In the Media

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

Article from Bangkok Post In honour of International Day of Action for Rivers today, it is worthy to highlight Southeast Asia's longest undammed river - the Salween-Nu River - which flows from Yunnan in China down through Burma, forming part of the Thai-Burma border. China's Nu River (Nujiang) has received extensive media attention due to the fact that - despite Beijing's official postponement of the Nujiang dams after domestic and international pressure - construction of the first dam (Liuku) has commenced with the apparent backing of the Yunnan provincial authorities.Although an official env

Article from The Irrawaddy Online Ethnic Karen people living along Burma's Salween River gathered today in colorful traditional dress to pray to the spirits of the river and the land around it for protection against the planned construction of a dam which threatens to devastate the area's fragile ecosystem.Over 250 villagers from 18 villages in the area affected by the planned Hut Gyi Dam took part in the ceremony, which was organized to show respect for the river and to express opposition to the project.They were joined by Burmese opposition politicians, environmentalists and student activist

BANGKOK, Mar 6 (IPS) - An opportunity to review the balance sheet of the benefits and burdens of regional integration and opening borders lies ahead, at the Third Mekong Summit to be held in Laos at end-March. The leaders of the six Mekong countries are to gather in Vientiane for the Mar. 30-31 summit to "discuss the progress and chart future directions in GMS (Greater Mekong Subregion) cooperation", according to an announcement by the Asian Development Bank (AsDB), which is facilitating the summit. This summit among China, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Burma is aimed at helping achiev

Now that The New York Times - an international opinion leader - has taken a stand, your action to stop the dams will have much more impact. Please read the editorial and take action to help us in the fight to protect the Baker and Pascua rivers in Patagonia. You can help prevent the damming of Patagonia's pristine rivers: Tell the corporations involved to leave the Baker and Pascua rivers alone! Patagonia Without DamsThe New York Times, EditorialApril 1, 2008Recently, environmental activists and local residents gathered near the small Chilean town of Cochrane to protest a plan to build a serie

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Efforts to ease the social and environmental impact of a controversial dam in Communist Laos are behind schedule only months before its massive reservoir is flooded, an environmental group says. "Water is due to begin rising in just a few months, but villagers are not ready to face NT2's impacts," International Rivers said in a report released this week after its latest visit to the Nam Theun 2 (NT2) hydropower project.It highlights what the group says are shortcomings and delays in programs to compensate thousands of villagers on the Nakai Plateau and communities downstrea

Article from The Cambodia Daily The construction of the first hydropower dam across a section of the Lower Mekong mainstream, which experts claim will have a disastrous impact on Cambodia's fisheries has moved a step closer to reality.Malaysian company Mega First Corporation Berhad have signed a Project Development Agreement with the Laos government for the development of the Don Sahong Hydropower Project just one kilometer upstream from the Cambodian-Lao border.According to the document dated February 14, this clears the way for them to develop, build, own and operate the project. Any electri

This article on dam building in Arunachal Pradesh, written by Shripad Dharmadhikary, was published in February 2008 by Indiatogether. The author contains: "Arunachal Pradesh has emerged as the new centre of dam building in the country. As of September 2007, the state has signed 39 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU), to generate 25.000MW, with both public and private developers. Unfortunately, as has been the case with much dam building in the country, many serious questions have been left unanswered and massive negative impacts have been ignored." The article can be accessed on th

(Salto, Uruguay)Due to lack of water, the bi-national Salto Grande Dam (Argentina/Uruguay) is producing energy with only three turbines, in order to keep the reservoir’s water level at an acceptable level. Its managers say that the dam’s electric production will be restricted until the situation improves. "There is very little water simply because it has not rained", the president of the Uruguayan Committee of the Salto Grande Joint Commission, Enrique Topolansky explained .The director of the PROTEGER Foundation, Jorge Cappato, said that "while the building of Garabí, another dam on the

http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=15728&topic_id=1 The Pascua: A River is Born There is a place in far southern Chile, in the remote region of Aysén, where the long road south – the famed Carreterra Austral – simply comes to an end. Beyond lies a magical and uninhabited land where the earthly elements combine in a breathtaking though at once intimidating mosaic of mountains, glaciers, lakes and fjords. Home to the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the largest in the world outside of Antarctica and Greenland, the region also boasts one of Chil