Affected People

The Voice of the Xingu People

Alexandra Teixeira, 2010 Amazon Intern, in Yosemite
Alexandra Teixeira, 2010 Amazon Intern, in Yosemite Guest Blog by Alexandra Teixeira. Alexandra, a student at Brazil's PUC-Rio, is currently studying at UC Berkeley through an exchange program. She's researching the effects of international development foreign aid and interning at International Rivers for the Amazon campaign, specifically working to help stop Belo Monte Dam. This 2010 documentary Xingu: Why We Don't Want Belo Monte – produced by the Brazilian NGO FASE with the support of our former Amazon Program Director Glenn Switkes – provides a space for the p

Avatar and the Damming of Planet Earth

Kayapó warriors, Xingu River, Brazil
Kayapó warriors, Xingu River, Brazil Terence Turner The sci-fi epic Avatar has not only broken records at the box office, but also triggered a wide-ranging debate about the exploitation of the environment and the rights of indigenous peoples. Director James Cameron described his movie as "a broader metaphor (of) how we treat the natural world." Destructive dams are one way in which the natural world is mistreated. By the end of the 20th century, about 50,000 large dams had choked more than half of the earth's major rivers. This massive engineering program has wiped out

The Avatar Sequel: Damming Pandora

Living on Pandora
Living on Pandora March 30, 2164. - I have spent a lot of time on Pandora lately. I have explored its verdant valleys, lush rain forests, and floating mountains. I have tried to stay away from the ferocious aynantang and aypalulukan. And I have fallen in love with the mighty rivers and waterfalls, which cascade down sheer cliffs and which you may have admired in the Avatar movie. I am not the only Earthling who has been attracted to the rivers of Pandora. Ten years after their defeat by the Hometree, the Resources Development Administration is back on the blue moon. The Corporation has ove

Defending Lake Turkana

Turkana residents protest Gibe dam
The Gibe 3 Dam, now under construction on the Omo River in Ethiopia, is already fanning tensions over natural resources, all the way downstream to Kenya. By dramatically changing water flows in the river, the dam will wreak ecological and social havoc for half a million people living downstream of it, including Kenyan communities around Lake Turkana, which gets virtually all of its water flow from the Omo. Local activists are at the forefront, and working hard to keep this critical fight in the public eye. Watch our slideshow narrated by Ikal Angelei of the Kenya-based Friends of Lake Turkana

Greenwashing Hydropower: The Problems with Big Dams

World Watch Magazine
Friday, January 15, 2010
From World Watch Magazine, Jan/Feb 2010, Volume 23, No. 1Big dams have a serious record of social and environmental destruction, and there are many alternatives. So why are they still being built? Big dams have frequently imposed high social and environmental costs and long-term economic tradeoffs, such as lost fisheries and tourism potential and flooded agricultural and forest land. According to the independent World Commission on Dams, most projects have failed to compensate affected people for their losses and to adequately mitigate environmental impacts. Local people have rarely had a mea

Tipaimukh High Dam

Manipur, India
Villagers Protest Tipaimukh Dam Photo Courtesy of ACATP For more than 15 years, communities in both Manipur State (northeast India) and Bangladesh have resisted the proposed Tipaimukh Dam on the Barak River. The 163-meter dam has sparked controversy in both countries over India’s failure to provide public consultations and information sharing with both Bangladesh and indigenous communities. The Indian state-owned utility North East Electric Power Corporation Ltd. (NEEPCO) originally planned to build the dam to control floods but now plans to generate electricity with the dam, which has a ca

International Rivers Calls for Lessons to be Drawn from Three Gorges Dam

Friday, October 30, 2009
Fifteen years after construction began, the reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam will reach its final height of 175 meters in early November. International Rivers calls for the following lessons to be drawn from the world's largest and most controversial hydropower project: The massive social and environmental impacts of the Three Gorges Dam should be independently evaluated before new mega-dams are built on the Yangtze River. More than 100 dams are currently being planned or built on the world's third-longest river and its tributaries. The 1.3 million people who were displaced b

Temacapulín, México

Protest against El Zapotillo Dam at University of Mexico, in Mexico DF, Feb. 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Protest against El Zapotillo Dam at University of Mexico, in Mexico DF, Feb. 2009 IMDEC The villagers of Temacapulín, México graciously offered to host Rivers for Life 3: The 3rd International Meeting of Dam-Affected People and Their Allies. Holding the meeting in Temacapulín gave a huge boost to local communities fighting against El Zapotillo Dam. The 105-meter dam would flood the villages of Temacapulín, Acasico and Palmarejo and disrupt the ecology of the Río Verde. Villagers say they will continue to resist the dam to defend their communities, their human rights and their dignity

Resposta das organizações do Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre ao Sr. Ministro Edison Lobão e suas "Forças Demoníacas"

Friday, October 2, 2009
Da coordenação do Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre O Rio Xingu é um símbolo da diversidade biológica e cultural brasileira. Ao longo de seus 2,7 mil quilômetros, ele corta o Mato Grosso e atravessa o Pará até desembocar no rio Amazonas, formando uma bacia hidrográfica de 51,1 milhões de hectares (o dobro do território do Estado de São Paulo). Mais da metade de seu território é formada por áreas protegidas. São 27 milhões de hectares de alta prioridade para a conservação da biodiversidade, abrigando 30 Terras Indígenas, 24 povos com 24 diferentes línguas e 8 Unidades de Con

Organizers of Rivers for Life 3 in Temacapulín, México

Monday, October 19, 2009
Rivers for Life 3 was organized by International Rivers, three local partners and an international steering committee. Local Partners in Mexico Mexican Institute for Community Development (IMDEC)Committee to Save Temaca, Acasico and PalmarejoMexican Movement of People Affected by Dams and in Defense of Rivers (MAPDER)International Steering Committee members Sena Alouka, Young Volunteers for the Environment, TogoRobert Kugonza, Africa Rivers Network, UgandaErcan Ayboga, Initiative to Save Hasankeyf, Turkey/GermanyCatriona Vine, Kurdish Human Rights Project, United KingdomLata Anantha, River Res

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Affected People