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March 2008 World Rivers ReviewWhat renewable energy source is highly reliable and predictable, especially productive during the hours of highest electricity use, can be scaled small enough to power one building or big enough to electrify a town, is a proven technology whose costs keep dropping, creates more jobs than gas or coal, and could, with a major rollout, displace 2-3 billion tons of carbon annually worldwide? The answer is concentrating solar power, which uses mirrors and the power of the sun to run steam turbines. Unlike some other energy innovations being put forth today - "cle

Patagonia is the southernmost triangle of South America, straddling Argentina and Chile, one of the last wildernesses to be conquered by modern man. Westerners have long regarded the region an empty place, a land of myths, a refuge from the world. Back in the 1970s, Bruce Chatwin wrote that it was one of the few places that would be safe in the event of a third world war. But French cultural commentator Juan Baudrillard has pointed out that the "end of the world" fantasy that sells Patagonia to explorers and tourists has also been used to justify wiping out local populations and mod

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/mar/14/patagonia.dam?page=all

Kariba Dam, on the Zambezi River in what is now Zambia and Zimbabwe, was the engine for the African copper mining industry, generating wealth for colonialists, and then to spur development of the two countries after independence. It was the World Bank’s first dam project. It is also one of Africa's most notorious cases of a people wronged in the name of national development. Today, it symbolizes Africans' quest for reparations for development-induced displacement, thanks to a home-grown alliance that is working to document the past wrongs and suggest ways forward for the affected

Num período em que Moçambique enfrenta as piores cheias desde a independência, o Presidente Guebuza afirma que a solução é construir mais barragens. No entanto, as barragens são tão boas quanto os seus operadores, desenhistas e técnicos de manutenção – e nenhum destes foram particularmente bons em Kariba. E não existe nenhuma garantia que as barragens que já possuímos sejam capazes de suportar um clima em constante mudança. As nações do Zambeze devem aprender com os erros das outras nações e adoptar um conjunto de técnicas mais flexível, efectivas e sofisticadas, de for

Community-based research in Thailand, known as Thai Baan research, is reinventing the way that villagers and decision-makers perceive and value local knowledge and experience. Thai Baan means villager. The Thai Baan method enables local people to take responsibility for understanding and revealing knowledge about their relationship with natural resources because, from conception to dissemination, villagers themselves are the principal researchers. Thai Baan research has been effectively applied by communities threatened by the development of dams, and those looking for better ways to manage t

皮特•博萨德 中国正在迅速买断全世界的资源。这个新兴的超级巨人到非洲和中亚勘探石油，到缅甸开采天然气，到湄公河流域修建水电站，到刚果开矿，到印度尼西亚砍伐森林。中国对天然原材料的渴求正在推高石油和其他资源的价格，加剧着这个星球的生态紧张。 当中国加入到全球市场的时候，其他的国家和公司已经控制了这个世界的大部分资源。中国的对策是到那些其他人认为太危险的地方探险。如今，中国公司正在那些地处遥远，政治�

por Peter Bosshard* Crónica de San Francisco Febrero 08, 2008 China está rápidamente comprando los recursos del mundo. La nueva superpotencia mundial está explorando yacimientos de petróleo en África y el Asia central, perforando yacimientos de gas en Birmania, construyendo represas hidroeléctricas en la región del Mekong, realizando prospección de minerales en el Congo y talando bosques en Indonesia. El hambre de China por las materias primas hace que el precio del petróleo y otros recursos aumente, y estrecha de los límites ecológicos del planeta. China se une a la fiest

(Salto, Uruguay) Por falta de agua, la represa de Salto Grande está generando energía solamente con tres turbinas para mantener la cota del embalse en un nivel aceptable. Afirman que lageneración eléctrica de la represa estará restringida hasta que no mejore la situación. "Hay muy poca agua simplemente porque no ha llovido», manifestó el presidente de la Comisión Uruguaya ante la Comisión Mixta de Salto Grande, Enrique Topolansky.Por su parte el director de la Fundación PROTEGER, Jorge Cappato, aseguró que “mientras se habla de construir Garabí, otra represa sobre el río Urugua

This op-ed in the UK Guardian argues that while Africa's huge barrages are meant to create energy and clean water, the poorest communities are the losers in the race for the rewards. Ten years ago, the small mountain kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa became a water exporting country, even though it does not have nearly enough water for its own needs, suffers from recurrent droughts, and a majority of its population has no access to clean water. Indeed, the UN last year called for Lesotho to be given emergency relief aid, including water for people and livestock, to address a gro