Crisis
November 28, 2011
International Rivers and Friends of the Earth International have teamed
up to create a state-of-the-art Google Earth 3-D tour and video narrated
by Nigerian activist Nnimmo Bassey, winner of the prestigious Right
Livelihood Award. The production was launched today at the COP17 climate
meeting in Durban. The video and tour allow viewers to explore why dams
are not the answer to climate change, by learning about topics such as
reservoir emissions, dam safety, and adaptation while visiting real case
studies in the Amazon, Africa, and the Himalayas.
For example, the tour illustrates how melting glaciers in the Himalayas
� an effect of climate change � may lead to higher flood and safety
risks for communities living downstream of dams. The tour plunges the
viewer deep inside one of Brazil's dirtiest reservoirs, at the Tucuru�
Dam, to visualize how rotting organic material creates methane gas,
which bubbles up from dam reservoirs to emit greenhouse gases in the
tropics. The tour visualizes what smaller, decentralized projects would
look like that could more efficiently eradicate energy poverty in Africa
than large dams, while also reducing the economic risks of
drought-crippled dams.
The Durban climate meeting is themed "saving tomorrow today." Yet a
global dam boom being promoted by dam proponents � which includes dozens
of megadams proposed for Africa�s major rivers � could make a mockery of
this vision. Says Jason Rainey, Executive Director of International Rivers:
"Healthy rivers are becoming an endangered species because of the
impacts of large dams. There is no �tomorrow� without rivers � we can�t
adapt to a changing climate without them."
Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International and narrator
of the Google Earth video, says:
"Many African nations are dangerously dependent on hydropower, yet new
dams are being built without any analysis of how climate change could
affect their economic viability or their safety. Africa cannot afford
dried-up reservoirs or dam collapses on top of the already high costs of
adapting to a changing climate. We must develop climate-safe energy
systems that improve lives, share the development wealth, and help us
all weather the coming storm."
Using state of the art animation, the Google Earth production
illustrates three key reasons that large dams are the wrong response to
climate change:
River flows are increasingly unpredictable. Large dams have always been
based on the assumption that future stream-flow patterns will mirror
those of the past, but this is no longer true. Climate change has begun
to significantly and unpredictably change precipitation patterns. More
frequent droughts will make many hydropower projects uneconomic. More
extreme rainfall will increase the risk of dam failures and catastrophic
flood releases.
Healthy rivers are critical for supporting life on Earth. Big dams make
it harder for people and ecosystems downstream of dams to adapt to
climate change by reducing water quality and quantity, drying up forests
and wetlands, flooding productive land, and destroying fisheries.
Dam reservoirs emit greenhouse gases. In the tropics, dam reservoirs are
a globally significant source of one of the most potent gases, methane.
Meanwhile, free-flowing rivers play a crucial role in helping trap carbon.
Users may watch the video through YouTube, and download the interactive
tour to explore inside Google Earth. The video and interactive tour were
created with technical assistance from Google Earth Outreach, drawing
from diverse scientific data sources.
Google Earth Tour - Wrong Climate for Daming Rivers at
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/6928
A supporting fact sheet is available at
http://www.internationalrivers.org/node/6910
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