WCD+10

Greenwashing Dams Factsheet

Thursday, May 16, 2013
A dam industry effort threatens to greenwash dams and undermine the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD). The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) is a voluntary, non-binding auditing tool that allows dam builders to score the sustainability of their own dam projects. This civil society fact sheet examines how the HSAP works, its shortcomings, and why it could end up legitimizing destructive dams. The HSAP was created between 2007 and 2010 by the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum (HSAF), an initiative of the International Hydropower Association (IHA)

Greenwashing Dams

The HSAP: Weakening Global Dam Standards
Thursday, June 2, 2011
A dam industry effort threatens to greenwash dams and undermine the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD). The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) is a voluntary, non-binding auditing tool that allows dam builders to score the sustainability of their own dam projects. This civil society fact sheet examines how the HSAP works, its shortcomings, and why it could end up legitimizing destructive dams. The HSAP was created between 2007 and 2010 by the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum (HSAF), an initiative of the International Hydropower Association (IHA),

Defending Rivers and Rights

Thursday, September 9, 2010
Originally published in Pambazuka News Across the globe, from the floodplains of the Amazon to the foothills of the Himalayas, from Burmese forests to Ethiopia's Omo Valley, peasant and indigenous communities are fighting against destructive dams. Dams have deprived hundreds of millions of people of their homes, farmlands, fisheries and forests. Millions more are threatened by projects that are planned or under construction, writes Peter Bosshard. In early September, governments, dam builders, academics and environmental organizations will get together at World Water Week in Stockholm. The

At World Water Week, an Appeal for Rivers and Rights

Tuesday, September 7, 2010
On September 7, dam builders, governments and NGOs are meeting at World Water Week in Stockholm to discuss appropriate social and environmental standards for future dams. They convene on the 10th anniversary of the World Commission on Dams (WCD), which proposed a new decision-making framework for dams emphasizing the rights of affected people and the protection of the environment. Peter Bosshard, Policy Director of International Rivers, pointed out at the Stockholm event that the principles of the WCD have become the most legitimate benchmark for water and energy projects. Recent experience wi

Protecting Rivers and Rights: the Promise of the WCD

Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Ten years after the World Commission on Dams (WCD) report, the WCD is still our best roadmap towards ensuring that future dams minimize social and environmental impacts, the legacy of existing dams are addressed, and affected people directly benefit from the projects. Watch this video, produced by International Rivers and EcoDoc Africa, to learn more about the promise of the WCD.

Protecting Rivers and Rights: Ten Years after the World Commission on Dams Report

We are committed to meeting the world's water and energy needs in an equitable way while preserving healthy rivers and the livelihoods that depend on them. We have ongoing concerns about large dams and the ways in which they are being planned, implemented and operated. A decade after the World Commission on Dams (WCD) issued its groundbreaking report, the evidence continues to mount that large dams – unless they are developed with the strictest environmental and social standards – bring significant costs to people and the planet: The UN's Third Global Biodiversity Outlook (May 201

Who Said It Couldn't Be Done?

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. Many governments and institutions took up the challenge of adopting the WCD framework through national dialogues, some of which have led to real policy changes. However, other groups, like the dam industry and the World Bank (wh

Protecting Rivers & Rights: World Commission on Dams Recommendations in Action

Thursday, July 1, 2010
The most comprehensive guidelines for large dams that protect the rights of river-dependent communities were outlined by the World Commission on Dams (WCD) in 2000. Ten years later, International Rivers is happy to announce a new briefing kit for activists and allies, "Protecting Rivers and Rights: The World Commission on Dams Recommendations in Action," as part of our WCD+10 activities to move the dams debate forward. The purpose of this publication is to provide activists with concrete examples of where and how the WCD principles have been applied, and what happened when they were ignored.

Civil Society Letter to the World Bank on Large Hydropower

Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Ms. Kathy Sierra Vice President, Sustainable Development Network The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington, DC 20433 Dear Ms. Sierra, As the World Bank Group develops its Energy Strategy, we are concerned that the Bank's pledge to increase support for large hydropower projects will result in increased poverty and irreversible social and environmental damages. A decade after the release of the World Bank-supported World Commission on Dams (WCD) report, the evidence continues to mount that large dams bring significant and unmitigated costs to society and to riverine ecosystems: The UN'

Water Alternatives: Special Issue on the WCD+10

Tucuruí dam in Brazil
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Tucuruí dam in Brazil Andreas Missbach In November 2000, the World Commission on Dams published its ground-breaking report, Dams and Development, after an unprecedented multi-stakeholder process. Ten years later, Water Alternatives, an independent academic online journal, revisits the WCD and its impacts in a special issue, and explores the question: Is the WCD still relevant? A team of editors and guest editors have selected a range of 20 papers, six viewpoints, and four book reviews that help to illustrate the evolution in the dams debate. The goal of the special issue is to examine the in

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