Report

International Rivers Network’s second annual "Dams, Rivers & People" report explains the failure of dams and levees to stop rising flood damages and describes better ways to tackle flood management. It also surveys the world of rivers and dams in 2006 and hotspots for 2007. Floods are the most destructive, most frequent and most costly of natural disasters. Flood damages have soared in recent decades, despite hundreds of billions of dollars spent on flood control structures. This is partly because global warming is worsening storms, and partly because of growing populations and economic

Report shows Executive Board approved project on basis of distorted economic analysis In early June, the World Bank is expected to vote on a political risk guarantee for the Bujagali dam in Uganda. The Bank approved a package of loans and guarantees for the dam in December 2001, but this has proved insufficient to secure support from other funders. Analysis of internal documents by International Rivers shows that World Bank management manipulated data to gain Board approval for the project, which is sponsored by US–based AES Corporation. Contrary to Bank management claims, official document

International Rivers’s first annual "Dams, Rivers and People" report analyzes the links between water and poverty reduction, and argues for new approaches to water management that are pro–poor and environmentally sustainable. The Grim Statistics of Water More than 1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water. More than 2 million children die each year due to dirty water and poor sanitation. Hundreds of millions of small farmers on arid lands are mired in extreme poverty. A Failed Approach The water strategies of the World Bank and most governments focus on large–scale dams and

Power purchase agreement relating to the Bujagali Hydroelectric Project, Uganda.

A Study of Techno-Economic Aspects of the Power Purchase Agreement of the Bujagali Hydroelectric Project in Uganda. 

The Summary of Economic Due Diligence (SEDD) contains numerous shortcomings. It is based on over-optimistic assumptions about growth in GDP and electricity demand.

Download the review (PDF, 42KB) The purpose of this review is to highlight major findings of the 2002 Panel report, and to recommend corrective action which is needed to rectify the problems documented in the report before the project goes forward. 

The International Experience with Power Purchase Agreements of Private Power Projects

An article about the renewed interest in the construction of large dams in the global south. This article, in German, was written by Ann Kathrin Schneider, International Rivers, and Regine Richter, urgewald, and was published by iz3w in January 2007.