Dams, forests and people
When asked to name different causes of deforestation, few people will mention hydroelectric dams as being one of them. Even fewer will include them as a cause of human rights (Read More)
Bulletin Issue 42 – January 2001
THE FOCUS OF THIS ISSUE: hydroelectric dams
For many years, local peoples and environmentalists have been opposing large dams due to the severe social and environmental impacts they entail. Since its creation, the WRM has been an active participant in the fight against dams, and included them as a major cause of forest loss already in its 1989 “Penang Declaration.” During the past years, we have been trying to assist local peoples’ struggles against dams and reflecting them in almost every issue of our bulletin ( all available at http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/dams.html ). We have now decided to dedicate an entire bulletin to this problem, with the aim of sharing information to enhance opposition to this destructive activity at a moment when, on the one hand, the World Commission on Dams has produced an extensive report detailing the damaging effect of large dams, and, on the other hand, when organizations worldwide are preparing an “International Day of Action against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life”, to take place on March 14. We hope the bulletin will contribute to increase awareness and solidarity with the struggle.
OURVIEWPOINT
LOCAL STRUGGLES AND NEWS
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Kenya: Resistance to the Sondu Miriu Dam project
The Sondu Miriu River is one of the six major rivers in the Lake Victoria basin, which drains 3,470 square kilometres in the western part of Kenya. The company responsible (Read More)
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Namibia: Uncertainty on the future of Epupa Dam
For over five years plans have been discussed by the Namibian and Angolan governments to dam the Kunene river, which runs through both countries, and construct a hydroelectric power station (Read More)
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The Bujagali Dam: A useless giant in Uganda
The Ugandan government –backed by the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank, the US agency Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and a number of European export credit agencies (ECAs)– is (Read More)
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Malaysia: Bakun Dam project once again relaunched
The Bakun Dam project –the largest in Southeast Asia– was originally planned by the Malaysian authorities in the early 1980s, abandoned in 1990, revived in 1993 and reshaped in 1997. (Read More)
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Philippines: Local people against the San Roque dam
The San Roque Dam is to be located on the lower Agno River of Pangasinan Province, in the Cordillera region of Luzon island in the Philippines. If built, San Roque (Read More)
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Turkey: The Ilisu Dam and export credit agencies
Over the past 30 years, activists have fought a long battle for institutions such as the World Bank to adopt social and environmental policies. However, these institutions are no longer (Read More)
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Dam in Vietnam hits Cambodians
Vietnam’s US $1 billion Yali Falls 720-megawatt hydroelectric dam, under construction for the past seven years — with funding from the governments of Russia and Ukraine– drains into the Se (Read More)
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Guatemala: A dam and the massacre of 400 people
Forced resettlement of local people living in the area where dams are built usually results in human rights abuses. One of the most terrible examples is that of the Chixoy (Read More)
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Brazil: Interamerican Development Bank promotes destruction of Upper Tocantins River
The Tocantins River is the main river in the hydrological system of the “cerrado” (savanna) and eastern Amazon region of Brazil. The Brazilian government is planning the construction of eight (Read More)
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Chile: The struggle of the Pehuenche against the Ralco Dam
The Biobío River springs from Icalma and Galletue lakes in the Andes, in southern Chile and flows during 380 km through forests, agricultural lands and cities to the Pacific Ocean, (Read More)
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Colombia: The Urrá Dam and the death of the Sinú River
The Urrá Dam megaproject on the Sinú River in the Department of Córdoba, in the Colombian Atlantic region, constitutes a worldwide known environmental catastrophe as well as a complete disaster (Read More)
GENERAL
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The World Commission on Dams’ report
The World Commission on Dams (WCD) released its report on November 2000, after having carried out detailed studies and surveys on a number of large dams throughout the world. What (Read More)
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Hydroelectric dams are no solution to climate change
The international and national dam lobbyists have been fast to adapt their discourse to the changing world situation. Given the widespread concern over climate change related to greenhouse gas emissions, (Read More)
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International Day of Action against dams
Many people around the world are preparing an International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life, which will take place on March 14th, 2001. Last year, (Read More)