Press Release

For Immediate Release * Interviews Available Now * Expect increased global warming, earthquakes, poverty, and debt if world leaders push big dams at the Fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey, March 16-22. Berkeley – From March 16-22, the Fifth World Water Forum (WWF5) takes place in Istanbul, Turkey under the motto of “Bridging the Divides for Water.” Held once every three years, it is the largest global gathering of water officials, including heads of state, in the world. Previous Fora were held in Morocco (1997), the Netherlands (2000), Japan (2003) and Mexico (2006

For immediate release Brazilian environmentalists, social movements and networks monitoring international financial institutions have asked the World Bank to postpone a decision on the US$1.3 billion "Programmatic Environmental Sustainability Development Policy Loan Project" to Brazil. The loan is scheduled for a vote today by the World Bank board of executive directors. In a letter to Pamela Cox, Vice-President for Latin America and the Caribbean, the groups say that prior loans aimed at mainstreaming environmental considerations in Brazilian government policies have failed.

For Immediate Release Former Vice President Al Gore told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at their hearing on climate change on January 28 that the Kyoto Protocol's carbon offsetting scheme, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), required "significant reforms." Gore was head of the US delegation that pushed for the creation of the CDM at the Kyoto talks in 1997. The CDM is by far world's biggest source of carbon offset certificates. Gore made his comment in response to a statement from Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) highlighting the concern that most CDM projects may

For immediate release. The UN´s Clean Development Mechanism is beyond repair and should be dumped, climate justice campaigners told delegates at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan today.1 "The CDM is a ´lose-lose´ proposition that has become a corrupt and cheap way for the rich North to avoid making real emission reductions. CDM projects in the South generate windfalls for major polluters in the North, providing transnational corporations and governments a way to buy their way out the responsibility to make their own emissions cuts" says Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the I

Report shows Germany failing to enforce EU law on hydro carbon creditsA report released today reveals that German power utility, RWE, plans to buy carbon credits from a dam in China that fails to meet World Commission on Dams (WCD) guidelines, a breach of EU law. RWE, one of the biggest CO2 emitters in Europe, is buying the credits to avoid having to reduce emissions from its coal plants in Germany. The report is based on a field visit by International Rivers' consultant Tina Lea, a Chinese-speaking researcher.* It finds that 7,500 people were forcibly evicted to make way for the Xiaoxi Dam, t

Joint Press ReleaseForum Umwelt und Entwicklung (Environment and Development) and International RiversBerlin The UN climate conference begins on December 1st in Poznan to set the course for the post-2012 climate agreement. International Rivers and the Forum Umwelt & Entwicklung demand meaningful emission reduction goals, as well as corrections to the Kyoto Protocol from decision-makers. One of the most serious loopholes is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Power plant operators in industrialized countries can offset their emissions with questionable projects in developing countries. M

Bujagali deal full of risk for one of world’s poorest countries The benefits of the Bujagali Dam project, now being built by private companies on the Nile River in Uganda, have been overstated and its risks understated, according to a 17-month investigation by the World Bank Inspection Panel. Worse, most of those risks fall on Uganda – one of the world’s poorest countries – rather than the project developers. The result could be a project that fails to fulfill the Bank’s “broad objective of sustainable development and poverty reduction embodied in Bank policy,” the Panel stat

Europeans sent "last warning" to Turkey - an unprecedented diplomatic step Berlin - Germany, Austria and Switzerland have started the official process of withdrawing financial support for the Ilisu Project in Turkey. According to the German Under-Secretary of State, Erich Stather, from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the three countries initiated exit proceedings yesterday by sending an Environmental Failure notice to the Turkish government. Germany's Economics Ministry and Switzerland's export credit agency SERV have in the meantime of