Protest

Over 80 Cambodian villagers expressed outrage last Friday when it was revealed that yet another dam was being planned for construction on the Sesan River in Viet Nam. The villagers had been attending a workshop held in Stung Treng Province on June 13-14 on the way the Yali Falls Dam, located on the Sesan River in Viet Nam, had impacted on Stung Treng Province. The dam is located approximately 70 km upstream from the Cambodia/Viet Nam border. The 80 villagers represented 30 village communities in Stung Treng. The workshop was organized by the Culture for Environment and Preservation As

Media Contacts Below Chinese companies have begun a project to build a giant 152-meter-high dam on the Irrawaddy River, the first to block one of Asias great river systems. Damming the Irrawaddy, a new report launched today by the Kachin Development Networking Group, exposes the social and environmental impacts of the dam, including the displacement of an estimated 10,000 people in northern Burmas Kachin State. The military junta ruling Burma is allowing Chinese partners to manage the project that would transmit electricity to China and potentially generate over US$500 million in revenues pe

As the world’s financial leaders gather in Washington for the annual meetings of the World Bank (Sept. 24–25), help for Africa will be high on the agenda. But the Bank’s biggest dam project in Africa, the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP)1 – sold as a way of pulling Lesotho out of poverty while supplying water to South Africa – is, according to the Bank itself, failing those who sacrificed everything for the project. Poverty is increasing in communities directly affected by the scheme’s dams, and project–affected people are resorting to marching in the streets of Lesotho’s

Environment and Human Rights Activists today occupied the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany For images from the occupation of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, contact Kai Schäfer, kai.schaefer@weed-online.org, 0160 - 252 8942 Berlin -- "We have occupied the Brandenburg Gate to show the people here in Germany what their government is currently planning in Turkey," explains activist Matthias Dittmer. "We have a couple of hundred years of history here in Berlin -- the submergence of Hasankeyf would destroy a 9,000 year-old history." The direct action was called by envir

Civil society groups worldwide have reacted angrily to the Singaporean government’s ban on up to 20 delegates who plan to attend Bank/Fund annual meetings there next week. They have also condemned the pressure apparently brought by Singapore’s government on the administration of neighboring Batam, Indonesia,where a major civil society conference will be held next week. Yesterday it appeared that permission would not be granted for the conference, but today, following an international outcry, official sources in Jakarta confirmed it could go ahead. Three years ago when the IMF & World B

Bangkok -- On February 28, 2007, 19 cities worldwide expressed solidarity in opposing the planned Salween Dams. Protests in front of Thai embassies/consulates were held in a number of cities, including Washington DC, Sydney, New Delhi, Essen, Paris, Jakarta, Auckland, and Manila, where a petition letter was submitted demanding the current Thai administration withdraw from plans to construct dams on the Salween River. On the same day, solidarity actions took place in Bangkok, London, Melbourne, Hanoi, and Tokyo. "The entire decision-making process ... has been shrouded in secrecy. There has bee

A statement by Save Mabira Crusade following the arrest of civil society leaders. On the 12th April 2007, the Save Mabira Crusade in fraternity with the general public comprising of all civil society organizations, religious affiliations, political orientations, academicians, students, traders, legislators, women and men of Uganda and the global citizens residing in Uganda conducted the largest ever peaceful demonstration by Ugandans in defense of Mabira forest. On the13th April 2007, the Save Mabira Crusade issued a press statement condemning in the strongest terms the killings, looting, maim

On November 22, 2002, an unprecedented protest took place in Laos. Some 40 ethnic Hmong men from Ban Phou Khao Khouay marched to the site of the Nam Mang 3 Hydropower Project armed with sticks and guns and demanded to speak with project officials. The villagers were infuriated that they might be evicted from their lands for the project and yet had received no information about where they would be relocated, when they would be moved, or what compensation they would receive. They threatened the contractors, telling them "to pack up and go home" if they failed to answer their questions about rese

A declaration and set of demands from indigenous peoples' and NGO representatives, presented to ADB President Tadao Chino at the Asian Development Bank's 34th Annual Meeting in May 2001 in Honolulu, Hawaii.