"We're going to build all the dams we possibly can in the Amazon, given the current legislation, and then we're going to revisit the other potential sites that involve impacts on indigenous lands and protected areas, and see how we may exploit that hydroelectric potential as well.
More than a billion people spread across 54 countries inhabit Africa, the world's second largest continent. People from Kenya to Ghana, from Sudan to Zambia, from Uganda to Lesotho are under threat from dam building.
This paper presents the Indian institutions which are engaged in building dams and other power projects abroad, and provides an overview of the projects which they are involved in. It summarizes the track record of Indian dam builders at home, and analyzes some of the problems which their new projects have created. The paper concludes with recommendations for future action.
When a dam developer claims that 97% of the people it surveyed are satisfied with their compensation, take it with a large grain of salt. Back in November 2008, International Rivers hired a consultant to visit the site of the Xiaoxi Dam on the Zishui River in China.
Jyoti Mhapsekar has ideas on low-cost ways to reduce the world's carbon burden. As president of the Parisar Vikas women's waste-pickers cooperative in Mumbai, India, and a climate activist, she has first-hand experience in an industry that is not only one of the cheapest ways to reduce emissions.
Africa is the least electrified place in the world. An estimated 550 million Africans have no access to electricity. Nearly half of African countries have a power crisis. Solving this huge problem is made more difficult by widespread poverty, and because most Africans live far from the grid, greatly adding to the cost of bringing electricity to them.
As far as water goes, climate change changes everything. Past experience of rainfall, snowfall, runoff and streamflow is no longer a reliable guide for the future. We'll all be affected, but especially small farmers and the poor and marginalized, who have the least ability to protect themselves against the depredations of droughts, floods and food shortages.
Alejandro Koehler is one of thousands of people throughout the country who have raised their voices against plans by energy companies, oftentimes foreign owned, to tap the electricity potential of Chile
The Amazon River accounts for one-fifth of the world's freshwater flow, and its floodplain is home to 60% of the world's remaining tropical rainforests. The basin's diverse ecosystems support an unparalleled array of biodiversity, and provide home to tens of thousands of indigenous people.
