Rivers without Boundaries

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 …

Civil society organizations and bankers discuss the Rogun HPP Project completion

RwB Coordinator, Eugene Simonov addresses the AIIB President Jin at the meeting between CSOs and the AIIB Management. Photo: Rogun Alert Coalition. The issue of financing the Rogun HPP construction in Tajikistan, which has dangerous negative impacts on natural ecosystems and local communities, emerged as the main project discussed in …

UNESCO-IUCN mission visits Western Tien Shan amidst growing threats to the World Heritage

A UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature reactive monitoring mission has completed a visit to Central Asia to assess the state of the transboundary World Heritage Site Western Tien Shan. During the visit, experts studied the threats associated with plans for economic development of the territory. Rivers without Boundaries Public Foundation reports. Illegal gold …

Russian-language version of the UNESCO Guidance for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context Published in Kazakhstan

On June 11, 2024, Rivers without Boundaries and the UNESCO regional office for Central Asia in Almaty (Kazakhstan) received printed copies of the first edition of the Russian translation of the special Guidance for impact assessments in a World Heritage context. The publication was supported by the Critical Ecosystems Conservation …