International Rivers: October 2013

Friday, October 25, 2013

SA Pres. Zuma's conflict of interest on Mozambique dam/M&G

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-10-25-00-zuma-blood-thickens-hydro-scheme/

Zuma blood thickens hydro scheme

25 OCT 2013 00:00 LIONEL FAULL

President Jacob Zuma's support for a major Mozambique hydroelectric project has created a conflict of interest.

President Jacob Zuma is alleged to have intervened to support a major hydroelectric deal in ï¿½Mozambique for which his son, Saady, was a lobbyist.

The viability of the proposed Mphanda Nkuwa hydropower ï¿½project has always depended on Eskom signing up to be its main electricity customer.

ï¿½ Gold Fields link to Duduzile Zuma
No Eskom power purchase agreement, no hydropower dam; that was the stark position the Mozambicans found themselves in 2010, when they first approached Saady Zuma to lobby South African decision-makers.

Lobbyists typically work on a retainer or a success fee, although the details of Saady's arrangements with the Mphanda Nkuwa consortium are not known.

Saady is the older brother of twin siblings Duduzani and Duduzile. They were all born in exile in Mozambique.

Although no power purchase has yet been signed, important questions about potential conflicts of interest remain.

Neither Saady nor his father offered any rebuttals to amaBhungane, despite both being invited to respond to detailed written questions sent over a week ago.

Project representatives
A combination of source testimony and correspondence seen by ama-Bhungane shows that Jacob Zuma not only knew of his son's role in the project, but also met project representatives in spite of the apparent conflict. He also allegedly discussed it with his Mozambican counterpart, President Armando Guebuza, and left others with the impression that he would help to advance the project directly, further correspondence suggests.

The executive ethics code is explicit about conflicts of interest: "Members of the executive should not expose themselves to any situation involving the risk of a conflict between their official responsibilities and their ï¿½private interests."

The first meeting allegedly took place at Zuma's official residence in Pretoria in October 2010. According to a source close to the events, Saady brought Celso Correia, the group chairperson of Insitec, the project's Mozambican private partner, to meet his father.

The source claimed Correia had wanted to reassure himself that the "Jacob Zuma" he had been speaking to over the phone and Saady were really who they claimed to be.

Correia, who at 35 is one of Mozambique's most successful businessmen, is believed to be a protï¿½gï¿½ of Guebuza. It is speculated that the Mozambican president has a hidden stake in Insitec, held nominally by Correia.

At the Pretoria meeting, said to have lasted just under an hour, the source said that Zuma assured Correia that his son was "a sober-minded individual".

Correia, the source claimed, came away with the "unequivocal impression" that the president approved of Saady's involvement in the project.

Alleged meeting
But Correia told amaBhungane: "We didn't use any Zuma in developing anything, unfortunately. The project has been stuck for the last five years because we didn't manage to sell the energy. I don't know any Zuma. We never used it [lobbying]."

Despite Correia's denials, it appears Saady's lobbying moved up a gear ï¿½following the alleged meeting.

In February 2011, Saady met Eskom chief executive Brian Dames at a presidential golf day in Stellenbosch, after which he sent Dames an email, which begins: "When we met, I did indicate to you that I am a part of the team in the Mpanda Nkuwa Hydro Electric Dam project."

He then outlined an extensive series of meetings held between Eskom and Mphanda Nkuwa representatives since 2008 and pushed for a meeting between Dames and himself.

The Eskom chief executive appears to have initially ignored, then politely rebuffed, Saady's approach.

Eskom said this week that, although Dames had no recollection of meeting Saady at the golf day, it had reviewed his email traffic and had found an email from Saady that Dames had subsequently forwarded to the relevant department for a response.

It said it had also reviewed Dames's diary, which contained no entries pertaining to any appointments with Saady.

"Eskom deals with the Mozambican government, its sister utility [Electricidade de Moï¿½ambique] and other companies with an interest in this project, not individuals," it said.

Lack of progress
In March 2011, according to internal correspondence seen by amaBhungane, Saady told Mphanda Nkuwa stakeholders his father "was receiving phone calls from Mr G [Guebuza] regarding the lack of progress in this matter".

If the insinuations about Guebuza's hidden stake in Insitec are true, then both presidents were in the astonishing situation of engaging with one another on a project of national interest in which Guebuza and Zuma's son both had a personal interest.

In August 2011, Saady appears to have exchanged SMSes about Mphanda Nkuwa with then energy minister Dipuo Peters, who texted him: "Hi Saady, PPS note that I am still waiting on the info regarding the visit of the Mpanda [sic] Nkuwa developers. Thanks. Dipuo."

A source said Peters also hosted Saady at her home to clarify the government's policy position to him.

A spokesperson for Peters confirmed that she had met Saady, but that this was not out of the ordinary, given that it "was conducted within the realms of her official responsibilities as a ï¿½minister of state".

"Minister Peters meets and interacts with various stakeholders, individuals and organised formations alike with regard to issues related to the portfolios she's deployed to at any given time."

In December 2011, a second face-to-face meeting between Jacob Zuma and Correia took place in Maputo during the South African state visit to Mozambique, documentation suggests.

Saady was not present on this occasion, but a close struggle-era connection of the Zuma family on the Mozambican side claims to have played a key role in bringing Correia and Jacob Zuma together once more.

Confirmed
Milva Santos, whose mother accommodated Jacob Zuma in Maputo during the 1970s and 1980s when he was a senior ANC underground operative there, and who refers to Zuma by the sobriquet "Uncle", wrote a brief, but glowing account of the state visit.

"I managed to get Celso a meeting with my uncle and all went well. My uncle made the necessary pressu[r]e for things to move and all is moving at an incredible speed now ..."

And, for a while, things apparently did move speedily.

An Eskom spokesperson confirmed to amaBhungane that, "following a binational meeting between [South Africa] and Mozambique in December 2011, Eskom officials met Mphanda Nkuwa representatives early in 2012 to discuss the latest development in the project ï¿½ Milva Santos requested the meeting as a member of the Insitec team."

In her account of the state visit, Santos also claimed to have "put Celso and his team and the chief executive of Eskom [Dames] and his team together for a meeting".

Eskom confirmed an encounter, but said it was "done informally during a short break in the formal agenda/proceedings so was not part of the bilateral engagement".

Santos's principal recommendation to Insitec appears to have been her family's enduring ties with Jacob Zuma. Zuma is said to be grateful to Santos's mother for her hospitality during the struggle, and he attended Santos's wedding in Maputo a few years ago as a guest of honour.

Santos's LinkedIn profile indicates a marketing and public relations background, with previous experience at SABMiller Mozambique, the Polana Hotel in Maputo and Coca-Cola. But here she was, brokering two top-level meetings between chief executives and presidents amid a state visit.

Technical issues
Santos asked amaBhungane to send her written questions, but failed to respond.

Eskom officials have held further discussions with their Mphanda Nkuwa counterparts since early 2012, but no power agreement has yet been signed in spite of Saady's role and the backing sources claim he received from his father.

There are many possible reasons for the delay, some technical, some financial and some political.

Eskom officials now say they have ironed out 80% to 90% of the technical issues, particularly regarding a 1500km-long transmission line that would need to be built.

Eskom is keen to minimise its exposure to financial risk, which means that it wants to pay for the electricity in rands.

It also wants to assume no responsibility for transmission failures, which is why it insists on buying the power at the South African border and not at the dam in Mphanda Nkuwa.

Meanwhile, the Mozambican government is rumoured to have lost patience with the Mphanda Nkuwa consortium, particularly its Brazilian construction partners, and is planning to replace them with a Chinese company. Whether the Brazilians will step away, having poured tens of millions of dollars into project feasibility studies, remains to be seen. But any changes would mean further delays to the project.

Correia told amaBhungane that his company would retain a stake in any new consortium, although he sought to downplay the size of a future stake.

The situation remains fluid, but it is possible that Saady may still benefit should the hydropower project eventually go ahead. ï¿½ Additional reporting by Luis Nhachote

Lionel is a reporter at the Mail & Guardian Centre for Investigative Journalism, Amabhungane.
ï¿½ Read more from Lionel Faull
________________________________________________

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: africa@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp

Malaysian tribes protest mega-dam

Malaysian tribes protest mega-dam
Channel NewsAsia, October 24, 2013
www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/malaysian-tribes-protest/859650.html

Hundreds of Malaysian tribespeople blockaded the construction site of a
new dam Thursday which is set to force them from their homes in Sarawak
on the island of Borneo, activists said.

KUALA LUMPUR: Hundreds of Malaysian tribespeople blockaded the
construction site of a new dam Thursday which is set to force them from
their homes in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, activists said.

The Baram dam is the latest in a series of controversial hydroelectric
mega-dams planned by the Sarawak government as it pushes economic
development in one of Malaysia's poorest states.

Indigenous Kenyah, Kayan and Penan people began blocking the main entry
road to the dam's location and the site where the dam's developer,
state-owned Sarawak Energy (SEB), had stored its heavy machinery on
Wednesday afternoon, according to NGO Save Sarawak's Rivers Network.

Save Rivers chairman Peter Kallang said in a Facebook posting late
Wednesday they were "camping at the blockade to show their determination
against the construction of this dam" after being inspired by a blockade
that began last month against the filling of the nearby Murum Dam.

The group's vice-chairman Raymond Abin told AFP Thursday the blockade
was still going on.

"The call is to stop the project and all activities related to the
construction of the dam because SEB is already starting soil
investigation," he said.

The building spree of hydroelectric dams has been dogged by controversy
as activists allege massive corruption while indigenous people complain
it has flooded rainforests and uprooted tens of thousands of people.

While the Baram dam is expected to generate 1,200 megawatts of power,
activists claim it will flood 400 square kilometres of rainforest (154
square miles) and displace 20,000 tribespeople.

But the government of resource-rich Sarawak says it hopes a plentiful
supply of hydropower from the state's powerful jungle rivers will
attract new industries.

Sarawak Energy has insisted that displaced villagers are being
compensated fairly. It could not be reached for immediate comment on the
Baram blockade.

Swiss-based activists at the Bruno Manser Fund, which has repeatedly
accused Sarawak's longtime chief minister Taib Mahmud of corruption,
said that the protests would add to scrutiny on Malaysia's human rights
record.

"The latest blockades add pressure on the Malaysian government ahead of
a key UN meeting in Geneva. Malaysia's human rights records will be
discussed tomorrow by the Human Rights Council on the occasion of a
country review," they said in a statement Wednesday.

Sarawak tribespeople have staged increasingly frequent protests and road
blockades in recent years over the dams.

Sarawak's chief minister Taib has faced mounting accusations of
enriching himself and cronies through a stranglehold on the state's
economy, charges which he denies.

Sarawak is home to the already-operating 2,400-megawatt Bakun dam, which
Transparency International has condemned as a graft-plagued ecological
catastrophe.

Despite Bakun providing more than double Sarawak's current energy needs,
a series of other dams are in the works.

The Malaysian federal government revealed early this month it had to pay
$133 million in compensation to suppliers due to delays in the $2.3
billion Bakun project, a rare official acknowledgement of problems in
the highly controversial flagship hydropower initiative.
________________________________________________

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: dams@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp

Fwd: SAVE THE ORANGE RIVER GORGE

An alert from a longtime friend from SA.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Graeme Addison <ngmuntu@gmail.com>
Date: October 25, 2013 3:24:40 AM PDT
To: Gustav Greffrath APA Council <gustav@itchyfeetsa.co.za>, "Alice Jay - Avaaz.org" <avaaz@avaaz.org>, lori@internationalrivers.org
Cc: YEEHA <yeeha@riverman.co.za>
Subject: SAVE THE ORANGE RIVER GORGE

Dear supporter of free rivers

Do you know that we could soon see a section of the Orange River Gorge impounded (channelled and possibly dammed) and used to generate electricity for a private consortium?

The magnificent Orange River Gorge and other sections of the Orange which are also due for hydro projects are not for companies to exploit as they wish. This is the use of a common resource for private gain. It must be completely opposed in principle. I have little information right now about the projects but will be researching and letting you know.

Whether or not we succeed in preventing such abuse, we must also campaign for improved rights for river runners and all users such as hikers and local communities who could bear costs in one way or another. Nothing is to be gained at this stage by helping the consultants for the Environmental Impact Assessment. I know from past experience of other projects that consultants are retained by the developers. Opposition to such projects may be turned into evidence for "mitigation" of the projects (ie to support the basic proposal with some concessions). All avenues of public and legal protest should bring pressure to bear to prevent despoilation of the river that belongs to all of us.

The report below is of vital interest to river runners in South Africa. Notice how on The Snoqualmie River the local paddling organisation and the paddling community brought pressure to bear on developers to object to river closure. Also, that the eventual outcome was a better form of access and some degree of discipline on the developers.

I will keep you briefed on the Orange River proposals as they are put to public comment. READ ON BELOW ABOUT THE SNOQUALMIE RIVER IN USA.

--

GO WITH THE FLOW!

Regards
Graeme, The Riverman
Mobile: 084 245 2490
http://riverman.co.za/
http://otters.co.za/
http://vdome.co.za/
PO Box 289, PARYS 9585 Free State, South Africa

http://playak.com/news.php?idd=2694108607877

Snoqualmie Powerhouse Run, New Access Opens (WA)
posted October 23, 2013

by Thomas O'Keefe

After more than three years of waiting the access to the Powerhouse run on the Snoqualmie River is now open for public use. While this is a short run of less than a mile, it is a popular and important section of river less than 30 miles from Seattle.
In April 2010, the boating community learned that Puget Sound Energy (PSE) intended to close the river access at the Snoqualmie Falls Powerhouse in June of 2010 for an extended period while the powerhouse was rebuilt. More than 40 public comments were filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to express concern with the loss of this river section and to request that FERC require a temporary river access during construction. As one of the most important rivers for training and safety instruction, the loss of access was a major impact to the regional paddling community. FERC ultimately ruled against requiring PSE to provide river access during construction.

We are pleased to report that despite our frustrations with the length of the closure, PSE did work with American Whitewater and regional clubs in designing the new access. The river access at the downstream side of the powerhouse is marked by a sign and instead of a jumbled pile of rip-rap as existed before, the contractor placed a pathway of flat stones that serve as steps down to the water. An upgraded parking area, restrooms, bike racks (this is an easy bike shuttle), and a boater drop-off area are all new features we worked to design. PSE consulted with American Whitewater throughout the construction and provided opportunities for site tours that allowed us to provide recommendations and feedback.

This project has been an important success because originally PSE cited security and operational concerns with an access adjacent to the powerhouse, and proposed alternatives further downstream. We successfully pushed for access adjacent to the Powerhouse, making the point that every rapid on the short reach is important for instruction and training. While we originally requested a formal access point upstream of the Powerhouse, FERC ruled against this citing "safety issues". You can still work your way upstream to this site but we recommend doing so on river left so you are not immediately in front of the powerhouse on river right.

The Snoqualmie River Powerhouse run is about one mile of the best training and practice water that is easily accessible. No other class II reach in the area provides the diversity of features for learning and practicing skills. The local paddling community felt the loss of the Powerhouse run and today all are celebrating restored access.

Amur River - RusHydro, China Three Gorges express interest in joint river control project

RusHydro, China Three Gorges express interest in joint river control project
23 October 2013, HydroWorld

JSC RusHydro and China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) have announced
their interest in constructing storage-based hydroelectric projects
along feeders of the Amur River.

Per an agreement signed by RusHydro's Evgeny Dod and CTG's Cao Guangjing
in Beijing, the two will cooperate in considering reservoir-based
hydropower projects that could benefit both countries.

The companies not only agreed to discuss the partnership's
organizational form of cooperation and financing principles, but also
proposals for the potential sale of energy generated by the new
hydropower plants.

The discussion was wrought by flooding in the Amur River Basin in 2013
that affected parts in both countries. High volume flows from China's
Ussuri and Sungari rivers flowed into Russia's Khabarovsk region.

The two rivers combine for about 35% of the Amur River's flow, according
to RusHydro, with a "significant part" of it still unregulated by
reservoirs.

RusHydro said the construction of new dams with large reservoirs is
essential in mitigating potential flooding, while counter-regulator dams
in tailraces at existing hydropower plants will also be explored.

http://www.hydroworld.com/articles/2013/10/rushydro-china-three-gorges-express-interest-in-joint-river-control-project.html

***

RusHydro and China Three Gorges Corporation consider cooperation in
construction of the flood control hydropower facilities in the Russian
Far East

22 October 2013
Press Release, RusHydro
URL: http://www.eng.rushydro.ru/press/news/89043.html

JSC RusHydro announces that it may consider potential cooperation with
the China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) on construction of the
storage-based hydroelectric facilities on the feeder rivers of the Amur
to contain future floodings in the region.

Evgeny Dod, Chairman of the Management Board of RusHydro, and Cao
Guangjing, Chairman of the Board of CTG, agreed to sign a cooperation
agreement during their meeting in Beijing.

The massive floods in the Far East of Russia and North-Eastern region of
China in 2013 caused by ample rainfalls revealed the necessity to work
out the measures to mitigate the risks of floods in the future. During
the negotiations management of RusHydro maintained that it considered
the construction of the reservoir-based hydropower plants to be the most
efficient.

Both RusHydro and CTG expressed their interest in the joint development
of such facilities on the feeders of the Amur River.

The parties agreed to discuss the organizational form of cooperation and
its financing principles, as well as to develop the proposals on
electricity sales for the new generating capacities.

RusHydro and CTG will present their joint proposals for consideration of
the governments of Russia and China.

The flood of 2013 in the Amur River basin was the strongest in the
entire history of hydrological observations. It had unique scope having
covered all rivers of the basin, including those, located in the Chinese
part of the basin. The flood was caused by powerful cyclones that had
led to prolonged heavy rainfalls. Situation in Khabarovsk region was
complicated by high volume flows of Ussuri and Sungari rivers, most of
this flow originating in Chinese territory. Currently, these rivers are
responsible for more than 35% of the Amur River flow.

The flood impact have been substantially mitigated by RusHydro's
Zeyskaya and Bureyskaya hydropower plants: approximately two thirds of
the flood flow volume had been accumulated in their reservoirs. This
prevented the levels of Amur River in Blagoveschensk from reaching its
historic peak levels, that could have disastrous consequences. Due to
significant reserve volume of the Zeyskaya reservoir, the flood peak was
reduced by more than three times: from 11,700 m3/s in the headrace to
3,500 m3/s in the tailrace.

Significant part of the Amur River still remains unregulated by
reservoirs, leaving it open to periodic catastrophic floods. In order to
mitigate the floods and to prevent possible damage, construction of new
hydropower dams with large reservoirs is essential, as well as
construction of counter-regulator dams in tailrace of the existing large
hydropower plants.

Currently, construction of the RusHydroï¿½s Nizhne-Bureyskaya hydropower
plant, counter-regulator for the Bureyskaya plant, is in progress.
Project documentation for the Nizhne-Zeyskaya HPP, counter-regulator for
the Zeyskaya HPP, has been developed. Other hydropower projects with
regulating reservoirs on tributaries of the rivers Zeya and Bureya may
include the Selimdzhinskaya, Giluyskaya and Nizhne-Nimanskaya dams.

On September 21, 2013, President Vladimir Putin commissioned the
Government of the Russian Federation to develop the program for
construction of new hydropower facilities in the Far East of Russiaby
the end of the year. The new power plants could provide protection from
floods, improve reliability of electricity supply, and create new job
opportunities. This will have positive multiplication effect on the
economic development of the region and quality of life of local communities.
________________________________________________

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

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: chinaglobal@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp

Thursday, October 24, 2013

India, China ink key accord on river information

India, China ink key accord on river information
23 October, 2013
IANS (Indo-Asian News Service)

Beijing ï¿½ India and China Wednesday agreed to exchange more hydrological
information on common rivers and also discuss other issues in a tacit
acknowledgment of India's concerns over China's dam building activities
on the Brahmaputra.

The Memorandum of Understanding on trans-border rivers was inked after
talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Li
Keqiang in the Great Hall of the People here.

According to sources, the agreement is a major diplomatic achievement as
it is the first time that China has agreed to acknowledge India's rights
as a lower riparian state.

India's consistent raising of the issue of China's dam building
activities on the Brahmaputra river, known as Yarlang Tsangpo in China,
has helped in Beijing becoming more accommodating this time, they said.

This time the agreement takes into account the environmental concerns of
India on the Brahmaputra, including the damage to flora and fauna due to
China's dam building upstream. Beijing says its dams are run of the
river dams.

According to the agreement, the two sides recognized that trans-border
rivers and related natural resources and the environment are assets of
immense value to the socio-economic development of all riparian countries.

Both sides also agreed to flood-time exchange of hydrological data on 15
more days - from May 15 instead of June 1 to Oct 15th.

Advancing the date by 15 days, at a time when the melted glacier ice of
the Tibetan plateau begins to flow downstream, is also a major
achievement, the sources said.

The two sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation on trans-border
rivers, cooperate through the existing Expert Level Mechanism on
provision of flood-season hydrological data and emergency management,
and exchange views on other issues of mutual interest, the agreement states.

Earlier, China was unwilling to consider India's concerns. But this
time, it has been different, the sources said.

Ambassador S. Jaishankar told news persons the point of agreement to
exchange views on other issues of mutual interest is very crucial. He
said China is to have an open mind on India's concerns and hold
consultations.

The new agreement, which comes into immediate effect, will help bring in
more flood data for India to help manage the heavy monsoon floods on the
Brahmaputra which displaces thousands in Assam along the river every
year. It would also give an insight into China's dam building activities
and vice versa.

http://india.nydailynews.com/politicsarticle/cea1292d874ee01b807b9971c2ad1768/india-china-ink-key-accord-on-river-information#ixzz2icZ5cTwd
________________________________________________

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

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: chinaglobal@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp

India, China ink key accord on river information

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

China-backed power plant starts distribution in Kachin State

China-backed power plant starts distribution in Kachin State

22 October 2013, Eleven Media Group (Myanmar)

http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/national/3813-china-backed-power-plant-starts-distribution-in-kachin-state

The Chibwenge hydropower plant has started distributing power to
Myitkyina and Waingmaw towns in Kachin State from Monday, according to
state officials.

Financed by China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), the Chibwenge
hydropower plant can generate up to 99.9 megawatts of electricity from
its three generators, of which only one is currently operative as
technicians check the power lines.

'We are trying to distribute the power. We have been inspecting the
power lines since yesterday.The power will be distributed as soon as the
lines are working,' state electricity manager Than Tin told Eleven Media
on Monday.

A 132 kilovolt power line from Chibway to both Wahshaung and Waingmaw
has been connected from the existing Chibway-Myitsone line. A 132/66
kilovolt sub-power station and a 66/11 kilovolt sub-power station have
also been built in Waingmaw and Myitkyina respectively.

'Excess power will be transferred to the national power grid. A
Union-level contract has not been signed yet. The MOU [memorandum of
understanding] will be signed with the Ministry of Electric Power in Nay
Pyi Taw either this month or next month. We are doing this after making
basic agreement. I donï¿½t know the price per unit. All three generators
will be operated,' said Sai Maung Shwe, state minister for electrical power.

The power generated from Chibwenge will be distributed by the Buugar
Company owned by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Myitkyina and
Waingmaw. The power line will be connected to the national power grid in
Moekaung.

La Aung, distribution manager of Buugar Company, said: 'We donï¿½t know
the price for buying power and distributing it. The state government has
instructed us to distribute the power. They informed us the power will
be generated before the 25th. It will be sent to Yankyiaung sub-power
station. More staff will be needed when a new power line has been
expanded. Iï¿½m happy that we get the required power.'

The Chibwenge dam is part of the seven dams built by CPI as part of the
Myitsone dam project. Although the Myitsone dam projected has been
suspended following public outcry over environmental and social impact
of the project, six smaller dams -- including the Chibwenge dam -- along
the Maykha and the Malikha rivers have been built.

The power plant suffered some damages in 2012 when its machines and
power lines were destroyed during the clashes between the government and
the KIA.

Power has been supplied to Myitkyina and Waingmaw through Malikha
hydropower plant owned by KIA. Both cities need 15 megawatts of
electricity to meet demand but the power plant can only generate 10
megawatts and the remaining 5 megawatts will be supplied alternatively.
The Putato district and Tanai, Sumprabum, and Injangyang townships in
the Kachin State still do not have any electricity.
________________________________________________

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

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: chinaglobal@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp

Friday, October 18, 2013

Laos' Mekong dam moves stir up public discontent

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Laos-Mekong-dam-moves-stir-up-public-discontent-30216687.html

Jim Pollard

The Nation October 10, 2013 1:00 am

Critics and opponents say dam projects are going ahead without recourse to prior agreements on consultation, and without adequate impact assessments

Anger over the Lao government's unilateral decision to go ahead with a second hydropower project on the Mekong - despite a storm of controversy about dams on the lower stretch of the river - has fired a groundswell of opposition both within Thailand and the region.

Anti-dam meetings are planned in Nong Khai and Bangkok this week against the Xayaburi dam, being built south of Luang Prabang, and the Don Sahong project, which the Lao regime wants to start work on next month, in the Siphandon (Thousand Islands) area near the southern border with Cambodia.

Two of the world's leading conservation groups - International Rivers and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) - have also voiced alarm about the latest move by Laos, which appears to contravene regional agreements to consult neighbours and reach a consensus before proceeding with any project that could jeopardise the status of the river and its rich marine life.

Laos has claimed that Don Sahong is only a channel of the Mekong, and that the project to build a facility that would generate 260 megawatts of electricity will have minimal impact on the river. But this is disputed by environmentalists, who say there are alternatives such as the Thakho project in the Khone Falls area, which would have much less environmental and social impact.

Scientists from Cambodia and Vietnam will attend both events - a two-day forum at Muang Phu Paradise Hotel in Nong Khai, starting today, and a panel discussion at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Bangkok on tonight.

Anti-dam opponents from a range of Thai groups will present findings from studies among groups living adjacent to the river at the regional conference in Nong Khai. They want an immediate stop to work at the Xayaburi dam site, a huge US$3.5-billion project already well underway, until "proper and independent" impact studies are done and a consensus reached about whether that project, and the proposed Don Sahong dam, should go ahead.

Civil society groups in Thailand are upset at Vientiane, condemned by some as a bullying one-party regime happy to muzzle its press, to use biased pro-development impact assessments to back risky money-generating schemes and silence local opponents to state mega-projects. (The abduction of social activist Sombath Somphone last December, winner of the prestigious Magsaysay award has created a climate of fear among civil society groups, although supporters say his disappearance was not linked specifically to dams).

There is also grave concern among environmentalists in countries downriver that the dams will jeopardise two of the region's most significant food sources - fish catches in Cambodia's Tonle Sap lake and rice production in the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam.

Chhith Sam Ath, from Cambodia's NGO Forum, said: "The Don Sahong dam will push Cambodia and Vietnam closer to a food crisis. The project is next to Cambodia's border - have they forgotten that fish are our lifeline and the backbone of our economy? Fish are central to our diet and our main source of protein.

"It's irresponsible to proceed with this project without consulting downstream people or carrying out a credible transboundary impact assessment. Fish are simply too precious a resource to be squandered," he said.

Nguy Thi Khanh, director of Vietnam's Green Innovation and Development Centre, said: "While energy can be generated via more sustainable sources, the depletion of fish and food is irreversible. The Mekong governments must find a way out of this dilemma, before regional tensions grow. We cannot let politics and unilateral decisions fail our rivers and future water and food security. Now more than ever, we need the MRC and its member countries to protect the indispensable resources that the Mekong River provides for millions of people."

The Lao government sent a letter of "prior notification" to the Mekong River Commission last week to announce it would start work on the Don Sahong dam next month. But the move has drawn heated criticism and spurred fears that the MRC is being marginalised by the socialist regime to a point where international donors may opt to withdraw their support.

Teerapong Pomun, from Thailand's Living Rivers Association, said: "Laos is once again attempting to evade its responsibilities, while forcing the public in the region to pay for the immense damage that the Don Sahong dam will cause. Laos must cancel this project, along with the other mainstream dams, before it's too late."

Ame Trandem, at International Rivers, said: "Laos has side-stepped its responsibilities to submit the project to the MRC's prior consultation process, despite earlier statements made by the MRC Secretariat and its international donors that the project should undergo the consultation process to allow for regional decision-making.

"If the MRC fails to clamp down on Laos, it will be failing its mandate and will lose any validity it has left as an organisation. The MRC can no longer absolve Laos from its responsibilities; this project must undergo the prior consultation as mandated by the 1995 Mekong Arrangement. A moratorium should also be implemented on all mainstream dam building, so that the MRC's impact study on the projects - that was agreed upon by Laos and neighbouring countries in 2011 - is first implemented."

So, it was no surprise that WWF called on Friday for the MRC to convene a special session of its four member states to discuss Vientiane's intention to proceed with a second dam.

The underlying problem is that Laos is one of the world's least developed countries, in desperate need of revenue. Given that it has a budget crisis and difficulty paying wages to state employees, its leaders are expected to rebuff any attempts to deter it from its present course. However, Hanoi and Phnom Penh may have the capacity to deter the latest project - if they get the Lao regime to consider the Thakho project or alternate ways to generate power.

The Xayaburi dam, which is 10 per cent complete, was effectively a Thai-Lao project, funded by Thai banks, built by Thai construction giant Ch Karnchang, so that 95 per cent of the power it generates can be relayed to Thailand.

However, the Don Sahong dam is a Lao project, proposed by a little known company from Malaysia in the midst of one of the region's most pristine sites - Siphandon. With close to a dozen dams proposed on the lower Mekong, concern is likely to be mounting in Hanoi and Phnom Penh that they can no longer allow their smaller neighbour to jeopardise vital food sources.

The vast majority of the Cambodian people rely on fish for protein. And if the Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams hinder the Tonle Sap's bountiful fish yield and its remarkable capacity to change direction annually, it could create an ecological catastrophe that gravely undermines the country's food security.

Many believe the Xayaburi dam is already a far too serious risk, given the impediment it is likely to pose to fish migration and sediment flow (claims that the dam is a run-of-the river structure that will alleviate these concerns are doubted by many scientists). There is also concern that, coupled with Chinese dams on the river's upper reaches, these midstream dams are likely to allow far greater saltwater intrusion into Vietnam's "rice bowl", the Mekong Delta.

Ethiopian Nile Dam Plans Spark Regional Tensions

SciDev.Net

East Africa: Ethiopian Dam Plans Spark Regional Tensions

18 OCTOBER 2013

http://allafrica.com/stories/201310180855.html?viewall=1

The project's potential impact on water supplies in Egypt and Sudan is causing friction, finds Rehab Abd Almohsen.

A group of Egyptian academics and experts have declared their opposition to the current plans for the US$4.8 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - on which work has started, and which will be Africa's largest hydroelectric power plant when completed - because they believe it will damage their country.

Egypt's Nile Basin Group was set up to assess the possible threat from the dam, which will lie close to Ethiopia's border with Sudan. Its members warn that the structure could slash the Nile's flow, especially in Egypt and Sudan, which depend on the river's waters.

Haider Yusuf Bakheit, a Sudanese hydrologist, was reported in an article in Infrastructure News as saying that the dam "will hold back nearly one-and-a-half times the average annual flow" of the Blue Nile, one of the Nile's two main tributaries, and "drastically affect the downstream nations' agriculture, electricity and water supply".

"Given the massive size of the dam, it could lose as much as three billion cubic metres of water to evaporation each year," he warned.

Enlarged plans

There was alarm in Egypt when the plan to build the dam was announced in 2011 - with some MPs talking off the record about Egypt's right to retaliate militarily - but much of the opposition now focuses on Ethiopia's decision to increase the size of the reservoir behind the dam.

"The original plan was to create a lake that would store 14 billion cubic metres of water, which is enough to generate electricity, but then the lake's capacity was increased to 74 billion cubic metres," Nader Noureddin, a member of the Nile Basin Group and professor of soil and water resources at Cairo University, tells SciDev.Net. Planned electricity output has also risen, from 5,250 to 6,000 megawatts.

Noureddin says that when Ethiopia decided to increase the height of the primary dam from the 90 metres in the original design to 170 metres, the planners were forced to include a secondary 'saddle dam' to help confine the vast reservoir created by the main dam and prevent stored water from escaping back to the Blue Nile.

"For the first time in history, we find a secondary dam that is four times as large as the original dam, which indicates the aim behind building such a huge dam is not generating electricity, but to use the dam as a way to control Egypt," argues Noureddin. In effect, he says, it would enable Ethiopia to turn off Egypt's water supply.

He favours sticking to the dam's original height and scrapping the idea for the saddle dam.

Rapid water take

Another concern is the speed at which Ethiopia plans to fill the reservoir.

Egyptian experts say that the huge proposed reservoir would normally take up to 20 years to fill, but Ethiopia intends to achieve this in just five years, consuming about a fifth of the Blue Nile's annual flow. That, argues Noureddin, would lead to "catastrophic" impacts on Egypt's agriculture.

Mohamed Mohieddin, a social policy consultant and professor of sociology at Egypt's Menoufia University, and a member of the three-country committee that is negotiating the project's next steps, suggests asking Ethiopia to extend the time allowed to fill the main dam by five or six years.

Through the committee, Egypt would be a partner in the dam's operations and have a say in how the water is released, he tells SciDev.Net.

Tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia, the source of 85 per cent of the Nile's water, rose in June, as soon as Ethiopia started work on diverting some of the river's flow as part of the project.

Aggressive response

Both countries, as well as Sudan, see the project as affecting their national interest, which has sparked tough and aggressive comments from non-scientists.

"Egypt is always sceptical of what Ethiopia might think and do on the Nile," Tatek Kebede, the national coordinator of the Ethiopian National Youth Coalition on Climate Change, tells SciDev.Net.

He says Ethiopia is advancing economically and would not allow Egypt's diplomatic and even military pressures to deter its development ambitions, of which the dam is part.

Ethiopia's national electricity corporation has said potential buyers of electricity from the dam, scheduled for completion in 2018, include Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and maybe even Egypt.

An Ethiopian ecologist, who would speak only on condition of anonymity, tells SciDev.Net that, since construction was nearly a quarter complete, "it would be good to find common ground and it would be good for the Egyptian side to deal with their concerns by working closely with the Ethiopian government and maybe even finding a way to benefit from it".

But Noureddin blames the Ethiopian government for "raising the hope of its people to a very high level", making it hard to compromise for fear of appearing weak.

Earlier this month, Ethiopia's prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, attempted to defuse tensions by emphasising the importance of good relations with Egypt. He described the dam as a common resource that will benefit all three countries.

But with passions still running high, Ana Elisa Cascï¿½o, a programme manager at policy organisation the Stockholm International Water Institute, believes cooperation is the only solution.

"The only hope for Egypt and Sudan is to have a share in the dam by funding it, and to cooperate with Ethiopia to jointly manage the dam," she tells SciDev.Net.

The next step in this unfolding story is a meeting of the Ethiopia-Sudan-Egypt dam committee. But even that is caught up in national and regional politics: it was due to meet on 20 October but now - due to recent rioting in Sudan over the lifting of fuel subsidies - all that has been agreed is that it will take place at some point in the next few weeks.

Rehab Abd Almohsen currently holds an IDRC/SciDev.Net science journalism internship award.
________________________________________________

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: africa@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Kenya, Ethiopia Mediating Omo River Water Controversy

(It's premature to say the dispute is 'close to resolution' but excellent that the govts are talking.)

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

Kenya, Ethiopia Mediating Omo River Water Controversy

by David Arnold

Oct. 16, 2013

http://www.voanews.com/content/kenya-ethiopia-mediating-omo-river-water-controversy/1770973.html

WASHINGTON — An environmental controversy surrounding the construction of Gilgel Gibe III Dam in Ethiopia's Highlands appears to be close to resolution. Kenyan authorities have raised concerns about the dam because it is being built along Ethiopia's Omo River which is the major source of water for Kenya's Lake Turkana.

The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) has been working with Kenyan and Ethiopian governments on developing a joint project on sustainable development of the basin.

An agreement between the two water ministries may be signed in November, said an official for UNEP in Nairobi. The draft agreement proposes joint management of all natural resources in Lake Turkana and its river basin which extends upstream into Ethiopia.

Lake Turkana defenders in Kenya anticipate an agreement could save the lake.

At issue is the question of whether Ethiopia's Gilgel Gibe 3 dam will drain upstream waters to irrigate large plantations on the Ethiopia side of the border, a move that Kenya fears will critically damage Lake Turkana, 675 kilometers downstream. More than 80 percent of the Kenyan lake's waters come from the Omo in Ethiopia and water levels in the lake could drop by as much as 10 meters once the dam is operational. Lake Turkana is also a World Heritage site where some of earliest evidence of man has been found and is currently home to thousands of fishermen and others who use the lake waters for their livestock.

"Our big concern is the water levels of Lake Turkana," said Thomas Wildman, Horn of Africa director for Oxfam Great Britain. "The big question is whether Ethiopia is going to release all the water from the dam once they've drawn it for hydro or if they're going to keep any of that water."

Irrigation a major concern for Kenya

The Gilgel Gibe III is the third of three dams to be built on the Omo River and its tributaries that run south and empty into Lake Turkana across the Kenyan border. Recent Ethiopian proposals to divert Omo waters for irrigation of a major sugar plantation in the basin have alarmed officials in the administration President Uhuru Kenyatta.

"For the first time this year, the president of Kenya actually accepted that the dam has an impact on Lake Turkana," said Akil Angelei, president of The Friends of Lake Turkana. "After years of back and forth, UNEP is trying to convene meetings to look at a way forward on the issue."

As part of its development strategy Ethiopia is seeking to become a major source of global sugar. It is building 10 new refineries and devoting another 5 million hectares to growing sugarcane. South Omo is to host six of those factories and half of the plantation lands.

Oxfam said the Omo River dam construction – originally identified as a hydroelectric project – is now viewed as "quite a large-scale irrigation project which could really reduce the levels and create an ecological impact on the fish populations which are a primary sources of livelihood for the people on the lake and on the floodplain for livestock."

"We know that Ethiopia's main drive had been not just hydro but irrigation," said Angelei, "so we are trying highlight that we need them to look at what the entire basin needs."

Thousands displaced by the dam

Another issue of concern surrounding construction of the Gilgel Gibe III dam is the displacement of people. Claudia Carr at the University of California at Berkeley reported that large numbers of Mursi people in the north of the basin and Dasanech groups along the eastern shore have already been removed by the Ethiopia government. The Dasanech occupy the northern and eastern shores of the lake and straddle both countries. Gabbra and Turkana groups live to the south and west of the lake.

More than a dozen indigenous tribes have lived in the basin for centuries, raising cattle and goats and fishing the lake. Some estimates say that beyond the 20,000 who depend directly on the lake's waters, more than 200,000 Kenyans and Ethiopians would be impacted by a drop in lake waters.

Cattle raids and tribal clashes are frequent among the tribes such as the Rendille. Many who study the region are concerned that reduced water flows will increase competition for water and lead to increased clashes. Rights groups have reported that in Ethiopia many villagers been removed to provide up to 300,000 hectares in South Oromo for proposed sugar and cotton plantations.

An early champion of Lake Turkana, Kenyan paleoanthropologist and conservationist Richard Leakey said four years ago that the Gilgel Gibe III was based on flawed studies and "the dam will produce a broad range of negative effects, some of which would be catastrophic to both the environment and the indigenous communities living downstream."

The ongoing debate focuses on an under-populated desert region where the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan – and the disputed Ilema Triangle – meet. Recent news of the satellite-based discovery of a vast network of subterranean aquifers holding 250 billion cubic meters of fresh water could boost the fortunes of this drought-prone corner of Kenya but will not impact the future of Lake Turkana. Now the fate of the region depends on the ability of Kenya and Ethiopia to jointly manage the waters of the Omo River in the Turkana basin.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Taking Power 4 People to the Doorsteps of the World Bank

Taking Power 4 People to the Doorsteps of the World Bank
Peter Bosshard, International Rivers, October 15, 2013
www.internationalrivers.org/node/8120

"World Bank President, hear our plea: no more dirty energy! … No more
mega-dams, that's for sure - clean local energy for the poor! … Don't
return to the bad old days - building more dams is not the way!"

These were some of the chants finance ministers heard as they convened
for the World Bank's annual meeting in Washington DC on October 12. Some
60 activists from around the world had gathered at the Bank's doorsteps
on a grey and windy day to call for a shift from destructive fossil fuel
and dam projects to clean local power for poor communities. With
colorful signs, rhythmic chants and impassioned statements, the protest
marked the start of the new Power 4 People campaign.

After two decades of relative caution, the World Bank is plunging back
into funding mega-dams with a vengeance. Since spring, the Bank had
signaled that it planned to return to funding large hydropower and gas
projects particularly in Africa. At the annual meeting, Bank managers
left no doubts that they were serious about this. "We will build dams,
dams, dams and more dams in Africa," one Executive Directors told
environmental activists. In a new paper, the Bank presented the Inga 3
Dam on the Congo River and other mega-dams as examples of what it
intended to fund through IDA 17, its finance window for the poorest
countries. The manager of the Bank's energy department called large
hydropower projects one of the "sweet spots" of future World Bank
lending. Bank staff even nicknamed President Kim "Mr. Hydropower" for
his enthusiasm for large dams.

The Bank's sweet spot will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the
people who currently don't have access to electricity, and who stand in
the way of the proposed mega-dams. A new paper from Oilchange
International shows that less than 1 percent of the Bank's funding for
large hydropower and gas projects in 2013 expanded access to energy for
the 1.3 billion people who currently lack it. In a country where more
than 90 percent of the population doesn't have access to electricity,
the Inga 3 Dam will generate power for mining companies and the urban
middle classes of South Africa.

At the annual meeting, finance ministers endorsed the World Bank's
official goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030. The new plans for the
energy sector show that this is just public relations. In a meeting with
NGOs, Executive Directors confirmed that the new dams will be built to
benefit private investors, not the rural poor.

Speakers from Chad, Pakistan, Panama and the United States denounced the
World Bank's support for destructive energy projects at the protest on
October 12. Jamil Junejo of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum reported that
mega-dams on the Indus River had "destroyed ecosystems and impoverished
millions of people. Energy conservation and decentralized renewable
energy sources", Junejo said, "are the best ways to bring power to the
people." Delphine Djiraibe from Chad's Public Interest Law Center warned
that "the Bank has learned little from its experience and is proposing
to do still more massive projects where the risks are placed squarely on
the most vulnerable populations." The Power 4 People platform calls for
a "fundamental shift" in energy finance from destructive projects to the
clean local sources that expand access for poor communities and protect
the climate.

The protest in Washington DC offered an inspiring start for the Power 4
People campaign. Similar events took place in the DRC, in India and
Malaysia. Yet NGOs and civil society movements need to strengthen their
cooperation and do much more to avert a further abuse of public funds
for destructive energy projects. By December, governments need to pledge
their contributions to the IDA 17 fund, from which the World Bank plans
to finance the Inga 3 Project and other mega-dams. This provides an
opportunity to pressure our governments to shift their support for the
energy sector from the World Bank to institutions that prioritize energy
access for the poor.

If you would like to express your support for the Power 4 People
campaign, you can do so by sending an e-mail message to World Bank
President Kim at
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/2486/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14420,
and on Twitter. More than 1000 people have already done so.

A series of images from the protest is available at
www.internationalrivers.org/node/8120, and an audio tape will be posted
shortly.

Peter Bosshard is the Policy Director of International Rivers. He tweets
at @PeterBosshard and blogs at www.internationalrivers.org/blog/227.
________________________________________________

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: dams@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp

Taking Power 4 People to the Doorsteps of the World Bank

Taking Power 4 People to the Doorsteps of the World Bank
Peter Bosshard, International Rivers, October 15, 2013
www.internationalrivers.org/node/8120

"World Bank President, hear our plea: no more dirty energy! … No more
mega-dams, that's for sure - clean local energy for the poor! … Don't
return to the bad old days - building more dams is not the way!"

These were some of the chants finance ministers heard as they convened
for the World Bank's annual meeting in Washington DC on October 12. Some
60 activists from around the world had gathered at the Bank's doorsteps
on a grey and windy day to call for a shift from destructive fossil fuel
and dam projects to clean local power for poor communities. With
colorful signs, rhythmic chants and impassioned statements, the protest
marked the start of the new Power 4 People campaign.

After two decades of relative caution, the World Bank is plunging back
into funding mega-dams with a vengeance. Since spring, the Bank had
signaled that it planned to return to funding large hydropower and gas
projects particularly in Africa. At the annual meeting, Bank managers
left no doubts that they were serious about this. "We will build dams,
dams, dams and more dams in Africa," one Executive Directors told
environmental activists. In a new paper, the Bank presented the Inga 3
Dam on the Congo River and other mega-dams as examples of what it
intended to fund through IDA 17, its finance window for the poorest
countries. The manager of the Bank's energy department called large
hydropower projects one of the "sweet spots" of future World Bank
lending. Bank staff even nicknamed President Kim "Mr. Hydropower" for
his enthusiasm for large dams.

The Bank's sweet spot will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the
people who currently don't have access to electricity, and who stand in
the way of the proposed mega-dams. A new paper from Oilchange
International shows that less than 1 percent of the Bank's funding for
large hydropower and gas projects in 2013 expanded access to energy for
the 1.3 billion people who currently lack it. In a country where more
than 90 percent of the population doesn't have access to electricity,
the Inga 3 Dam will generate power for mining companies and the urban
middle classes of South Africa.

At the annual meeting, finance ministers endorsed the World Bank's
official goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030. The new plans for the
energy sector show that this is just public relations. In a meeting with
NGOs, Executive Directors confirmed that the new dams will be built to
benefit private investors, not the rural poor.

Speakers from Chad, Pakistan, Panama and the United States denounced the
World Bank's support for destructive energy projects at the protest on
October 12. Jamil Junejo of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum reported that
mega-dams on the Indus River had "destroyed ecosystems and impoverished
millions of people. Energy conservation and decentralized renewable
energy sources", Junejo said, "are the best ways to bring power to the
people." Delphine Djiraibe from Chad's Public Interest Law Center warned
that "the Bank has learned little from its experience and is proposing
to do still more massive projects where the risks are placed squarely on
the most vulnerable populations." The Power 4 People platform calls for
a "fundamental shift" in energy finance from destructive projects to the
clean local sources that expand access for poor communities and protect
the climate.

The protest in Washington DC offered an inspiring start for the Power 4
People campaign. Similar events took place in the DRC, in India and
Malaysia. Yet NGOs and civil society movements need to strengthen their
cooperation and do much more to avert a further abuse of public funds
for destructive energy projects. By December, governments need to pledge
their contributions to the IDA 17 fund, from which the World Bank plans
to finance the Inga 3 Project and other mega-dams. This provides an
opportunity to pressure our governments to shift their support for the
energy sector from the World Bank to institutions that prioritize energy
access for the poor.

If you would like to express your support for the Power 4 People
campaign, you can do so by sending an e-mail message to World Bank
President Kim at
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/2486/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14420,
and on Twitter. More than 1000 people have already done so.

A series of images from the protest is available at
www.internationalrivers.org/node/8120, and an audio tape will be posted
shortly.

Peter Bosshard is the Policy Director of International Rivers. He tweets
at @PeterBosshard and blogs at www.internationalrivers.org/blog/227.
________________________________________________

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: africa@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Groups Protest World Bank Support for Destructive Dams and Fossil Fuels

Groups Protest World Bank Support for Destructive Dams and Fossil Fuels
Civil Society Alliance Demands Clean Local Power for the Poor
Washington DC, Saturday, 12 October 2013

Images available at www.flickr.com/photos/internationalrivers
Take action at
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/2486/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14420!
More information available at www.internationalrivers.org/node/8091.

The World Bank should shift its energy lending away from dirty power
plants toward clean local energy for the poor, a coalition of civil
society organizations said today during a protest outside the Bank's
annual meeting. The Power 4 People coalition – coordinated by
International Rivers, Amazon Watch, and Jeunes Volontaires pour
l'Environnement, and supported by 60 organizations from 31 countries –
said it would urge governments to move global energy finance away from
the World Bank if the multilateral institution did not abandon its focus
on dirty energy projects. Under President Jim Kim, the World Bank has
been increasing support for mega-dams and gas projects, while continuing
to neglect renewable energy and rural electrification.

Peter Bosshard, Policy Director of International Rivers, introduced the
Power 4 People campaign at the protest. "After development banks have
spent hundreds of billions of dollars on dirty energy projects, 1.3
billion people remain without access to electricity," Bosshard said.
"Decentralized renewable energy solutions are more effective at reducing
energy poverty, protecting the environment and mitigating climate change."

Jamil Junejo, the Programs Manager for Pakistan Fisherfolks Forum,
warned about the World Bank's plan to fund new mega-dams, including on
the Indus and the Congo rivers. Mega-dams" Junejo said, "have destroyed
ecosystems and impoverished millions of people. I see this with our
fisherfolk communities in Pakistan, where hundreds of thousands of
people have lost their livelihoods to mega-dams. Energy conservation and
decentralized renewable energy sources are the best ways to bring power
to the people."

Delphine Djiraibe, a Chadian human rights attorney who was awarded the
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, has closely followed the World
Bank's socially and environmentally disastrous Chad-Cameroon Pipeline
Project, where, she argued, the Bank's "model" private-public
partnership further impoverished the population of the oil-producing
region and the entire country. Djiraibe said that oil revenues were a
factor in the nation's 2005-2010 armed conflict, calling them a "curse".
She commented at the protest that "it appears that the Bank has learned
little from its experience and is proposing to do still more massive
projects where the risks are placed squarely on the most vulnerable
populations."

Bernardino Morales from the Ngobe indigenous group in Panama recalled
that large dams and fossil fuel projects destroy the rivers and forests
on which millions of people, including indigenous peoples, depend for
their livelihoods. "The construction of the Chan 75 Dam has caused
severe destruction with our indigenous community in Panama, and the
World Bank has refused responsibility for it" said Morales. "Energy
projects must respect the rights of the people they are supposed to
serve, and meet highest social, environmental and human rights standards."

The Power 4 People coalition calls on the World Bank and other
development banks "to stop funding destructive forms of energy and shift
support to energy conservation, energy efficiency and decentralized
renewable energy solutions." Development banks need to create dedicated
financing mechanisms, indicators and timetables to make such a
transformation happen. As long as they continue to fund destructive
forms of energy, governments should shift their funding to institutions
and mechanisms that are more effective at ensuring universal access to
modern energy services.
________________________________________________

This is International Rivers' mailing list on the role of international financial institutions in promoting large dams.

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: ifi@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Book review: Why the World Bank Continues to Fund Environmental Destruction

Why the World Bank Continues to Fund Environmental Destruction
By Peter Bosshard, Huffington Post, 10/09/2013 11:44 am
www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-bosshard/why-the-world-bank-contin_b_4060428.html

With 1,800 ongoing projects and more than $30 billion in annual
disbursements, the World Bank is the world's most powerful development
institution. More than anything, the lender prides itself in undertaking
the most complex, difficult initiatives in the developing world.

Building a pipeline from remote oilfields in Chad through Cameroon's
rainforest was just the right challenge for the World Bank's ambitious
approach. The multibillion-dollar project -- the largest investment on
the African continent -- involved numerous oil companies and financiers
from around the world. An innovative benefit-sharing mechanism and an
environmental panel of experts were created to ensure that the pipeline
would raise the living standards of the poor in a sustainable way. When
it was approved in 2000, the U.S. government called the project a
"prism" through which the world would view the World Bank and its
approach to development.

Fast forward to 2009. The pipeline has been built, and the oil has begun
to flow. Fueled by the new revenues, Chad's military budget has grown
more than 20-fold, civil unrest and corruption have soared, and the
benefit-sharing scheme has unraveled. Infant, child and maternal
mortality are rising. Oil has once again become the devil's excrement
for a poor African nation. Meanwhile, a part of the forestry reserve
that was supposed to offset the pipeline's ecological footprint in
Cameroon is being flooded by a reservoir -- courtesy of the World Bank.

If the Chad-Cameroon pipeline is a prism, what is wrong with the World
Bank's approach? A new book by Bruce Rich, a veteran Bank observer and
critic, provides a compelling answer. Titled Foreclosing the Future, the
book is based on three decades of experience in battling the Bank and a
treasure trove of internal documents.

Where the state is weak and civil society lacking, a rapid influx of aid
or oil revenues can easily undermine democracy and the rule of law.
Unless governance is strengthened first, aid dollars may not actually
lead to social development. Yet the World Bank does not have the
patience for slow, messy, participatory processes. Its senior management
equates lending volumes with development impact, and the staff is under
relentless pressure to move money out the door quickly. As an internal
Bank report found in 1997, this pressure leads to a culture in which
"the lessons from past experience are well known, yet ... generally
ignored in the design of new operations."

Bruce Rich illustrates the contradictions of the World Bank's lending
culture through an extended series of projects and initiatives. He
describes dams that impoverished local communities and fostered
corruption, forestry projects that caused massive deforestation, and
coal-fired power plants which bypassed the poor for whose benefit they
were supposedly built. He documents repeated promises to learn from past
mistakes -- and cosmetic reforms that failed to address the Bank's
flawed business model.

Bruce Rich calls the focus on lending volume rather than development
outcomes the World Bank's "original sin." The problem has been
documented and acknowledged in numerous internal reports. Yet when the
opportunity for the next big pipeline, dam or coal mine arises, the
interest of the aid bureaucracy in keeping the lending tap wide open
frequently prevails. Bruce Rich compares the internal reports that
document the lessons of past experience with the chorus in a Greek
tragedy -- a tragedy not for the Bank, but for the poor and the environment.

The new book offers a passionate and sharp-tongued but well-informed
analysis. Rich doesn't spare the World Bank management with critique,
but is aware that the buck doesn't stop there. The governments who own
and oversee the Bank recognize its failures, but will not take steps
that put contracts for their equipment suppliers and the steady supply
of raw materials at risk. Ultimately, the author says, the World Bank is
"a microcosm of global society's geopolitical and environmental
contradictions."

What needs to be done? Bruce Rich calls for a reorientation of the World
Bank's priorities to reward the quality of outcomes rather than the
quantity of lending. This, he argues, would allow the institution to
become a "beacon" of good social and environmental practice, for others
to follow. The author is short on specifics, and the chances of this
happening are slim. Yet his new book is a welcome memory pill as the
World Bank enters a new cycle of ignoring the lessons of past mistakes.

Bruce Rich, Foreclosing the Future, The World Bank and the Politics of
Environmental Destruction, Island Press, 344 pages, available at
http://islandpress.org/ip/books/book/islandpress/F/bo8439975.html.
________________________________________________

This is International Rivers' mailing list on the role of international financial institutions in promoting large dams.

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: ifi@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp

Monday, October 7, 2013

Nigeria, China Ink Agreement to Fund Major Power Project

Nigeria, China Ink Agreement to Fund Major Power Project
3 October 2013, All Africa

Abuja, Oct 03, 2013 (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation/All Africa Global
Media via COMTEX) -- The governments of Nigeria and China furthered
their mutual cooperation on Saturday with the signing of approximately
1.293 billion U.S. dollars agreement on a major power project in the
West African country.

Located in Zungeru, a local community in Niger State, 150 km away from
the capital city Abuja, the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Project is
expected to generate 700,000 kilowatts or 700 megawatts of power for
Africa's most populous country, Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
said at the signing ceremony.

The Nigerian official noted the contract awarded to two Chinese electric
power firms, China National Electrical Equipment Corporation (CNEEC) and
Sinohydro Consortium, was given a loan facility by the EximBank of
China, with preferential conditions.

The Eximbank would bear 75 percent of the cost of the project while a
counterpart funding balance of 309 million dollars had been made
available by Nigeria.

"The project will create thousands of jobs during the construction phase
both directly and indirectly. A lot of Nigerian technicians, engineers
and artisans and others will be employed during the construction phase,"
added Okonjo-Iweala, who doubles as coordinating minister of the
Nigerian economy.

She expressed delight at the success of work at the project site, noting
the two Chinese contractors are expected to finish work in 2018.

Chinese Ambassador in Nigeria Deng Boqing, who signed the agreement on
behalf of the East Asian nation's government, said the Zungeru
Hydroelectric Power Project was significant to the Nigerian people,
because it will contribute greatly to economic growth, meeting growing
power demand as the West African nation ushers in a new period of
industrialization and urbanization.

"China and Nigerian share the same dream, that is to bring prosperity
and stability to the people, and these visions have been fully
communicated by the leaders of our two countries when President Goodluck
Jonathan visited China in July 2013.

"The construction of Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Station is one of the
many consensuses reached by the presidents of our two countries. Today,
the signing ceremony is the fruit of that state visit and we believe
more concrete steps will be taken to further boost our already
flourishing cooperation and enrich our strategic partnership," Deng noted.

He said the project, when completed, will also help bring the
much-needed electricity for economic transformation toward achieving
Nigeria's "2020:20 vision".

"The contractors of this project, Sinohydro Corporation and China
National Electrical Equipment Corporation (CNEEC) both reputed for
professional experience and cutting-edge expertise, are top-ranking
companies in the field of engineering and construction. I have great
expectations for the two companies. It is their responsibility to ensure
that all works are done with good quality as well as in a timely
manner," the Chinese envoy added.

The Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Project was conceived in 1982, but due
to constraints of funds, the construction work could not commence.

The Nigerian government approved the project in 2012 in order to obtain
more electricity, help maintain appropriate power prices and promote
economic growth and development of the country.

In May, President Jonathan said the 1.293-billion-U.S.-dollar power
project would be the largest to be built by his administration.
________________________________________________

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

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: chinaglobal@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Growing opposition against proposed Khudoni Dam in Georgia

Growing solidarity with local communities in Georgia puts Khudoni dam in
spotlight
David Chipashvili
Bankwatch, October 4, 2013
http://bankwatch.org/news-media/blog/campaign-update-growing-solidarity-local-communities-georgia-puts-khudoni-dam-spotli#.Uk-mziqc22E.facebook

We recently reported how local opposition against the Khudoni hydropower
plant project in Georgia is being stifled by government figures and how
people were intimidated to avoid negative reporting on the subject. The
native communities in the Svaneti region are protesting against the
project which would expel them from their land and way of living.

The dedication of the Svan communities has triggered solidarity across
the country. While protests against the Khudoni dam are becoming a
regular feat, many famous supporters have now joined the protests publicly.

Rallies against Khudoni took place on Tuesday, October 2 in Tbilisi,
Mestia (an important town in Svaneti) and Kaishi (one of the towns to be
flooded). In Mestia, representatives of different communities from
Svaneti and environmentalists gathered in front of the State Office and
demanded to stop the Khudoni dam project.

On a visit to Kaishi the Georgian Ombudsman reminded the government that
the majority of the local population is against the project as it is
planned right now. He highlighted the necessity of dialogue:

"It is very important for me that the opinion of each villager of
Khaishi and Svaneti will be taken into account by the government."

A group of almost all well-known Georgian writers have expressed their
opposition to the project. Lasha Tabukashvili even considers going ahead
with the project criminal and invokes Georgians' responsibility for the
future of their own country:

"If we do not fight against this project right now we will have to
apologise for not standing up against this criminal project and for our
future generations."

Locals affected by the Khudoni dam not only fear being resettled away
from the beautiful mountain region they call home. They also have no
reason to trust the government's promises that "resettlements will be
conducted according to highest possible standards in the world" (Ilia
Eloshvili, Deputy Minister of Energy, Source [KA]). Land rights have
only very weak protection in Georgia and authorities have blocked Svans
from registering their property in recent years. Many land plots that
were under customary use by the Svans have been sold off for one dollar
to the Khudoni investor Transelectrica, a company registered in a tax haven.

In addition, the Minister of Energy Kakha Kaladze has been criticised
for a potential conflict of interests since he has invested in Georgia's
energy and natural resources sector before joining the government one
year ago.

Father George, a local priest of Chuberi and Khaishi expressed the
powerlessness and anger of the local population:

"We are asking Minister Kaladze, do not think that you are the
owner of everything here, including nature, otherwise the pain that we
Svans are experiencing will move over you."

Already more than 200 people took an oath against the project. Manana
Saghliani, one of the villagers even threatened to commit suicide by
self-immolation at the project site should the project proceed.

While protests are ongoing, the Ministry of Energy has so far not
indicated to change course regarding Khudoni.
________________________________________________

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: dams@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp