Saturday, March 31, 2012

Letter to the editor - (TNC) Group is not involved in (Myitsone) dam issue

Letter to the editor - (TNC) Group is not involved in (Myitsone) dam
issue, published in the South China Morning Post

link:
http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=72f0231fe3466310VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=Letters+to+the+Editor&s=Opinion#Top

I read with interest the article ("China Power (SEHK:2380) offers to buy
out Kachin loggers", March 29). I am glad you reported on this important
issue.

Dr Long Yongcheng, as wonderful a primatologist and person as he is, was
not authorised to speak for The Nature Conservancy or to engage with
China Power Investment (CPI) or others on the Myitsone dam issue.

His opinions are his own and do not represent the views of The Nature
Conservancy.

Like many other parties, The Nature Conservancy is deeply concerned
about the potential social and environmental impacts related to the
construction of the Myitsone dam.

We have previously engaged with dam builders and operators to mitigate
the impacts of dams on the environment, but we have not done so in this
case.

We have no evidence or analysis to support completion of the Myitsone
Dam, contrary to the impression left by your article.

In fact, The Nature Conservancy is not presently working in Myanmar, and
we have not been involved with the Myitsone dam issue.

In addition to river health issues, we are also interested in forest
health (as highlighted in your article), because people and nature, in
Asia and elsewhere, depend on these resources to survive.

We would in future like to be a part of a scientific effort to work with
local people in Kachin state and other interested parties to conserve
the precious forests that support the people of Myanmar and the natural
resources on which they depend.

The Nature Conservancy does not make public proclamations without
sufficient scientific evidence; regrettably, Dr Long has done so in this
case.

We completely disavow his remarks.

Charles Bedford, Asia Pacific Regional Managing Director, The Nature
Conservancy
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Friday, March 30, 2012

Myitsone Dam: "Lies, Dam Lies"

Myitsone Dam - Lies, Dam Lies

By COLIN HINSHELWOOD and PATRICK BOEHLER
30 March 2012
The Irrawaddy (http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/1445)

A leading member of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has refuted
allegations that the ethnic militia contacted a Chinese hydropower
investor for kickbacks.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, KIA Vice Chief of Staff Gen. S.
Gun Maw denied that any letter had been sent to China Power Investment
Corp (CPI) requesting profit-sharing on the Myitsone Dam construction
project.

An article in the Chinese edition of Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this
month quoted the general manager of CPI's Yunnan provincial branch, Li
Guanghua, as saying that the KIA had requested in a letter to "hold
talks to discuss the distribution of interests" at an initial stage of
the project."

"After consideration, the letter was thrown into the dustbin," Li was
quoted as saying.

In another recent article, in the Chinese daily Economic Observer, Qin
Hui, a historian at Beijing's renowned Tsinghua University, also alleged
that KIA and its political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation
(KIO), had attempted to cooperate with Chinese investors on the
hydropower project.

"In fact, it was the KIO that first attracted Chinese investors to the
region's hydropower potential," Qin wrote. However, "certain Chinese
companies ï¿½ cast the KIO aside, causing the angry separatists to change
their stance on several projects."

Yet, Qin wrote, even though the KIO was keen to work with Chinese
investors, it had always opposed the Myitsone project, comparing its
symbolic position for the Kachin people to that of Mount Fuji in Japan
or Mount Kumgang in North Korea.

Qin concluded that as hostility against the Chinese investors increased
in the area, so too did the public's level of support for the KIA/KIO.

The Myitsone Dam was scheduled to be constructed at the Myitsone
confluence of the Mali and N'mai rivers, and would have come to be the
country's largest hydropower dam, flooding an area roughly the size of
Singapore. Some 90 percent of its energy output was earmarked to go to
China in the first 50 years of its operation.

However, Burma's President Thein Sein suspended the US $3.6
billion-dollar project in September last year after a public outcry over
its environmental impact. It is understood that the project is a joint
venture between CPI and Burmese magnate Steven Law's Asia World Company Ltd.

Li Guanghua's comments to Bloomberg Businessweek provided fresh insight
on how CPI became involved in the multi-billion-dollar megadam
construction project.

He said that in 2006 a Burmese government official travelled to Kunming,
Yunnan's provincial capital, seeking Chinese investors for hydropower
projects in Burma, and eventually approached CPI.

CPI thus became the only Chinese hydropower investor in Burma, and Li
recalled shuttling between Kunming, Beijing and Naypyidaw to settle the
deal.

He said that now there were more than 10 Chinese companies investing in
hydropower in Burma. "Our company is in China, our business is in Burma,
our competitors are all Chinese investors, the competition is fierce,"
Li said to Chinese journalist Yang Meng who was permitted by CPI to
visit the Myitsone Dam's construction site last month.

Yang subsequently reported that of the originally dispatched 2,000
Chinese workers for the initial phase of the dam's construction, only
200 were left. He described the construction site as deserted and said
equipment worth 700 million yuan (US $100 million) was left rotting in
the humid heat. "We have become a victim of politics," one CPI worker
was quoted as saying.

Yang said that bringing supplies from the Yunnan border town of
Tengchong solved the initial scarcity of supplies. With telephone lines
brought over from the border town, even the dial code for landlines at
the construction site is that of Tengchong, he said.

Yang's article in Bloomberg further went on to describe how the Chinese
journalist joined CPI staff on Feb. 23 at their office in Myitkyina to
listen to a campaign speech by Aung San Suu Kyi on the radio. At the end
of the speech, he wrote, he heard a long sigh of relief among the staff,
because Suu Kyi had not mentioned the dam project.

CPI has since been lobbying within China for the continuation of the
Myitsone project.

Lobbyist and Deputy Secretary General of the China Society for
Hydropower Engineering Zhang Boting has published several articles in
Chinese national newspapers, including the People's Daily, arguing for a
resumption of the project.

Burma "is expected to lift the suspension of the dam project, and the
state government of Kachin should give its support," he told the Hong
Kong-based South China Morning Post on Thursday.

Last month, the chief scientist at Nature Conservancy's China program,
Long Yongcheng, met with CPI representatives in Kunming, the South China
Morning Post also reported.

Long reportedly said that CPI representatives had expressed concern over
extensive logging in the vicinity of the Myitsone river confluence,
which would increase the amount of silt in the rivers' waters and could
even lead to landslides potentially damaging the future dam.

CPI was considering establishing a fund capitalized with five to 15
percent of the total investment value to provide business alternatives
for locals engaged in logging, the environmentalist told the Hong Kong
daily.

Burma's largest hydropower project is currently the Yeywa Dam on the
Myitnge River in Mandalay Division. It was handed over to Burmese
operators by a Chinese construction consortium on Thursday, Chinese
national television reported.

Construction of the 790-MW dam had been completed in December, six
months ahead of schedule. A consortium of Swiss and British engineers,
but mostly Chinese state-owned enterprises, were responsible for the
$700-million hydropower project.

But it is the Myitsone project that continues to raise temperatures
across Burma with prominent activists and environmentalists saying that
it would cause profound damage to the Irrawaddy Riverï¿½the source of
livelihood to millions of Burmese.

The suspension of the project by Thein Sein was greeted with acclaim at
home and abroad, and has been seen by many critics as the most concrete
move by Naypyidaw to prove to the world that it is reforming.

However, several observers and local NGOs have voiced concerns that the
project has not, in fact, been suspended, citing movements of Burmese
army troops into the area, the retention of the Chinese workforce at the
site, and the continued displacement of local villagers.
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Omo river dries up downstream of Gibe III due to diversions for plantations

http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/8228

Revealed: how Ethiopia's plantations are killing vital waterway 28 March

New photographic evidence proves Ethiopia's controversial plantations scheme is killing the Lower Omo River, a lifeline for 100,000 tribal people.

The Omo River downstream from the notorious Gibe III dam is now being diverted into a newly-dug irrigation canal, one of several which will feed a massively ambitious plantations scheme for state and private investors.

These manmade canals are key to Ethiopia's plantations plan, which is already having a hugely negative impact on UNESCO's Lower Omo World Heritage site.

The government has revealed virtually nothing about the plantations program, but an official map obtained by Survival shows the enormous scope of the project.

One local person, speaking to a Survival researcher who recently visited the area, said, 'I've never seen the river this low. During the dry season, like it is now, you can usually cross by foot, and water reaches your knees. Now I could cross without my feet getting wet.'

The Gibe III dam, 200 kms upstream, will interrupt the river's natural flow and deprive thousands of tribespeople of their most valuable agricultural land by stopping the annual flood.

The flooding of the Omo River feeds the rich biodiversity of the region and ensures tribes such as the Bodi, Mursi and Dassanach can feed their cattle and produce beans and cereals in the fertile silt left behind.

There was a flood last year, but most Bodi and Mursi were not able to use it for cultivation because of the irrigation project. There will be no flood this year, as the dam reservoir starts to fill, nor in succeeding years. The people have been told they will be given food aid in compensation.

Indigenous communities are also suffering from violent human rights abuses, as plans are implemented forcibly to resettle those who stand in the way of the government's plans, and to take away their cattle.

Survival's Director Stephen Corry said today, 'Ethiopia's government is destroying the Lower Omo Valley and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of indigenous people – all in the name of 'development'. However the human cost cannot be ignored. Re-directing a water lifeline is irresponsible and reckless.'

Thursday, March 29, 2012

China to flood nature reserve with latest Yangtze dam

China to flood nature reserve with latest Yangtze dam
Reuters
By Lucy Hornby and Jim Bai

BEIJING | Thu Mar 29, 2012 6:53am EDT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/29/us-china-dam-idUSBRE82S0GG20120329

(Reuters) - China's Three Gorges Corp. on Thursday marked the beginning
of construction for a dam that will flood the last free-flowing portion
of the middle reaches of the Yangtze, the country's longest river.

The 30 billion yuan ($4.75 billion) Xiaonanhai dam is decried by
environmentalists because it will flood a nature reserve designed to
protect about 40 species of river fish.

Completion of the dam would turn the middle section of the Yangtze into
a series of reservoirs, leaving "no space for fish", said
environmentalist Ma Jun, who has been active for over two years in
trying to prevent the dam.

"This is the last one, the last section in 2,000 kilometers (1,250
miles) along the Yangtze that was left for endangered or local fish
species. This would be their last habitat," Ma told Reuters.

A ceremony was held to commence early-stage preparation, including
building a road and laying power lines and water pipes, said Zhu
Guangming, news department director at Three Gorges Corp.

"Construction of the dam itself will begin only after we get final
approval," Zhu said, declining to give cost estimates.

"The government will give due consideration to all aspects including
environment impact before issuing a permit."

The Xiaonanhai dam would be the last in a series of 12 dams along the
Yangtze, the rest of which are all completed or under construction.

The series will stretch inland from the Three Gorges Dam, which has
created an inland reservoir more than 600 km long that has allowed the
city of Chongqing to develop into an inland port. When completed,
Xiaonanhai dam is designed to produce 1.76 gigawatts, a fraction of the
22.50 GW that the Three Gorges Dam will produce when it reaches full
capacity.

AWAITING FINAL APPROVAL

The Chongqing municipal government is currently embroiled in a power
struggle after the ambitious party secretary, Bo Xilai, was sacked
earlier this month. The mega-city's hard-charging police chief was also
taken into custody by central authorities after spending a day in the
nearest U.S. consulate.

Preliminary approval for the dam was issued by the National Development
and Reform Commission, China's top planning agency, which also has the
authority to issue final approval.

The boundaries of the nature reserve were earlier re-drawn to allow the
construction of the even larger Xiangjiaba and Xiluodu dams.

According to NGO International Rivers, which opposes the construction of
large hydro dams and has been critical of China's ambitious hydropower
plans, the Xiangjiaba dam will be 6.4 GW and the Xiluodu dam 13.86 GW.

China wants to raise installed power capacity by 470 gigawatts (GW) to
1,437 GW by 2015 -- the largest in the world. At least 110 gigawatts of
the new capacity will be from hydro power -- equivalent to five Three
Gorges hydropower projects. Current hydropower capacity is 216 GW, also
the world's largest.

The Three Gorges Dam is the world's biggest power project and was
controversial well before it began construction in 1994.

Objections ranged from the destruction of rare species to the flooding
of historic towns and displacement of millions of people, to concerns
that it would quickly silt up and lose its efficiency in generating power.

It produces about 2 percent of China's power.

Subsequent audits of the Three Gorges project showed that many of the
flooded communities were never properly resettled while the steep banks
of the reservoir have been plagued by dangerous landslides as the water
undermines the hillsides.

In January, China's environment ministry told hydropower developers they
must "put ecology first" and pay strict attention to the impact of their
projects on local rivers and communities.

(Reporting By Lucy Hornby; Editing by David Fogarty and Jonathan Thatcher)
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Ethiopia dam committee to form

Two articles on the Grand Renaissance Dam, Africa's biggest.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201203290121.html

Egypt State Information Service (Cairo)
Egypt: Qandeel - Tripartite Committee to Evaluate Renaissance Dam
Starts Mid May28 March 2012

Irrigation Minister Hisham Qandeel said the Tripartite Committee for
evaluating Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam will starts work before mid May
2012.

Egypt will host an important meeting next week on the crisis of the
Eastern Nile countries in the light of freezing downstream countries
activities with Ethiopia after its signing of the framework agreement.

This came after Qandeel's return from a two-day visit to Addis Ababa,
during which he met his Sudanese and Ethiopian counterparts.

They signed an agreement that includes the nomination of the four
international experts, who will work on the study and evaluation of
the dam.

Those experts are among leading experts on dams, water science and
environment in Germany, France, England and South Africa.

In the same context, Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri received from
Qandeel a report on the results of the meetings of Eastern Nile
countries water ministers, hosted by the Ethiopian capital.

--------------
Ethiopia Plans Electricity Sales to Sudan That May Grow 12-Fold

By William Davison
March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia Electric Power Corp., the state-
owned utility, said it expects to begin electricity sales to
neighboring Sudan in May that could grow 12-fold by 2020 when a series
of dams on the Blue Nile River are completed.
Power will be exported via a World Bank-funded 230-kilovolt
transmission line, starting at 100 megawatts and increasing to 1,200
megawatts within eight years, Tesfaye Batu, a project manager at
EEPCo., said in an interview today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopiaï¿½s capital.
Ethiopia also plans to ship 2,000 megawatts to Egypt by the end of the
decade, he said.
Electricity will be supplied from the under-construction Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Africaï¿½s biggest power plant that is
expected to be completed by 2018. ï¿½The interconnection between the
three countries has already been approved by the three countries,ï¿½
Tesfaye said. A new design means the dam will have the capacity to
produce 6,000 megawatts, rather than the 5,250 megawatts originally
envisaged, Water Minister Alemayehu Tegenu said in a phone interview
today.
Ethiopia, the worldï¿½s third-biggest coffee producer, is seeking
to diversify its economy to reduce its reliance on agriculture for 43
of total output. The country began power exports to neighboring
Djibouti in May 2010 and plans to begin shipments to Kenya by 2016.
The sales may generate as much as $300 million annually by 2015,
according to Access Capital, the Addis Ababa-based research company.

ï¿½Unrealistic Expectationsï¿½

ï¿½If power to Sudan and Egypt was sold in 2020 at the same rate as
it currently is to Djibouti, Ethiopia would earn $1.6 billion a year
from the 3,200 megawatts,ï¿½ Access said in an e-mailed response to
questions today. ï¿½However, given large domestic demand needs, the
assumption that 3,200 megawatts will be exported in 2020 may be
unrealistic.ï¿½
Ethiopiaï¿½s hydropower programs rely on the ï¿½unpredictableï¿½ flow
of Nile River, which may silt up quickly because of deforestation and
could ï¿½throw an entire watershed out of ecological balance,ï¿½ according
to International Rivers, the Berkeley, California-based advocacy group.
ï¿½Ethiopiaï¿½s dam boom is the wrong approach to energy development
in a climate-challenged Horn of Africa,ï¿½ Africa campaigner Lori
Pottinger said in an e-mailed response to questions on Feb. 27.
It costs $1.5 million to generate a megawatt of power in Ethiopia
versus a world average of $2.5 million per megawatt, according to
Access.

Transmission Links

The plan for transmission links between Ethiopia, Sudan and
Egypt, including four 500-kilovolt links, was made by the Nile Basin
Initiative, a donor-supported body of 10 countries set up
to establish cooperative management of the riverï¿½s resources, said
Tesfaye. Although discussions over water-sharing have delayed progress
on interconnection, Ethiopia and Sudan may push
ahead, he said. ï¿½The Sudanese and Ethiopian sides are very much keen
to go for this interconnection,ï¿½ said Tesfaye.
A joint committee of the three countries established to study the
Grand Renaissance dam, which is 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the
Sudanese border, began work in January,
according to the Addis Ababa-based Walta Information Center.
The $4.8 billion project is being funded ï¿½domestically,ï¿½ though
bonds for the dam will be offered to citizens in neighboring
countries, Ethiopiaï¿½s Communications Minister Bereket Simon said by
phone from the capital on Feb. 27.
ï¿½This is a project that benefits every country in the region,ï¿½ he
said. About 7 billion birr ($403 million) has been pledged of which 4
billion has been collected from Ethiopian sources for the plant,
according to Bereket.

Egyptian Resistance

Egypt depends on the Nile River for all of its water and
historically opposed infrastructure projects by upstream nations
during former President Hosni Mubarakï¿½s rule, according to the
government of Ethiopia. About 80 percent of the riverï¿½s flow
originates in Ethiopia.
Egyptian Water Minister Hesham Kandilu backed development
projects on the Nile, using Ugandan hydropower projects as an example,
the Kampala-based Daily Monitor reported on Feb. 24.
Three other hydropower plants on Ethiopiaï¿½s Blue Nile with the
capacity to produce as much as 5,000 megawatts in total are planned,
Wondimu Tekle, Ethiopiaï¿½s state minister for water and energy, said in
a phone interview from the capital on Feb. 27.
Ethiopia will generate most of the low-cost electricity that will
be traded among nine countries that are expected to connect to a
regional grid by 2016, according to the Eastern Africa Power Pool, an
Addis Ababa-based body that facilitates regional integration.
The World Bank fully funded the 297-kilometer, $41.1 Sudan
interconnection project that began in December 2008, Tesfaye said.
While the transmission line constructed by Bosniaï¿½s Energoinvest was
completed in June, the sub-station being built by Iran Power & Water
Export of Equipment & Services Co. was delayed due to problems caused
by international sanctions on the Middle Eastern country, he said.
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Report suggests ways to manage water resources

Report suggests ways to manage water resources
Dipannita Das, TNN | Times of India, Mar 29, 2012

PUNE: Climate change presents a unique opportunity to revisit our plans
to develop and manage water resources, besides helping frame policies
and practices, says a report titled 'water sector options for India in a
changing climate,' published recently by South Asia Network on Dams,
Rivers and People (SANDRP).

The SANDRP is an informal network that works on issues related to
rivers, large dams and their impacts, sustainability and governance. The
report provides options for coping with climate change and mitigating
its negative effects, besides discussing challenges in managing water
resources.The study is based on community initiatives taken up across
the country

The report cites examples of Hiware Bazar in Maharashtra which displayed
efficiency in rainwater harvesting in local water systems to ensure
groundwater recharge; Bhandara Nisarga va Sanskrutik Abhyas Mandal which
worked closely with government committees on tank revitalisation and
bringing the local perspective on board; and Ralegaon Siddhi for
retaining rainwater.

Parineeta Dandekar, associate coordinator of SANDRP, Pune, told TOI that
there were methods to cope local changes on a small scale and these
community-based initiatives were the best examples. Large hydro electric
power dam or irrigation dam is not an answer to climate change, she added.

Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator SANDRP, said that groundwater is India's
lifeline. In the context of climate change, groundwater demand, use and
recharge will be affected leading to further depletion of groundwater
levels.

Urgent action is required to protect existing groundwater recharge
systems, to create more groundwater recharge systems, reduce groundwater
use by adopting appropriate cropping patterns, cropping methods, and
take up regulatory system.

The report cites an example of the impact of crops in the changing
climate scenario. It

states that changing weather patterns are affecting cultivation cycles
on 444,790 acres of grape farms in Maharashtra. It quotes Mahendra
Sahir, president of the Maharashtra State Grape Growers' Association,
who says rainfall in November for the last three to four years has
delayed pruning and thus harvesting, making it increasingly difficult to
meet deadlines for supplies of grapes to the European Union.

Thakkar said that some of the sections of Indian population that were
most vulnerable to the impact of climate change in the context of water
and agriculture, included farmers dependent on rain-fed agriculture,
coastal populations, communities from Himalayas, eastern and western
ghats, fisher-folks, tribals, dalits, rural populations, urban poor and
women. Any climate action needs to begin with identifying and listing
such sections and then proceeding to prepare plans in a participatory
way for its mitigation, he said.

The report said that the approach for revamped water management strategy
in changing climate would need to include a protection strategy for
rivers, forests, wetlands, water bodies, biodiversity, critical
ecological habitats and groundwater reserves, as well as demand side
management measures, along with a definition of the clear linkages
between these domains.

According to Thakkar, the opportunities provided by climate change were
still within reach. India, with the world's largest water
infrastructure, also has the biggest performance deficit in terms of
what that infrastructure can deliver and what it was delivering now.
However, he pointed out that India's national action plan for climate
change, or the national agriculture and water missions do not take this
first crucial step and hence have remained directionless, ineffective
and have not inspired much confidence.

The report will be submitted to departments concerned, local bodies and
civil society organizations to take up the recommendations.

[The full report can be ordered from ht.sandrp@gmail.com, or downloaded
from
http://sandrp.in/wtrsect/Water_Sector_Options_India_in_Changing_Climate_0312.pdf.]
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Bakun Dam, Malaysia - Rio Tinto scraps Malaysian aluminium smelter deal

Rio Tinto scraps Malaysian aluminium smelter deal
28 March 2012 - AFP

KUALA LUMPUR ï¿½ Resources giant Rio Tinto and a Malaysian partner have
scrapped plans for a $2 billion aluminium smelter in Borneo over
problems agreeing power supply terms, its local partner said.

Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS), which owns 40 percent of the Sarawak Aluminium
Company (SALCO) smelter development in Sarawak state, announced the
termination late Tuesday in a filing with the Malaysian stock exchange.

The move was welcomed by environmentalists, who said it was a major blow
CMS, a family-linked business of Sarawak chief minister Abdul Taib
Mahmud who had backed the plant to promote a controversial
hydro-electric dam project.

Rio and Cahya Mata "agreed that they would cease to pursue plans to
jointly develop an aluminium smelter at Samalaju in Sarawak but remain
open to other future possible collaborations," CMS group managing
director Richard Curtis said in a statement.

He said they were "unable to finalise commercial power supply terms with
SEB (power supplier Sarawak Energy Bhd) which would meet the parties'
current respective financial considerations and economic imperatives".

The smelter was expected to have an initial production capacity of
550,000 tonnes of aluminium a year, with the potential to expand to 1.5
million tonnes.

Environmental group The Bruno Manser Fund welcomed the move and said in
a statement that Taib has "continually" used the smelter to promote the
controversial $2.2 billion Bakun hydroelectric dam.

The dam has been described by critics as "a graft-plagued human and
ecological disaster", but which officials said was needed to meet the
demand for electricity despite a power surplus.

Last December, environmental groups and activists from Malaysia, Europe
and Australia called for Taib's arrest over alleged crimes including
illegal appropriation of public funds and land, abuse of office, fraud,
money-laundering "and conspiracy to form a criminal organisation."
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Friday, March 23, 2012

Day of Action for Rivers - thank you and update

(Español abajo)
Hello all!

Just sending a hello, thank you, and update to all of you! It's been so
great learning about the actions that so many of you have organized and
participated in, and I woke up on March 14th trying to imagine all the
things that would take place on that day. Thank you for letting me know
about your plans and sending photos so I can share them.

I've made a count of actions - more than 150 in 43 countries! It seems
every year there are more actions! Check out the Day of Action for
Rivers blog to read about some of these actions, and you can view our
2012 Actions by Region page to see information about your own action –
please let me know if there are any details you'd like me to update on
those pages.

Blog: http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/7312
2012 Actions by Region Page:
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/7094

Seeing all the different media coverage on the Day of Action for
Rivers, I do think this day made an impact on how the world sees the
issues of dam and free-flowing rivers. It takes the courageous, creative
voices to do that. And I imagine that will all the people coming
together, many strong connections were made.

Best,
Katherine

Hola a todos,

Quiero enviar un saludo, gracias, y actualizar a todos ustedes! Ha sido
tan bueno aprender acerca de las acciones que muchos de ustedes se han
organizado y participado, y me desperté el 14 de marzo tratando de
imaginar todas las cosas que se llevaría a cabo en ese día. Gracias por
hacerme saber acerca de sus planes y el envío de fotos, así que puede
compartir.

He hecho un recuento de las acciones - más de 150 en 43 países! Parece
que cada año hay más acciones! Echa un vistazo a el Día de Acción por
los Ríos blog para leer acerca de algunas de estas acciones, y usted
puede ver nuestras acciones por la página 2012 Región para ver
información acerca de su propia acción - por favor, hágamelo saber si
hay detalles para incluir o cambiar en esas páginas.

Blog: http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/7312
Página 2012 Acciones de Región:
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/7094

Al ver toda la cobertura de diferentes medios de comunicación en el Día
de Acción por los Ríos, creo que el día tuvo un impacto en cómo el mundo
ve los problemas de la presa y ríos de flujo libre. Este requiere todos
los valientes y sus voces creativas de hacerlo. Y me imagino que todas
las personas que se unen, muchas conexiones se hicieron fuertes.

Gracias,
Katherine

--
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Take Action for Rivers on March 14!

Katherine Brousseau
International Rivers
2150 Allston Way, Suite 300
Berkeley, CA 94704-1378 USA
Phone: +1.510.848.1155 Ext. 332
Fax: +1.510.848.1008
E-mail: dayofaction@internationalrivers.org
Web: www.internationalrivers.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DayofActionforRivers

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Can Jim Yong Kim Reinvent the World Bank?

Can Jim Yong Kim Reinvent the World Bank?
By Peter Bosshard, International Rivers
March 23, 2012

(The full blog, including links to background documents and Kim's rapper
video, is available at www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/7317.)

Jim Yong Kim - a public health expert, president of Dartmouth College
and astute rapper - is the US government's candidate for the presidency
of the World Bank. As Dani Rodrik, a development expert at Harvard
University, summed it up this morning, "it's nice to see that Obama can
still surprise us." Will the new candidate, who was not on anybody's
shortlist for the position, be able to reinvent the World Bank?

The current process, in which the US and European governments divide up
the World Bank and IMF top posts among themselves, is a farce and needs
to be changed. Southern governments have put forward Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
and Jose Antonio Ocampo, the finance ministers of Nigeria and (formerly)
Colombia, for the position. By nominating a candidate without any
experience in global finance and politics, the Obama administration
appears to poke a finger in the eyes of these governments. Lant
Pritchett, a former World Bank official, has already decried Kim's
nomination as "an embarrassment for the US."

Civil society groups from the South and North agree on the need to
democratize global governance. The colleagues behind the World Bank
President website even carried out a poll among nine potential
heavy-weight candidates from developing countries. While I share the
critique of the current process, I do not understand why NGO activists
need to support representatives of the status quo such as South Africa's
finance minister Trevor Manuel or in fact Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was
the World Bank's Managing Director for many years.

So what is the track record of the new candidate? In 1987, Jim Yong Kim
co-founded Partners In Health, a healthcare non-profit, with four other
public health experts. PIH believes that health care is a right, and
makes diagnosis and treatment available to all patients for free. The
organization supports a preventive approach by promoting people's right
to food, water, education and housing. It relies on community activists
rather than expensive experts to promote disease prevention and deliver
medicines for the treatment of AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases
that afflict the poor.

Through the Institute for Health and Social Justice, PIH also exposes
the social and economic roots of the public health crisis in poor
countries. In Dying for Growth, a book that was edited by Jim Yong Kim,
the Institute documented that lacking access to health care was not a
question of insufficient resources but unequal power, and that the
economic policies of governments, funders and corporations can deepen
the health crisis of the poor. While I cannot claim to know Jim Yong
Kim's work in detail, this approach is certainly closer to my heart than
the policies espoused by other candidates for the World Bank job.

The World Bank needs to reinvent itself. Since Southern financiers have
overtaken the institution in terms of lending, this is no longer simply
the position of NGO activists. The Bank currently tries to cut its
administrative costs by focusing on big, centralized infrastructure
projects such as multipurpose dams. As I have shown elsewhere, this
approach has bypassed the rural poor since it first became en vogue in
the 1950s and 1960s.

Decentralized, bottom-up solutions such as solar panels, improved
cooking stoves, treadle pumps and drip irrigation could address the
energy and water needs of the poor more effectively than the centralized
mega-projects of the past, in the same way that the cell phone
resolution has made the landline approach obsolete in the communication
sector. The experience that Jim Yong Kim gained with PIH in the villages
of Haiti and the slums of Peru could help him understand how to address
poverty and injustice through bottom-up solutions.

Could Jim Yong Kim's presidency offer a chance to reinvent the World
Bank? Redirecting the supertanker of multilateral development finance
will take more than a change of presidents. The entrenched interests in
the Bank's management and board will try to prevent a change of course.
But why would the Obama administration nominate Jim Yong Kim if it were
not prepared to back a new approach?

Again, the selection process for the World Bank presidency needs to
change. But Jim Yong Kim appears to be the most interesting and
promising candidate regardless of his (US and Korean) passports. The
World Bank is facing exciting times.

Peter Bosshard is the policy director of International Rivers. He blogs
at www.internationalrivers.org/en/blog/peter-bosshard and tweets at
www.twitter.com/PeterBosshard.
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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Controversy swirls over Canadian plan to build vast new hydroelectric plant in Labrador

(For more on this project and Canada's plan to build multiple dams to
sell electricity to the US, see this article in the latest edition of
World Rivers Review: http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/7210)

http://www.pri.org/stories/science/environment/controversy-swirls-over-canadian-plan-to-build-vast-new-hydroelectric-plant-in-labrador-9063.html

Controversy swirls over Canadian plan to build vast new hydroelectric
plant in Labrador

Published 22 March, 2012 11:13:00 PRI's The World

As Canada confronts its need for electricity and a desire to reduce
the amount of carbon it pumps into the atmosphere, it's turning to
two, large hydroelectric dams in Labrador. But there's potential for
other environmental damage that has many in the area saying "no thanks."
Thereï¿½s no maintained trail to Muskrat Falls, just a steep, slippery
path worn down by visitors and crossed by roots and fallen trees.
It ends on gigantic rocks that jut out over the impressive falls that
cross the breadth of the Churchill River. The Churchill is a powerful
river that runs more than 500 miles through the largely untouched
forests of Labrador, in far northeastern Canada. The interior feels
about as far as you can get from just about anywhere, but itï¿½s at the
center of the ambitions of the government of the province of
Newfoundland and Labrador, which includes this huge part of the
Canadian mainland as well as the large island just to the east.

Thereï¿½s already one big hydroelectric dam on the Churchill a couple of
hundred miles northwest of here, and now the provinceï¿½s energy
authority, NALCOR, plans to build two more, including one at Muskrat
Falls.

The two lower Churchill dams together would produce over 3,000
megawatts of power, as much as 13 average coal-fired power plants.
Gilbert Bennett, a project manager for NALCOR, said the project is the
largest single hydroelectric development currently under consideration
in North America.

ï¿½From our perspective, itï¿½s the cornerstone of our provinceï¿½s energy
plan,ï¿½ Bennett said.

Some of the power from the project would flow east to the provinceï¿½s
population centers on the island of Newfoundland. But even there, the
population is pretty small. So after the province takes its share, it
would sell the rest of the power to other parts of eastern Canada and
the northeastern United States.

The project would bring badly needed jobs and income to this remote
and sparsely-populated province. But many locals say they want none of
it.

ï¿½These guys have got tunnel vision and no concern for Labrador,ï¿½ said
Alex Saunders, a native Inuit whose family was one of the first to
settle in the region of Muskrat Falls. Saunders now lives in
Labradorï¿½s hub, a town of about 7,500 people called Happy Valley-Goose
Bay. He and other opponents say the project will disrupt water levels
below the dam and flood and pollute the river valley above it.

Saunders was recently in the hospital with chest pains, but he got
energized talking about the project. He said people on the island of
Newfoundland and elsewhere would get most of the benefits, while
Labrador would bear all of the costs.

ï¿½If the Newfoundland government wants to produce hydropower,ï¿½ he said,
ï¿½why donï¿½t they do in on the island of Newfoundland? And if the United
States wants to buy power, why donï¿½t they develop their own power? Why
are they coming to us?ï¿½

Some of the potential customers for the electricity are asking the
same questions. New York State could receive a chunk of the renewable
power from the project, but some environmental groups there are
opposed to it. The stateï¿½s chapter of the Sierra Club said it would
continue the regionï¿½s reliance on huge, concentrated and remote energy
production rather than local, renewable resources like wind and solar,
that can be produced on-site.

But some experts say those new energy sources canï¿½t yet meet the
regionï¿½s big appetite for electricity.

ï¿½It would be nice to have distributed power and have everyoneï¿½s house
generating all the electricity we would need,ï¿½ said Peter Wilcoxen,
the Director of the Center for Environmental Policy at Syracuse
University. ï¿½But weï¿½re very far from that point.ï¿½

Wilcoxen said it will take decades for enough solar, wind and other
local renewable resources to come on line, and in the interim, the
U.S. is going to need more centralized power. And, Wilcoxen said that
power needs to be as low-carbon as possible. And for supporters,
thatï¿½s one of the biggest arguments in favor of the project. Gilbert
Bennett of the provincial power authority argues the dams represent a
big source of clean energy that can fuel the economy while cutting
greenhouse gas emissions.

And he said opponents in Labrador who focus on the damsï¿½ impact on the
Churchill River may be missing the bigger picture: that climate change
caused by pollution from coal and other fossil fuels is already
affecting Labrador.

ï¿½The winters are later,ï¿½ Bennett said. ï¿½The amount of rainfall in
December and January is greater, the freeze of the river is later and
the thaw is earlier. In Labrador, where you have consistently expected
to see cold winters and warm summers, we do see differences.ï¿½

To supporters, that raises the urgency for building a big, new, low-
carbon source of electricity like the dams, the first of which could
start to come online in about four years. But opponents are unmoved by
the green argument for the project.

Happy Valley-Goose Bay resident Daphne Roberts lives below Muskrat
Falls. She hikes and fishes along the Churchill, and she worries the
fish and the views will disappear if the dams are built. And she has a
message about the river for the power company.

ï¿½I go sit on the riverbank and listen to the birds singing,ï¿½ Roberts
said. ï¿½I was there just two days ago ... and I said youï¿½re not going
to get it. Weï¿½re going to fight it. Itï¿½s not going to happen.ï¿½

Opponents of the Lower Churchill dams hope they can block its approval
by Canadaï¿½s public utilities board. But if the province prevails,
construction could start later this year.

----------------------------------------------------------

"PRI's "The World" is a one-hour, weekday radio news magazine offering
a mix of news, features, interviews, and music from around the globe.
"The World" is a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH
Boston. More about The World.
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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Hydropower 'could supply Africa's entire power needs'

Of course, this needs a rebuttal. We hope to blog about this soon.

Hydropower 'could supply Africa's entire power needs'

Alecia D. McKenzie

20 March 2012

www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/renewable-energy/news/hydropower-could-supply-africa-s-entire-power-needs-.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CPWF_updates+%28CPWF+Updates%29

The report says Africa has yet to fully utilise its vast hydropower
potential

[MARSEILLES] Hydropower could supply all of Africa's electricity needs
if cross-border cooperation was stepped up, according to a UN report
launched last week (12 March) at the World Water Forum in Marseilles,
France.

Africa currently generates just one third of its electricity from
hydropower, but could learn from cooperation and training programmes
with India and some Western countries, according to Ulcay Unver,
coordinator of the UN World Water Assessment Programme, which produced
its fourth edition of the World Water Development Report.

The report said African governments have begun to recognise the
importance of cooperative electricity projects.

Several strong examples have begun to emerge, including the Southern
African Power Pool (SAPP) and the West African Power Pool. These bring
together groups of national electricity companies under the authority of
the Southern African Development Community and the Economic Community of
West African States respectively.

SAPP has created a common power grid between its 12 member states. Such
cross-border cooperation is increasing, according to Amadou Hama Maiga,
the deputy director general of the International Institute for Water and
Environmental Engineering (IIWEE) in Burkina Faso.

He supported the UN's call to develop hydropower in Africa, but warned
that the financial challenges of finding the money for dam and
hydropower plants were significant.

Nonetheless, large projects are underway, including a collaboration
between India's Tata Power company and the South African mining group
Exxaro for renewable energy projects ï¿½ including hydropower ï¿½ in
Botswana and South Africa.

A trans-national project to rehabilitate and expand the Inga
hydroelectric dams in the Democratic Republic of Congo could generate 80
per cent of the electricity used in Africa by 2020, said Maiga.

Unver told SciDev.Net that technology projects are "essential drivers"
of African development, but technology alone is not enough. "You may
have the best technology but you have to be able to use and maintain
it," he said.

To meet the need for skilled graduates, 30 African states are working
with IIWEE to train 200 water engineers each year.

Some scientists have warned that the global push to develop hydropower
carries certain risks, especially in developing countries.

Alain Vidal, director of the Challenge Programme on Water and Food ï¿½
part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research ï¿½
told SciDev.Net the best approach would be one that enabled stakeholders
in the energy, food and water sectors to work together.

"Building river dams and developing hydropower should not compete with
water and food security," he said.

He called for "smart dams and smart hydropower that take into account
the impact on agriculture and fisheries", which he said could include
cascading dams, and adding turbines to small, existing dams rather than
building huge new projects.
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Water Options for India in a Changing Climate

SANDRP new report on
Water Options for India in a Changing Climate

On the eve of the World Water Day 2012, the South Asia Network on Dams,
Rivers & People (SANDRP) is happy to publish its new report: Water
Sector Options for India in a Changing Climate. The report highlights
that for the poorest sections, also most vulnerable in the climate
change context, the water, food, livelihood and energy security, closely
linked with the environment security, is already getting severely
affected in the changing climate. It is well known that water is the
medium through which climate change impacts are most dominant. South
Asia is considered possibly the most vulnerable region in terms of
number of people that would be affected by climate change impacts, and
within South Asia, India has the largest vulnerable population. The
importance of understanding the Water Sector Options in such a situation
cannot be underestimated. The report highlights the options for coping
and mitigating climate change challenges in water sector in India.

This report tries to capture the relevant issues for Indian Water Sector
in the context of changing climate. The 93+ix page report divided in 12
chapters (including on Rainfall, Himalayan Glaciers, Groundwater,
Rivers, Floodplains, Wetlands and water bodies, Big Water
Infrastructure, Agriculture, Urban water options and Positive local
water adaptation cases). It includes a case study each on Organic
Farming (by Shripad Dharmadhikary) and on Forest-Agriculture settings in
Western Ghats (by Dr Latha Anantha and S Unnikrishnan).

The report concludes that Climate change offers a unique opportunity to
revisit our water resources development and management Plans, policies
and practices. It also provides an opportunity to learn lessons from
past approaches to development and management in a credible way. The
purpose for a revamped water management strategy in changing climate
could be that of equitable, sustainable, participatory, decentralised,
democratic and transparent approach to water management; an approach
based on sound knowledge and data to make decisions. Further, this
approach would need to include a protection strategy for the rivers,
forests, wetlands, water bodies, biodiversity, critical ecological
habitats and groundwater reserves, as well as demand side management
measures, along with a definition of the clear linkages between these
domains. In water scarce situations, all demands cannot be sacrosanct,
and there is a need to prioritise the just use of water with right based
approach that includes right to drinking water, livelihoods and health.
The final chapter gives a list of recommendations in this context.

The opportunities provided by climate change are still within reach.
India, with the world's largest water infrastructure also has the
biggest performance deficit in terms of what that infrastructure can
deliver and what it is delivering now. Groundwater is India's water
lifeline and opportunity beckons to make it sustainable, in the changing
climate when demands and losses would go up. Our foodgrains requirements
and water for the same would go up, but there are huge opportunities
like increasing soil moisture holding capacity, taking up chauka systems
in grazing lands, organic farming, System of Rice Intensification, also
applicable to other crops on the one hand and water saving crops like
millets on the other. Glaciers are melting, the IPCC glacier-gate
notwithstanding, but we have the options of creating large number of
local storages and also using underground aquifer storage space. Urban
water demands are going up and will put greater pressures in future, but
we also have the slew of hardly explored options including local water
harvesting, protection of local water systems, achieving proper sewage
treatment and recycling, participatory governance, among others.

Some of the sections of Indian population that are most vulnerable to
the impact of climate change in the context of water and agriculture
include: farmers dependent on rainfed agriculture, coastal populations,
communities from Himalayas, Eastern & Western Ghats, Fisher-folks,
Adivasis, Dalits, Rural populations, Urban Poor and Women. Any climate
action needs to begin with identifying and listing such sections and
than proceeding to prepare plans in a participatory way that would
reduce their vulnerabilities through mitigation and adaptation. India's
National Action Plan for Climate Change, or the National Agriculture and
Water Missions do not take this first crucial step and hence have
remained directionless, ineffective and have not inspired much confidence.

Are we using these options and opportunities? If we go by the contents
of the National Action Plan for Climate Change, National Water Mission,
National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, National Mission for
Himalayan Ecosystems and also the 12th Plan documents, including the
direction of 12th Plan indicated in the Union Budget for 2012-13, the
answer is, unfortunately, in the negative. But we hope better sense
prevails and the existing opportunities and options also highlighted in
this report would be given heed to.

The World celebrates March 22 as the World Water Day, following the
recommendation of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED). As the World prepares for the Rio + 20 conference
in Brazil later this year, the theme of the World Water Day 2012 is
Water and Food security (see:
http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/about.html). In reality, there is a
close nexus between water, food, energy and environment security. The
Bonn meeting organised in Nov 2011 (see:
http://www.water-energy-food.org/en/home.html), floated the theme that
there is a nexus between water, food and energy security. This was
welcome, but it forgot to add the crucial fourth leg of this nexus,
namely ENVIRONMENT SECURITY, without which none of the other three
pillars are secure. The India Water Week 2012, to be held during April
10-14, 2012 with theme (Water, Energy and Food Security Call for
Solutions, see: http://www.indiawaterweek.in/) almost identical to that
of Bonn conference, also needs to remember not to forget the fourth leg
of this nexus. Truly democratic governance holds the key to address
these issues.

The soft copy of the report is available at:
http://sandrp.in/wtrsect/Water_Sector_Options_India_in_Changing_Climate_0312.pdf,
the executive summary of the report is available at:
http://sandrp.in/wtrsect/Ex_Summary_WATER_SECTOR_OPTIONS_FOR_INDIA_IN_CHANGING_CLIMATE_MARCH_2012.pdf.
The Hard copy of the report can be ordered by writing to
ht.sandrp@gmail.com.

Himanshu Thakkar (ht.sandrp@gmail.com)
www.sandrp.in
Ph: 27484655/ 9968242798
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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

World Water Forums Expose Large Dams as ‘Unsustainable’

(Sorry for x-posting)

World Water Forums Expose Large Dams as ï¿½Unsustainableï¿½
By Clï¿½o Fatoorehchi
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107128

MARSEILLE, France , Mar. 19, 2012 (IPS) - Numerous non-governmental
organisations used the World Water Forum (WWF) held in Marseille last
week as an opportunity to remind the international community about the
serious global impacts of large dams all over the world.

Defined as dams higher than 15 metres or with a reservoir volume of at
least three million cubic metres, large dams number no less than
48,000 worldwide and present numerous issues, not least of which is a
considerably negative impact on the livelihoods of local populations.

Three organisations ï¿½ the International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN), the International Institute for Environment and
Development (IIED) and IRAM, a French institute for research and
application of development methods ï¿½ recently released a study
entitled "Sharing the water, sharing the benefits", which focused on
six large dams in West Africa to highlight various population impacts.

Jï¿½rï¿½me Koundouno, one of the reportï¿½s authors, told IPS that when
large dams are built they result in massive displacement of
communities, which is a complex process.

He said that the land area required for dams necessitated "relocating
people, rebuilding houses, and giving new land to people for farming,"
which also means providing support and compensation to displaced
families.

Yet, most of the dams built in the 1980s and 1990s did not bring any
kind of compensation for the displaced, provoking a slew of
detrimental societal consequences.

Taking the example of the Sï¿½linguï¿½ dam in Mali, built in 1981,
Koundouno explained to IPS that the displaced families, who received a
plot of land on the new perimeter of the dam, had to leave shortly
afterwards because they were used to traditional irrigation techniques
and could not adapt to the new ones.

"They had to abandon the plots because they were not able to produce
enough and to reach their expected output. So those communities have
(effectively been stripped) of their plot of land," he told IPS.

Another problem sparked by the building of large dams, Koundouno
claimed, is the creation of a "genuine growth centre around the
reservoirs, whose water is shared by multiple users, leading to
conflicts over the (scarce resource). This is because water management
is unfortunately often not equitable."

The conflicts appear on one hand between the fishers, farmers, and
breeders, and on the other hand between the native population and
migrants, who are lured by the promise of employment in this new
growth centre.

The World Commission on Dams estimates that 40 to 80 million people
have been displaced by the construction of such dams worldwide.

Large dams also generate environmental impacts such as flooding,
deforestation, reduced pastureland, and a fall in the number of large
mammals ï¿½ all of which threaten the food security of local populations.

Jane Madgwick, CEO of Wetlands International, told IPS the flow
reduction of the Niger River foreshadows a negative impact on the
livelihoods of people downstream who are dependent on fishing.

The conviction is thus spreading that large dams should not be
considered a "green energy alternative" if they are not planned in a
sustainable way.

Jeremy Bird, soon-to-be director general of the International Water
Management Institute, stressed the need for increased awareness on the
sustainability of hydropower energy.

With this aim, the International Hydropower Association published the
Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol to define good practices
and try and impose them on new construction projects.

Alternatives to large dams do exist

Many experts are now starting to believe that the problems posed by
large dams outweigh their benefits ï¿½ namely providing water and energy
ï¿½ and should thus be replaced by other forms of renewable energy, such
as solar power and wind energy.

"In Latin America and primarily in Chile, for instance, the potential
for solar power is infinite," Juan Pablo Orrego, president of the
Chilean NGO Ecosistemas, told IPS, adding the Chilean government
should invest in this form of energy.

Alternative solutions were also debated intensively during the
Alternative World Water Forum (known by its French acronym FAME), held
last week alongside the WWF. In particular, the option of the "mini-
hydro", or small-scale hydropower, was highly promoted.

Focusing on the needs of local populations, experts who attended FAME
pointed out the effectiveness of small turbines and small dams.

Ronack Monabay, an activist with Friends of the Earth, commended the
decision of the Nepalese government to open the energy market to small
producers, in order to implement small- and medium- scale dam
projects, capable of generating up to 100 megawatts.

This decision followed a campaign spearheaded by many environmental
NGOs and pressure from civil society to halt the World Bank-sponsored
project ï¿½Arun IIIï¿½, a large dam that would have ravaged the Himalayan
forests.

Such a process of heeding the voices of small producers and local
communities grants the stakeholders more autonomy in the decision-
making process and allows communities to agree what is best for them.

On Mar 14. International Rivers, along with other environmental
organisations, campaigned against the "corporate green-washing of dams".

They told IPS all that is needed now is more political will from
decision-makers to implement these alternatives, instead of promoting
the large dams projects that represent huge profits for multinational
corporations.

The sand dam alternative

In order to avoid the social and environmental problems created by
large dams, and with the aim of providing water for everyone, semi-
arid areas use another technology, called sand dams.

The NGO Excellent came to the WWF to raise awareness on this effective
way of tackling food insecurity and lack of water around the world,
particularly in regions where rainfall is intense but over very short
periods of time.

Sand dams are able to store enough water for one thousand people to
subsist for an entire lifetime. Moreover, sand dams are built and
managed by local communities, which is a very cost-effective solution.

Simon Maddrell, CEO of Excellent, told IPS, "The thing about sand dams
is that they keep water where the people are, where people need it.
Now, the fundamental principle of a large dam isnï¿½t to keep water
where people need it, and it certainly is not a method of providing
water for people in rural areas."

While sand dams do not provide populations with energy as a large dam
does, Maddrell believes this is not a priority for the affected
communities, who first need water and food.
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World Water Forums Expose Large Dams as ‘Unsustainable’

World Water Forums Expose Large Dams as 'Unsustainable'
By Cléo Fatoorehchi
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107128

Defined as dams higher than 15 metres or with a reservoir volume of at
least three million cubic metres, large dams number no less than 48,000
worldwide and present numerous issues, not least of which is a
considerably negative impact on the livelihoods of local populations.

Three organisations – the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN), the International Institute for Environment and Development
(IIED) and IRAM, a French institute for research and application of
development methods – recently released a study entitled "Sharing the
water, sharing the benefits", which focused on six large dams in West
Africa to highlight various population impacts.

Jérôme Koundouno, one of the report's authors, told IPS that when large
dams are built they result in massive displacement of communities, which
is a complex process.

Yet, most of the dams built in the 1980s and 1990s did not bring any
kind of compensation for the displaced, provoking a slew of detrimental
societal consequences.

Taking the example of the Sélingué dam in Mali, built in 1981, Koundouno
explained to IPS that the displaced families, who received a plot of
land on the new perimeter of the dam, had to leave shortly afterwards
because they were used to traditional irrigation techniques and could
not adapt to the new ones.

The World Commission on Dams estimates that 40 to 80 million people have
been displaced by the construction of such dams worldwide.

Large dams also generate environmental impacts such as flooding,
deforestation, reduced pastureland, and a fall in the number of large
mammals – all of which threaten the food security of local populations.

Jane Madgwick, CEO of Wetlands International, told IPS the flow
reduction of the Niger River foreshadows a negative impact on the
livelihoods of people downstream who are dependent on fishing.

The conviction is thus spreading that large dams should not be
considered a "green energy alternative" if they are not planned in a
sustainable way.

Jeremy Bird, soon-to-be director general of the International Water
Management Institute, stressed the need for increased awareness on the
sustainability of hydropower energy.

With this aim, the International Hydropower Association published the
Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol to define good practices
and try and impose them on new construction projects.

Alternatives to large dams do exist

Many experts are now starting to believe that the problems posed by
large dams outweigh their benefits – namely providing water and energy –
and should thus be replaced by other forms of renewable energy, such as
solar power and wind energy.

Focusing on the needs of local populations, experts who attended FAME
pointed out the effectiveness of small turbines and small dams.

Ronack Monabay, an activist with Friends of the Earth, commended the
decision of the Nepalese government to open the energy market to small
producers, in order to implement small- and medium- scale dam projects,
capable of generating up to 100 megawatts.

This decision followed a campaign spearheaded by many environmental NGOs
and pressure from civil society to halt the World Bank-sponsored project
'Arun III', a large dam that would have ravaged the Himalayan forests.

Such a process of heeding the voices of small producers and local
communities grants the stakeholders more autonomy in the decision-making
process and allows communities to agree what is best for them.

On Mar 14. International Rivers, along with other environmental
organisations, campaigned against the "corporate green-washing of dams".

The sand dam alternative

In order to avoid the social and environmental problems created by large
dams, and with the aim of providing water for everyone, semi-arid areas
use another technology, called sand dams.

Simon Maddrell, CEO of Excellent, told IPS, "The thing about sand dams
is that they keep water where the people are, where people need it. Now,
the fundamental principle of a large dam isn't to keep water where
people need it, and it certainly is not a method of providing water for
people in rural areas."

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Monday, March 19, 2012

Doubts Raised Over China Hydro Project (West Seti) in Nepal

Doubts Raised Over China Hydro Project in Nepal

By KRISHNA POKHAREL
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304724404577291311760939638.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
March 19, 2012

NEW DELHIï¿½China Three Gorges Corp. said it might shelve its proposed
$1.6-billion hydroelectric power project in Nepal amid a parliamentary
probe in the South Asian nation into whether the project was properly
awarded, a Nepal government spokesman said Monday.

If the project falls through, it would be a big setback for Nepal's
ambition to harness huge untapped hydroelectric power from its Himalayan
rivers and streams. It would also add to the setbacks faced by Chinese
power companies in the region.

China Three Gorges "sent a letter to the government on Friday saying if
things are not moving and the dilemma continues, we can mutually agree
to pull out of the project," said Arjun Kumar Karki, joint secretary in
the policy and foreign coordination section of Nepalï¿½s Ministry of
Energy. "But we see it as our priority project and we are committed to it."

He said the Nepali government is planning to communicate this in its
written reply to the Chinese company in the next few days.

A China Three Gorges official said it is up to Nepal's government to
decide whether to proceed with the project.

The brouhaha stems from a probe by a committee on natural resources in
Nepal's Constituent Assembly, which is its parliament. For more than a
week, the committee has been looking into whether "proper procedures
were followed by the government while granting the license to the
Chinese company for the power project," said Shanta Chaudhary, the
committeeï¿½s head.

Members of the committee had voiced concerns that the government granted
the project to the Chinese company hastily, without inviting
international competitive bidding as has been the general practice in
the past, she said.

Ms. Chaudhary said her committee will submit its report to the
parliament within a week. "If we find any irregularity, we will simply
ask both sides to follow the proper procedures," she said.

Mr. Karki at the energy ministry said the government had the power under
the countryï¿½s water-resources law to grant hydropower projects to any
company without a bidding process. "We are hopeful of a positive
decision from the parliamentary committee," he said.

Some 40% of Nepalis don't have access to electricity, according to the
government, so the nation has been trying to foster new power projects.
Some of its cities are without power for 14 hours a day.

On Feb. 29, China Three Gorges and the Nepali government signed a
memorandum of understanding for the construction of a 750-megawatt
hydroelectric dam and power project on the Seti River in northwestern
Nepal. They agreed on a public-private partnership called West Seti
Hydropower Development Ltd. in which Nepal's state power utility will
hold 25% and the Chinese company the rest.

The Nepali government said all the estimated $1.6 billion cost will come
through the company and in the form of a loan from China's Exim Bank.
The government said the annual 3.33 billion units of energy the project
is expected to supply after its completion in 2019 will be for Nepalï¿½s
internal energy consumption.

If the project is shelved, or significantly delayed, it will add to
similar frustrations of Chinese power companies in South and Southeast
Asia. Last year, the government of Myanmar halted a $3.6 billion
hydroelectric-dam project run by China Power Investment Corp., referring
to environmental and human-rights concerns. Earlier this month, China
Power said it hoped to resume the project after addressing those concerns.

The Nepali government has sought foreign investment in its hydropower
industry, which many Nepalis believe can put their poor country on the
path toward economic prosperity through the sale of surplus energy to
its neighbors, India and China.

But many power projects have stalled due to the country's prolonged
political instability. It has been governed under an interim
constitution since 2007 and the Constituent Assembly that Nepalis
elected in 2008 has failed repeatedly to meet deadlines to give the
nation a new constitution and to complete the peace process with the
former Maoist rebels who now lead the national coalition government.

Politicians now have a nonextendable deadline of May 28 to deliver a new
constitution and conclude the peace process.

A number of hydropower projects in which Indian companies hold
significant stakes also have failed to take off due to politically
motivated protests by local residents who tend to view Indian
investments as against national interest. Nepal's Prime Minister Baburam
Bhattarai, a Maoist ideologue, recently sought to reassure Indian
investors that their investments in hydropower would be protected.

In the past fiscal year that ended July 15, Nepal's economy grew by
3.5%, the slowest rate of the past four years, according to Nepalï¿½s
central bank.

ï¿½Sarah Chen in Beijing contributed to this article.

Write to Krishna Pokharel at krishna.pokharel@wsj.com
________________________________________________

This is International Rivers' mailing list on China's global footprint, and particularly Chinese investment in
international dam projects.

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Dam operators caused 2010 floods in Australia

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/investigation-into-australias-deadly-floods-finds-dam-operator-breached-protocols/2012/03/15/gIQAhPXUFS_story.html

Investigation into Australia's deadly floods finds dam operator breached protocols

By Associated Press, Published: March 16

SYDNEY: A review of the emergency response to last year's deadly floods in
Australia concluded Friday that the operator of a major dam that controlled
the release of water from a swollen river breached its own protocols during
the height of the disaster.

The floods that swept across Queensland state in late 2010 and early 2011
killed 35 people, damaged or destroyed 30,000 homes and businesses and left
Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city, under water for days.

The Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry was formed to investigate the
way officials dealt with the crisis. Much of the criticism following the
disaster fell on the actions of Seqwater, the state government-run water
authority in charge of operating the Wivenhoe Dam, which controls the
release of water from the Brisbane River. Critics questioned whether
Seqwater's engineers improperly managed the flow of water from the dam,
thereby worsening the inundation of Brisbane and the nearby city of Ipswich.

The investigation found that Seqwater did indeed breach the protocols
listed in the dam's operating manual, and used the wrong water release
strategy in the lead-up to the flooding in Brisbane. But Queensland Supreme
Court of Appeal Judge Catherine Holmes, the inquiry‚s commissioner,
acknowledged that the manual itself was "ambiguous, unclear and difficult
to use, and was not based on the best, most current research and
information."

The commission could not say whether the dam operator‚s actions made the
flooding worse, though Holmes wrote in the 700-page report that had
Seqwater followed protocols, "the possibility exists of at least some
improvement in the flooding outcome for Brisbane and Ipswich."

The commission also recommended the state crime commission investigate
three Seqwater engineers in charge of determining the water release
strategy for the dam. The report questioned whether the engineers were
truthful in their testimony to the commission about their actions during
the disaster.

Seqwater officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The finding opens up the possibility of a class action lawsuit against
Seqwater, but Queensland Premier Anna Bligh cautioned against a rush to
judge the water authority.

"This does open the potential for legal action against Seqwater, but it
does not of itself establish liability," Bligh told reporters in Brisbane.

Attorney Rod Hodgson, whose law firm has held public meetings with flood
victims to rally support for a class action, said he and his fellow lawyers
will now work to determine exactly what impact Seqwater‚s improper
management of the dam had on flood levels.

"It's crystal clear that the report lays blame at the feet of Seqwater for
its operation of the dam," Hodgson said.

The commission made 177 recommendations, including revisions to the dam
operating manual, improved floodplain management plans and better public
access to flood information. Bligh said the government would adopt all the
recommendations.

Overall, however, the inquiry found that the government response to the
disaster was good.

"As to how the floods were managed, there is no doubt that they took a
state more accustomed to drought by surprise," the commission‚s report
said. "Generally, though, Queenslanders can be relieved that governments at
all levels were able to provide a prompt, if not perfect, response, which
compares favorably with the apparent paralysis of government agencies and
breakdown in order apparent on the Gulf coast after Hurricane Katrina
struck New Orleans."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

--

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/evidence-qld-dam-engineers-colluded-20120316-1v95d.html

Evidence Qld dam engineers 'colluded'

March 16, 2012

Three Wivenhoe dam engineers could face criminal or misconduct charges in
the wake of damning findings by the inquiry into Queensland's flood
disaster.

Commissioner Catherine Holmes found there was evidence the engineers had
colluded to pen a misleading report about how they managed water releases
from the dam before Brisbane and Ipswich flooded last year.

Flood victims have long claimed the water releases were botched and the
flooding was compounded as a direct result.

Justice Holmes said Queensland's corruption watchdog should investigate the
men to determine if they deliberately misled her inquiry.

The Crime and Misconduct Commission must assess whether the actions of John
Tibaldi, Robert Ayre and Terry Malone warranted criminal or official
misconduct charges, she said.

Justice Holmes said it was not for the commission to say whether an offence
had occurred.

But there was evidence the men had colluded to write a misleading March
report - primarily written by Mr Tibaldi for dam operator Seqwater, with
input from Mr Ayre and Mr Malone - about when they escalated water releases.

Justice Holmes also found the engineers breached the dam's operating manual
before the two cities and their surrounds flooded last January.

Lawyers say the findings have strengthened the case for a class action, on
behalf of thousands of flood victims, against the government-owned Seqwater.

The inquiry reconvened hearings in dramatic circumstances earlier this
year, after media reports said it had failed to identify discrepancies in
documents about the way water releases from the dam were handled.

In a damning assessment, Justice Holmes said: "The conclusion has been
reached that Mr Tibaldi and Mr Ayre knew - and that Mr Malone had a basis
for suspecting - that the March flood event report was misleading," Justice
Holmes found.

She said none of the men had pointed out discrepancies between earlier
flood documents and the final March report, despite them having every
opportunity to do so at the inquiry's initial hearings.

Critically, the engineers did not mention an early document Mr Malone
wrote, which said the dam transitioned to a higher water release later than
was claimed in the March report.

Commissioner Holmes spoke of a "striking, unanimous and collective lapse of
memory" about documents that painted a different picture from the March
report.

"The inference was open that the concealment of the true nature of the
March flood event report was a joint effort to which each was a party," she
found.

In their testimony to the reconvened hearings, the engineers denied
colluding to create a fictitious report and said they did their best to
protect urban areas.

Justice Holmes said flooding in Brisbane and Ipswich could have been
reduced to some degree, if capacity in the dam had been freed up before the
December deluge.

But she said it simply wasn't possible to have forecast what was to come.

"... to appreciate what the magnitude of the rain would be and that it
would fall in the dam area would have required a more than human capacity
of prediction," she found.

However, she said she was concerned about "the apparent inertia" of
government when the possibility of drawing down the dam was raised.

Labor's water minister at the time, Stephen Robertson, told the inquiry
that he had raised the idea of pre-emptive dam releases months before the
floods, but by the time he got a formal response the deluge had already
begun.

In other findings, Justice Holmes said there was room for improvement in
emergency response planning.

But she noted the flood crisis was unprecedented and so widespread that no
government could be expected to have the capacity to respond seamlessly,
immediately and comprehensively.

She found Queensland's land-use planning regarding flood risk had been ad
hoc, and flood risk assessment systems were lacking.

Premier Anna Bligh and Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman have
both vowed to implement the inquiry's recommendations in full should they
win the March 24 poll.

The report contained no adverse findings against the Bligh government, nor
Mr Newman during his tenure as Brisbane lord mayor.

But the threat of a massive class action against a government-owned
authority could hurt Labor at the ballot box.

Ms Bligh said Seqwater was insured, but its liability was yet to be
established.

Seqwater said it would not be commenting on the inquiry's report until it
had properly considered it.

© 2012 AAP

--

http://www.sunherald.com/2012/03/15/3821562/australian-flood-inquiry-faults.html

Australian flood inquiry faults dam operator

By KRISTEN GELINEAU - Associated Press

SYDNEY -- A review of the emergency response to last year's deadly floods
in Australia concluded Friday that the operator of a major dam that
controlled the release of water from a swollen river breached its own
protocols during the height of the disaster.

The floods that swept across Queensland state in late 2010 and early 2011
killed 35 people, damaged or destroyed 30,000 homes and businesses and left
Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city, under water for days.

The Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry was formed to investigate the
way officials dealt with the crisis. Much of the criticism following the
disaster fell on the actions of Seqwater, the state government-run water
authority in charge of operating the Wivenhoe Dam, which controls the
release of water from the Brisbane River. Critics questioned whether
Seqwater's engineers improperly managed the flow of water from the dam,
thereby worsening the inundation of Brisbane and the nearby city of Ipswich.

The investigation found that Seqwater did indeed breach the protocols
listed in the dam's operating manual, and used the wrong water release
strategy in the lead-up to the flooding in Brisbane. But Queensland Supreme
Court of Appeal Judge Catherine Holmes, the inquiry's commissioner,
acknowledged that the manual itself was "ambiguous, unclear and difficult
to use, and was not based on the best, most current research and
information."

The commission could not say whether the dam operator's actions made the
flooding worse, though Holmes wrote in the 700-page report that had
Seqwater followed protocols, "the possibility exists of at least some
improvement in the flooding outcome for Brisbane and Ipswich."

The commission also recommended the state crime commission investigate
three Seqwater engineers in charge of determining the water release
strategy for the dam. The report questioned whether the engineers were
truthful in their testimony to the commission about their actions during
the disaster.

Seqwater officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The finding opens up the possibility of a class action lawsuit against
Seqwater, but Queensland Premier Anna Bligh cautioned against a rush to
judge the water authority.

"This does open the potential for legal action against Seqwater, but it
does not of itself establish liability," Bligh told reporters in Brisbane.

The commission made 177 recommendations, including revisions to the dam
operating manual, improved floodplain management plans and better public
access to flood information. Bligh said the government would adopt all the
recommendations.

Overall, however, the inquiry found that the government response to the
disaster was good.

"As to how the floods were managed, there is no doubt that they took a
state more accustomed to drought by surprise," the commission's report
said. "Generally, though, Queenslanders can be relieved that governments at
all levels were able to provide a prompt, if not perfect, response, which
compares favorably with the apparent paralysis of government agencies and
breakdown in order apparent on the Gulf coast after Hurricane Katrina
struck New Orleans."

--

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-16/flood-report-paves-the-way-for-compensation/3895130?section=qld

Flood report paves way for compensation

By Annie Guest and staff

Updated March 17, 2012 00:13:41

The Queensland Floods Commission has released findings which could pave the
way for legal action by the victims of last year's disaster.

Its long-awaited report includes more than six million pages of evidence,
345 witnesses and 170 recommendations ranging from flood mapping to
emergency responses and, of course, dam management.

Some of the most serious findings in the report relate to Brisbane's
Wivenhoe Dam.

It says the dam's manual was not properly followed on the weekend leading
up to Brisbane's flood peak.

That means the dam's operator SEQ Water and its owner - the State
Government - may now be liable for compensation.

But the commissioner notes the manual was ambiguous, unclear and difficult
to use - factors which should not be overlooked.

The report also says the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) should
investigate the actions of three dam engineers over misleading reports and
testimony about the flood event.

There is also a suggestion of collusion between two of the men.

Premier Anna Bligh says the matter was referred to the CMC this morning.

The finding that the dam's operating manual was breached will be the most
welcome news to flood victims, insurers and class action lawyers.

Rod Hodgson from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers says the report shows at least
some of the disaster was man-made.

"This report provides support for a potential class action," he said.

"That potential class action is on behalf of householders, business owners
and community grounds living downstream of Wivenhoe."

Mr Hodgson says the report confirms victims' suspicions.

"Too much water was allowed to accumulate in Wivenhoe Dam and the strategy
for water releases was botched," he said.

"This extraordinary report says that beyond any doubt that dam was not
operated the way it should have been."

About 2,000 flood victims have signalled their interest in a potential
class action against the dam's operators.

Dennis Ward from the Fernvale Community Action Group says it has been a
difficult time.

We'd love to see someone come out and apologise for causing this damage and
grief to everyone.

Dennis Ward - Fernvale Community Action Group

"It'd be great to see an apology for what happened," he said.

"I mean there is some acknowledgment there that it could've been managed
better and we'd love to see someone come out and apologise for causing this
damage and grief to everyone."

But Mr Hodgson says there is much work to do before launching a lawsuit.

"The investigations need to include how much difference to the flood level
the proper operation of the dam would have made," he said.

"We sense that it would have made a significant difference, but we need to
conduct independent hydrodynamic modelling."

The inquiry did examine the question of how much less flooding there might
have been if the manual was followed.

But on this it is inconclusive. It says it is possible there would have
been less flooding in Brisbane and Ipswich.

It pointed to a report by an independent engineer that found an optimised
water release scenario might have reduced flooding between 40 centimetres
and 90 centimetres in the suburbs of Brisbane.

However, the inquiry noted it involved taking risks by embracing weather
forecasts.
--
Posted by Himanshu Thakkar

South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People,
c/o 86-D, AD block, Shalimar Bagh,
Delhi 110088, India

himanshuthakkar@iitbombay.org <mailto:himanshuthakkar%40iitbombay.org> , ht.sandrp@gmail.com <mailto:ht.sandrp%40gmail.com>
www.sandrp.in
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