In the Media

Mekong River Commission Remiss - Activists

Wednesday, November 14, 2007
BANGKOK, Nov 14 (IPS) - The campaign to save South-east Asia's largest waterway from being blocked by a series of massive dams picked up pace this week, with activists accusing a regional river authority of abandoning its mission to protect the Mekong River. Local and international environmental groups are incensed at the initial work underway to build the six dams on the mainstream of the Mekong River, which, till now, has flowed freely along the borders or through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Four of the six hydropower dams are to be built in Laos, while one each has been earmarked

Conservationists warn proposed dams could damage Mekong river

Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Article from Associated Press BANGKOK, Thailand: Six proposed dams on the Mekong River coulddisplace up to 75,000 villagers and harm hundreds of species like theendangered giant catfish and Irrawaddy dolphin, conservationistswarned Tuesday. Premrudee Daoroung, director of the Bangkok-based environmental groupTERRA, said 13-year-old plans to build four dams in Laos and one eachin Thailand and Cambodia have been revived as part of efforts - mostlyby China, Thailand and Vietnam - to find new energy sources for theirgrowing economies. "The natural flow of the river will all be completely changed,

Civic groups call Mekong Commission a failure

Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Article written by DPA, and reported in the Bangkok Post The Mekong River Commission (MRC) has failed to prevent six dam projects from moving ahead on the regional river despite unanswered questions about environmental and social impact of the schemes, environmental and civil society groups said Tuesday."We urge all donors to review their support to the MRC," said Premrudee Daoroung, director of the Towards Ecological Recovery & Regional Alliances (TERRA), one of 201 groups to sign a petition blasting the four-party Mekong River Commission for failing to protect the river's fisheries and p

Can We Have an Open Discussion About Electricity? Please Leave Your Guns at the Door.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Opinion piece by Dr. Chris Greacen published in the Bangkok Post that highlights shortcomings in Thailand's energy planning process and calls for reform. Ten days ago the Ministry of Energy announced a plan to initiate a large-scale public relations campaign that includes changing school curriculums to "educate" children on the "merits" of coal and nuclear mega-projects to meet Thailand's alleged vast future demand for electricity. Then key power planning documents were removed from the Ministry website just as the Ministry announced that the long-awaited public hearing on its Power Developmen

Destroying a Natural Treasure in the Name of Progress

Saturday, August 16, 2003
Mugecuo lake, known to local Tibetans as Yeti lake, remains one of China's few untainted ecological treasures. Situated in the Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Sichuan province, it is surrounded by other pristine glacial lakes, primeval forests, and hot springs. The area is home to more than 1,000 species of rare tropical plants and 2,000 varieties of animals and birds. But this unspoiled land has been targeted for a hydroelectric dam project, pitting Huaneng Power International - China's largest independent power producer, headed by the son of former premier Li Peng - agains

Dam the Consequences

Thursday, July 11, 2002
Building yet another dam could threaten an ages-old engineering marvel in Sichuan and a key part of China's heritage. But the project is going ahead as authorities smother public debate on its impact. By David Murphy/DUJIANGYAN, SICHUAN PROVINCE Far Eastern Economic Review ON A SPRING AFTERNOON in western China's Sichuan province, explosions echo across a steep-sided valley, dust plumes rise and trucks loaded with earth ply one side of the valley floor. All this is part of what is becoming the most controversial power project in China since the massive Three Gorges dam b

Major Yangtze Tributary Drying Up

Saturday, April 23, 2005
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=qw1114240324901C551 Beijing - A series of dams and hydro projects in southwestern China's Sichuan province have caused one of the upper Yangtze River's largest tributaries to run dry in places, a Canadian-based environmental watchdog said Saturday. Local residents and water experts are concerned that the 735-kilometre Min River could become permanently altered by dams built on its upper reaches which also threaten one of the world's oldest irrigation systems downstream, Probe International said.

Central Africa's "Most Beautiful Waterfall" Under Threat

Friday, November 2, 2007
Originally published in Inter Press Service Kongou has apparently been earmarked as the site for a hydro-electric dam to power the Bélinga project, a 3.5 billion dollar initiative to mine iron ore in north-eastern Gabon that is being carried out with financing from Chinese firms in a consortium headed by CMEC. Work on Bélinga is scheduled to get underway before the end of the year, with the first cargo of ore making its way to China by 2011. China will be the sole client of the project, which also involves the construction of 560 kilometres of railroad and a deepwater port. In addition, som

The International Rivers Strategy to Stop Patagonia Dams

Sunday, October 7, 2007
"I am going to coordinate the campaign to defend Patagonia from the US where this and the European market will be the focus," explains Aaron Sanger, the lawyer (50) from International Rivers Network that will lead the initiatives against the hydroelectric centers in Aysen. He is visiting in Chile to meet with other NGOs and to coordinate activities. Here he became known when he was director of the environmental corporate action program for ForestEthics-where he worked seven and one-half years-and achieved CMPC's and Celulosa Arauco's commitments to protect native fores

Chilean Wood Magnate in Sights of International NGO for Participation in Dam Project

Friday, September 28, 2007
After successfully leading an aggressive campaign in the the US against Chilean forestry companies, in 2003 the lawyer-environmentalist Aaron Sanger achieved an unprecedented agreement for protection of native forests with CMPC and Arauco. Four years later and in honor of this agreement - that moreover is valid and thanks to which more than 500,000 hectares of native forest have been protected in the country - Sanger wrote a letter to the president of CMPC, Eliodoro Matte, in which Sanger expressed his concern over the development of HidroAysen [project to dam Chile's Baker and Pascua Ri

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