Join Us to Protect World Heritage Sites Under Threat

Date: 
Friday, March 14, 2014

Join us as we take to the streets in support of rivers!

  • Friday, March 14th
  • 12 – 2:30pm
  • Meet at the intersection of Powell and Market Streets (outside of Powell BART Station), San Francisco, CA
  • March to the Peruvian, Philippine and Colombian consulates
  • RSVP through our Facebook event

In honor of the March 14th International Day of Action for Rivers, our Bay Area staff and local partners will march in San Francisco with a simple message – protect UNESCO World Heritage sites that are threatened by large dams. Beginning at noon, we will march to the consulates of Peru, the Philippines and Colombia – all of whom have representatives on the World Heritage Committee, which will meet this year from June 15 – 25 in Qatar. We will present a letter asking the respective representatives to protect these areas and support endangered designation for these sites.

First Bend of the Nu River
First Bend of the Nu River - A World Heritage Site Threatened by Dams
Photo courtesy of Green Watershed

More than 900 of the world's most amazing natural and human-made wonders have been declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. From the Great Wall of China to Stonehenge, the Great Barrier Reef to the Grand Canyon, these are places of "outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity," according to UNESCO.

Over a dozen of these sites are now threatened by large dams. Free-flowing rivers lie at the core of these sites, acting as both biological corridors and sustenance for indigenous communities downstream.

International Rivers and our partners call on the World Heritage Committee and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to document the risks these dams pose, add the most threatened sites to its List of World Heritage in Danger, and protect the growing list of dam-threatened sites worldwide

Please join us for this exciting event to help protect these extraordinary places – RSVP through Facebook here!