Press Release

Police Confiscate Documents Belonging to LHWP Critic  Maseru: Three agents of Lesothos National Security Service (NSS) have repeatedly harassed Mr. Benedict Leuta in recent months. Leuta is a resident of the Lesotho Highlands who lost land to the recently constructed Katse Dam. On their first visit to him on 19 November, the NSS seized documents from Leutas home in the village of Ha Nkokana (Thaba–Tseka District). Leuta had just returned from a meeting in Cape Town sponsored by several non–governmental organisations (NGOs) during which he presented a paper on the effects of Ka

The World Bank is failing to live up to its clean energy mandate, agreed at the 2005 G8 Summit, figures in a new report from the bank reveal. The revelation comes as the World Bank is taking an increasingly high profile and controversial role at the UN climate talks currently underway in Montreal. The Bank hopes to control several global funds and initiatives supposed to help solve the climate crisis. But the World Bank’s own energy report exposes the institution’s failure to act on its mandate from G8’s Gleneagles summit to "take a leadership role in creating a new framework for clean e

Berkeley, California – The two biggest public banks in Europe, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), have announced that they will take into account the international standards for dam-building set by the World Commission on Dams (WCD). "We welcome the decision of the two biggest public banks in Europe to join the growing number of institutions worldwide that take seriously the World Commission on Dams‚ recommendations," says Ann Kathrin Schneider, Policy Analyst for International Rivers. The EIB has told International Rivers th

European Parliament Urged to Safeguard Climate PolicyGreenpeace and International Rivers held a briefing today at the European Parliament on the proposed directive1 linking EU emissions trading with credits from the Kyoto Protocol project mechanisms" Joint Implementation (JI) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). They warned that if rules are not set, the EU greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme will be flooded with credits from destructive hydroelectric projects, compromising the effectiveness of the scheme2 and undermining previous EU positions on sustainable development. Greenpeace a

Nichtregierungsorganisationen fordern klare KonsequenzenEnde letzter Woche hat die Regierung von Singapur ein Einreiseverbot für über 20 Vertreter von Entwicklungs NROs für die Zeit der WB/IWF-Jahrestagung verhängt. Als Grund gaben die Behörden die Bedrohung der nationalen Sicherheit und von Recht und Gesetz an. "Solche Vorwürfe sind völlig unhaltbar und dienen allein der Unterdrückung von kritischer Meinungsäußerung und friedlichem Protest" kritisiert Knud Vöcking von Urgewald. "In der Presse Singapurs wurde explizit Walden Bello als potenzieller Gewalttäter denunziert. Dabei ist

NGOs also demand withdrawal from Filipino dam An international appeal was delivered to the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Keizo Obuchi, today urging him to ensure that clear social and environmental standards are established for the new institution to be created by merging the Export–Import Bank of Japan (JEXIM) and the Japanese Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF). The open letter also calls on the Prime Minister to withdraw all financial assistance for the controversial $1 billion San Roque Hydropower and Irrigation Project in the Philippines. The appeal was signed by 77 citizens’ gro

Funding decided despite opposition of local government, residents and NGOs, incomplete Environmental Impact Assessment On 27 October the Export–Import Bank of Japan (JEXIM) signed an agreement with San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC) for a $302 million loan for the 345–MW San Roque Dam, located on the Agno River in the Philippines. The $1.5 billion project is being constructed by a consortium led by NY–based Sithe Energies Inc. and the Japanese Marubeni Corp. JEXIM funding for this dam was approved despite strong local opposition to the project, which at 200 meters high and 1,000 met

Independent Commission to Review World’s Dams Dam critics and proponents have agreed to work together to establish a top–level commission to review the social, economic and environmental costs and benefits of the world’s dams, recommend international standards on dam construction and assess sustainable and equitable methods of land and water management and energy production. The review will also make recommendations on repairing the environmental damage done by existing dams and on reparations for people whose livelihoods have suffered because of dams. The need for an independent

A massive feasibility study on the Epupa Dam, proposed for the Kunene River in northern Namibia, will be presented to the Namibian Cabinet on October 22. The study will be presented to the Himba people who will be affected by the project on October 27, followed by an open public hearing on October 29. A meeting to accept objections, comments and opinions on the study’s findings will be held November 15. The leader of the Himba to be resettled for the dam, Chief Hikuminue Kapika, recently said if the dam was built, "we will all gather there and they have to build the dam on top of us