Rivers without Boundaries

World Bank makes a deadly mistake funding “The Pyramid of Rahmon” without consideration of alternatives

On December 17, the World Bank Board of Directors approved USD 350 grant to Tajikistan to complete the tallest dam in the world – Rogun HPP on the Vakhsh River. This decision was taken despite the project being non-compliant with the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Standards. Kuwait Fund for …

Asian Development Bank exempts free flowing rivers from dam construction

Large rivers without dams and other water infrastructure will receive additional protection from hydropower development: thanks to the efforts of the international non-governmental organizations including our Coalition, Rivers without Boundaries, the Asian Development Bank has just included in its new Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) the “free-flowing rivers” as a …

At the time of Climate COP Rogun HPP Project is causing schizophrenia among international finance institutions

As the climate COP is coming, every bureaucratic trickster is seeking to promote its favorite “false solution” for climate adaptation and mitigation. Proponents of the giant Rogun HPP Project in Tajikistan are no exception in this regard. International Monetary Fund justifying unjustifiable The IMF released on November 8 a Technical …

Civil Society Urges The World Bank To Back Out Of Giant Hydropower Dams in Tajikistan, Nepal and Africa

By Joshua Klemm, Co-Executive Director, International Rivers As world leaders gather this week in Washington, DC for the World Bank’s Annual Meetings, over 100 civil society organizations are raising the alarm over the World Bank’s plans to lend billions of dollars for ill-conceived and destructive megadams around the world. A …

The World Hydropower Day 2024. Obituary in Graphics

Since 2013 hydropower installation decreased 9-fold (this statistics includes any conventional hydropower and does not include pumped storage) Electricity from newly built hydropower in 2023 was 30% more expensive than from photovoltaic solar power, while its construction is 3.7 times more expensive. It is also 70% more expensive than electricity …

As The Hydropower Fails, for Africa the Future is Solar (but some slip into coal)

The Kariba Reservoir on Zambezi River shared by Zimabawe and Zambia has long suffered from the lack of water and threatened to leave population without electricity. It finally happened in 2024, when the biggest reservoir in the world holding 185 cubic kilometers of water, pactically stopped generating any meaningful amount …