Dams, Rivers & People (DRP)

Boiled Eggs, Tea and a Fait Accompli

The church, homes and farms will be submerged if the dam is commissioned as planned in 2015.
We arrived at Chadong village and went straight to the village headman’s home, on higher ground. It was half 10 in the morning. I recall the time as we were served lunch on arrival. Most families in Manipur – a state in northeast India – wake at dawn, eat soon after, and thus lunch is served well before noon. They have good metabolism given the mountain of white rice that is consumed in their daily diet. Unlike their flatland countrymen, I saw not a single pot-bellied man in the village. But I digress. Last month, I was invited to Chadong to take part in a seminar on forest rights. On a

Latest Report Restores Hope for Indigenous Communities Fighting to Save River Teesta

The site inspectors found extremely low river flows downstream of the commissioned Teesta V dam
Earlier this year, in March, the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) asked four members of its Standing Committee comprising wildlife and conservation experts to carry out a site inspection for a 520 MW hydroelectric project on the river Teesta in the Indian state of Sikkim. This was in pursuance of the Teesta-IV project seeking statutory clearance from the wildlife perspective, as it is located 4 km from the Fambong Lho wildlife sanctuary; the NBWL must assess a project when it is located within 10 km of a designated wildlife park or sanctuary. The site inspection report, finalised in August a

Dam Planning Under the Spotlight in India

Thursday, October 10, 2013
In the past decade, the central and state governments of India threw caution to the wind when approving hundreds of hydroelectric dam projects in the upper reaches of Himalayan rivers. But in the aftermath of the destructive Uttarakhand floods of 2013, the Supreme Court directed that no further clearances be given and that a committee look in to whether existing and under-construction hydro projects exacerbated the crisis.

Bad Deal for the Planet: Why Carbon Offsets Aren't Working...and How to Create a Fair Global Climate Accord

Wednesday, May 21, 2008
International Rivers' third annual "Dams, Rivers & People" report explains the failure of the world's biggest carbon offsets program to make a dent in greenhouse-gas emissions. It also maps the world of rivers and dams for the past year and pinpoints hotspots for the coming year. Efforts to solve the climate crisis are stumbling over poorly designed carbon-offset programs. One of the biggest programs created in Kyoto - the Clean Development Mechanism - has proven to be a huge failure that is actually increasing greenhouse gas emissions behind the guise of promoting

Before the Deluge: Coping with Floods in a Changing Climate

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
International Rivers Network’s second annual "Dams, Rivers & People" report explains the failure of dams and levees to stop rising flood damages and describes better ways to tackle flood management. It also surveys the world of rivers and dams in 2006 and hotspots for 2007. Floods are the most destructive, most frequent and most costly of natural disasters. Flood damages have soared in recent decades, despite hundreds of billions of dollars spent on flood control structures. This is partly because global warming is worsening storms, and partly because of growing populations and economic
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