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From March 2009 World Rivers Review  In the grand canyons of the Jinsha (“Golden Sands”) River in central China, a dozen dams are being planned to fuel China’s rapidly growing cities and industries. Since Beijing's recently announced economic stimulus package, the construction of these dams have sped up, making environmental impact assessments somewhat of an accessory, according to Professor Jiang Gaoming of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The first two dams, the 260-meter-high Xiluodu and 160-m-high Xiangjiaba – China’s second and third largest dams – are now being

From March 2009 World Rivers Review For decades, communities affected by projects such as dams, mines or pipelines were asked to trust the good intentions and promises of project developers. This voluntary approach resulted in a legacy of broken promises, environmental degradation, corruption, conflict, and development disasters. Like dam investors and contractors, affected communities can’t just rely on promises to safeguard their interests. They need legally enforceable rights. For more than 20 years, civil society networks have promoted binding policies and standards which safeg

From March 2009 World Rivers Review  The Himalaya is one of the fastest changing regions of the world due to global warming. The mountains’ mighty glaciers, the source of most large Asian rivers and a critical “savings account” of South Asia’s water supply, are melting. In early February 2009, Chinese scientists warned that glaciers on the Tibetan plateau are melting at a “worrisome speed,” according to Xinhua news agency. Against these dramatic developments, the governments of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan are planning to transform the Himalayan rivers into the power

From March 2009 World Rivers ReviewLake Turkana is a miraculous anomaly of life-giving water in a parched and unforgiving land. Formed millions of years ago in the tectonic upheavals that created East Africa’s Great Rift Valley, Turkana is the largest permanent desert lake in the world. Extinct volcanoes enclose the horizon, and the heat is so intense that when the blustery wind from Mount Kulal on the eastern shore temporarily ceases and clouds gather overhead, raindrops sometimes evaporate before they even reach the lake. It is called “ghost rain.”In the Gibe III Affected Area This o

From March 2009 World Rivers ReviewThe Enawene Nawe are skilled fishers Fiona Watson/Survival Brazil’s Enawene Nawe Indians have said enough is enough to destructive development projects, and have demanded that dam construction on the Juruena River in the western Amazon come to a halt. On October 11, about 120 Indians burned the Telegráfica Dam work site in Sapezal, Mato Grosso. The project is part of the Brazilian government's Growth Acceleration Plan, and is being built by a consortium that purchased the project from the Maggi Energy company. This company is linked to the soy king, Blair

From March 2009 World Rivers Review“To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.” President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009I’ve devoted the two decades of my professional life to acting on my belief that we in wea

From March 2009 World Rivers ReviewThe Amur-Heilong River System, which forms the border of China and Russia for 3,000 kilometers, has geopolitics to thank for its free-flowing condition. But plans to dam the so-called “Three Gorges of the Dragon River” now threaten its fish, rare birds, and people. Fishermen in the Hinggan Gorge, on the Amur-Heilong River Eugene Simonov Many great rivers of the world begin their journey within China, and most if not all of these rivers are now targeted for hydropower development. Chinese government planners seeking to expand the country’s hydropower p

August 2006 World Rivers Review: Special Focus on Africa Companies from China, Germany, France and Sudan are currently building the Merowe Dam on the Nile in Northern Sudan. As the reservoir builds up behind the dam, 50,000 people are being displaced from the fertile Nile Valley to barren resettlement camps in the Nubian Desert. Tensions over displacement have flared up in repeated violent conflicts. A French company applied for export credits for the Merowe project from the French government, but was rejected because of serious concerns over human rights violations. The World Bank al

皮特•西格（Pete Seeger）和布鲁斯•斯普林斯汀（Bruce Springsteen）在林肯纪念碑前演唱“这片土地是你的土地”的一幕，是这周的总统就职典礼上最华彩的一段。我和其他数百万人一样，被这首传统民歌深深地打动了。然而它也再次重复了关于这个国家诞生的谎言。 伍迪•古斯瑞（Woody Guthrie）在1940年写下“这片土地是你的土地”。当时皮特•西格还在和伍迪一起在国内巡回旅行。皮特•西格的父亲曾在加州大学伯克利教音乐。几十年间，皮特•西�

A Renewable Future for US is Achievable by Daniel Kammen Dec. 2006 World Rivers Review The sorry statistics are by now well-known: the United States has just 5% of the world's population, but produces 25% of its greenhouse gas emissions. Efforts to reverse this trend have lagged significantly, and the US continues to block efforts toward international progress. Here, Dan Kammen – one of the nation's top energy experts – lays out a plan to de-carbonize the US economy.Renewable energy science and technology has undergone dramatic advances over the past several decades. Renewab