Fact sheet

Reducing the impact of our use of energy is one of the key technical, political, and even moral challenges facing human society in this century. While our sources of energy have to be made cleaner, our first priority must be to use energy more efficiently. Efficiency measures are cheaper, cleaner and faster to install than any other energy option. And we lose nothing in the bargain – the point of efficiency is to allow us the same levels of productivity or comfort, but with less power.

Please download the 2011 version of the Patagonia factsheet for the most up to date information on the campaign. Download the 2009 Patagonia Campaign factsheet for more information and background on the fight to protect Patagonia from plans to build 5 dams.

Hydropower is often believed to be an inherently "climate-friendly" technology. But scientific studies indicate that the rotting of organic matter in reservoirs produces significant amounts of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The warming impact of tropical reservoirs can be much higher than even the dirtiest fossil-fuel power plants. Download the factsheet to learn more about the different types of greenhouse gases that are being emitted, how reservoirs produce them, and how key regions and hydropower projects are contributing to global warming.Read the fact shee

Written by Barbara Haya (International Rivers) and Karen Orenstein (Friends of the Earth) What is the CDM? The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is the world's biggest carbon offsets market. In theory, the CDM allows industrialized countries to support projects that decrease emissions in developing countries and then use the resulting emissions reduction credits towards their own reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol. Industrialized countries supported the establishment of the CDM because it would provide them with flexibility in how they can meet their Kyoto targets, particularly if dome

The proposed Don Sahong Hydropower Project is located on the Mekong River’s mainstream in the Siphandone area of southern Laos, less than two kilometers upstream of the Laos-Cambodia border. The Don Sahong Dam threatens the rich local subsistence and commercial fisheries in Laos and could also impact fisheries in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, with repercussions for food security and the region’s economy. Read a fact sheet prepared by International Rivers and the Rivers Coalition in Cambodia in English, Thai and Khmer.

International Rivers' briefing paper describing the Nam Theun 2 project, its unsettled questions and broken promises, at the time of reservoir filling. Download the briefing paper

Prepared for WEC Inga Financing Workshop, 21-22 April 2008 Revenue Management. DR Congo has been plagued by mismanagement of natural resource revenues through a lack of fiscal transparency and corruption. 1. What requirements and evaluation processes will be put in place to ensure sound revenue management prior to the construction of Inga 3 and Grand Inga? “Model” Projects. Three Gorges (China), Itaipu (Brazil), and Nam Theun 2 (Laos) dams are being put forth by Grand Inga's promoters as "model projects" for Grand Inga to emulate. Yet these projects have been marked by poorly managed s

With support from the World Bank and IUCN, the independent World Commission on Dams (WCD) was created in May 1998. Its mandate was to review the development effectiveness of dams, and to develop standards and guidelines for future dams. The Commission was chaired by South Africa’s water minister Kader Asmal and consisted of twelve members from governments, industry, academia, and civil society. During its two-year lifetime, the WCD carried out the most comprehensive evaluation of large dams ever done to date. It commissioned 130 technical papers, studied seven dams and three dam-building c