Fact sheet

In late February 2013, Burma’s Deputy Minister of Electric Power informed Parliament that six dam projects on the Salween River in Shan State, Kayah State (Karenni) and Karen State had gained approval. With a combined installed capacity of 15,000 MW, the projects will include the Upper Salween or Kunlong Dam, Mai Tong or Tasang Dam, Nong Pha Dam, Mantawng Dam (on a tributary), Ywathit Dam, and Hatgyi Dam. These projects are proceeding in areas where conflict is continuing between ethnic resistance forces and the Burmese Army, and are shrouded in secrecy. Investment for these projects will c

Finnish engineering company Pöyry has become embroiled in a high profile water dispute between four governments in Southeast Asia. This factsheet describes how Pöyry’s participation in the Xayaburi Dam has fueled the dispute.

From its headwaters in the Tibetan Plateau to its estuary in Burma, the Salween River supports over ten million people. For many decades, it was the longest free-flowing river in Southeast Asia. It sustains rich fisheries and farmlands central to the lives of many indigenous communities living along its banks. However, large dam cascades in China and Burma are being planned in complete secrecy, with no participation from affected communities and no analysis of the cumulative impacts or seismic risks of these projects.

Un número grande y creciente de estudios científicos indican que los embalses, especialmente en los trópicos, son una fuente global significativa de contaminación por gases de invernadero. Instituciones importantes como la Asociación Internacional de Hidroenergía (International Hydropower Association) y la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático (UNFCCC) han desarrollado directrices específicas para medir las emisiones de los embalses en el campo, aunque éstas no son obligatorias en países que realizan inventarios nacionales de gases de invernadero. Lea el

A DESTRUIÇAO DOS RIOS VAI AGRAVAR A CRISE CLIMATICAOs proponentes das grandes barragens, na esperança de capitalizar em cima da preocupação com as mudanças climáticas, estão promovendo uma grande expansão de grandes barragens nos países em desenvolvimento. No entanto, as grandes barragens são altamente vulneráveis às mudanças climáticas, que estão afetando os rios de maneira imprevisível. Ao mesmo tempo, é fundamental ter rios saudáveis para ajudar a nos adaptarmos às alterações climáticas. Precisamos de uma revolução energética e hídrica que

Patagonia is a region of mystery and striking diversity, one of the precious few places on the planet where the array of natural beauty still defies humankind's imagination. But Patagonia is under threat by a proposal to build five dams on two of its wildest rivers. The dams would flood globally rare forest ecosystems and some of the most productive agricultural land in the area. The transmission line could require the world's longest clearcut. The government's approval of the dams' environmental studies in May 2011 set off major protests around Chile. What's Inside The Profiteers, The Price

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),

WILD RIVERS AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AT RISKThe Peruvian Amazon is a treasure trove of biodiversity. Its aquatic ecosystems sustain bountiful fisheries, diverse wildlife, and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people. White-water rivers flowing from the Andes provide rich sediments and nutrients to the Amazon mainstream. But this naturally wealthy landscape faces an ominous threat. Brazil’s emergence as a regional powerhouse has been accompanied by an expansionist energy policy and it is looking to its neighbors to help fuel its growth. The Brazilian government plans to build more than 60

Updated factsheet The Omo River is a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of indigenous people in southwest Ethiopia and northern Kenya. The Gibe III Hydropower Dam, now under construction, will dramatically alter the Omo River's flood cycle, affecting ecosystems and livelihoods all the way down to the world's largest desert lake, Kenya’s Lake Turkana. The Lower Omo Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to an estimated 200,000 agro-pastoralists from eight distinct indigenous peoples who depend on the Omo River’s annual flood to support river-bank cultivation and grazing lands for liv

Key Findings of the MRC's Strategic Environmental Assessment on Mekong Mainstream DamsThis International River's fact-sheet is on the Mekong River Commission's (MRC) Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) report on Mekong mainstream dams. Published in October 2010 by the MRC, this report offers a critical appraisal of the eleven large dams planned for the Mekong River's mainstream. As these dams threaten to irreversibly undermine the ecology of the Mekong River and will place at risk the livelihoods and food security of millions of people who depend upon the river's resources, the main rec