Press Release

ETHIOPIA’S GIBE 3 DAM IN VIOLATION OF AfDB POLICIES WHEN:    Wednesday, May 13 at 12:30pm WHERE:    AfDB Conference Center, Room C103, Dakar, Senegal SPEAKERS:     Ikal Angelei, Chair, Friends of Lake Turkana, Kenya Mamadou Goita, Executive Director, Institute for Research and the    Promotion of Alternatives in Development, Mali Robert Kugonza, Coordinator, African Rivers Network, Uganda Sena Alouka, Director, Jeunes Volontaires pour l'Environnement, Togo The $2.1 billion Gibe 3 Dam on the Omo River in Southern Ethiopia is the country’s largest i

Berkeley - From May 13-14, the African Development Bank (AfDB) holds its annual meeting in Dakar, Senegal with the theme, Africa and the Financial Crisis: an Agenda for Action. The financial crisis calls for the wise investment of dwindling capital flows. Yet AfDB directors currently consider funding a project that serves special interests but hurts the poor and the environment: the disastrous $1.7 billion Gibe 3 Dam in Ethiopia. Gibe 3 would be one of the largest infrastructure projects ever funded by the AfDB. Through its devastating social and environmental impacts, the project would s

MONDAY, APRIL 27             Shelley Alpern (Trillium), (617) 292-8026 x. 248 Bama Athreya (ILRF) 202-347-4100 Patrick McCully (International Rivers) 510-848-1155 Leading Socially Responsible Investment Firm Joins Environmental, Human and Labor Rights Advocates in Urging Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders to Back Proposal for Reporting on Social and Environmental Risks Cites Recommendation from Leading Proxy Advisory Firm, Effects of Environmental, Labor, Human Rights Problems on Investments in PacifiCorp, Russell, PetroChina    Boston, MA (April 27, 2009) – Leading sociall

Environmental Groups Urge Waxman/Markey to Close the Floodgate on Carbon Offsets 350.org, 1 Sky, California Communities Against Toxics, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Church World Service, Eco-Justice Collaborative, Energy Justice Network, Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, Essential Action, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Friends of the Earth, GAIA, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Greenpeace, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Indigenous Environmental Network, Institute for Energy & Environmental Research, International

International Rivers, Oxfam Australia and Friends of the Earth International awarded Hasankeyf'i Yaşatma Girişimi the First FREE RIVERS AWARD. It honors those who defend or restore free-flowing rivers and the rights of communities that depend on them. It supports effective grassroots campaigns and celebrates their successes. Hasankeyf'i Yaşatma Girişimi has inspired the international movement against dams by achieving an extraordinary success against the construction of the Ilisu Dam. Due to their efforts, the construction of the dam was stopped in December 2008 and the international finan

Istanbul, Turkey -- At a press conference today at the Fifth World Water Forum (WWF), a panel of international experts and activists denounced the undemocratic methods of the WWF and World Water Council. They reaffirmed their opposition to large dams, the impacts of which include increased poverty, debt, earthquakes, and global warming. Peter Bosshard, International Rivers' Policy Director, noted the absence of his colleagues, Payal Parekh and Ann-Kathrin Schneider, who were deported after peacefully unfurling a banner reading "No Risky Dams" at the Forum's opening ceremo

Statement by Peter Bosshard, Policy Director, International Rivers Press conference: March 20, 2009. See here for details. We are missing my two colleagues Payal Parekh and Ann-Kathrin Schneider today, who were both deported from Turkey for peacefully displaying a banner at the opening ceremony. The World Water Council has remained silent on this repression of free speech on its premises. The silence confirms that the Forum is a trade fair of corporate interests, and not the open, democratic space that the Council pretends it is. Throughout the Forum, we have once again heard calls for

Statement by Dr. Peter Bosshard, Policy Director, International Rivers, in Istanbul Yesterday, Payal Parekh and Ann-Kathrin Schneider, two staff members of International Rivers, unfurled a banner at the opening ceremony of the World Water Forum in Istanbul. The banner said, No More Risky Dams. The action was totally peaceful, and many people in the audience applauded. The police immediately detained Payal Parekh and Ann-Kathrin Schneider, and held them at an Istanbul police station all day and night. This morning, Ms. Payal was deported to the US, and Ms. Schneider, to Germany. They have b

Press conference to discuss civil society response 11am March 17 at the Taksim Hill Hotel Istanbul, Turkey - Two International Rivers staff members were arrested and detained today for unfurling a banner at the opening ceremony of the World Water Forum (WWF) in Istanbul. They will be deported tomorrow morning or face a year in Turkish prison. As the opening ceremony of the WWF began, International Rivers' South Asia Director Ann-Kathrin Schneider and Climate Campaigner Payal Parekh unfurled a banner reading "No Risky Dams" in protest of the World Water Forum's promoti