy military deployment.
Date: Friday, September 7, 2012 - 16:00
On the weekend of August 25 and 26 the town of Temacapulín became one big party in celebration of the 2012 harvest with the 3rd annual Chile Festival and 5th run of “Los Remedios.”
Date: Monday, June 18, 2012 - 16:42
Thanks to every one of you who voted in our World Heritage photo contest and took action! Not only do we have the top three photos, but the World Heritage Centre has also issued a positive response to your more than 200 letters, along with publishing their recommended decisions for the 36th Committee meeting.
