SHORT SOBERING REPORT Since the Report by World Commission on Dams (Nov. 2000) for 20 years there has been relative consensus that large hydro is associated with excessive social and environmental impacts and should be given no green ticket into sustainable future. Somehow it was simultaneously stipulated that “small hydro …
Since the announcement of its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, China has overtaken Russia to become the largest investor in Central Asian economies, attracted by the region’s mineral deposits and hydrocarbons, economic opportunities for Chinese products and the desire to ensure stability and security in its western …
Before 2000 there were no mines in South Gobi apart from the state-run Tavan Tolgoi coal mine. But over the past two decades, foreign investment has flooded in, with companies now operating 12 large mines, including Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi, one of the world’s biggest copper and gold mines. Driven …
In October several dozen people died in landslides caused by small hydropower construction and this triggered Vietnam authorities to announce long-prepared decision to stop mass-development of small hydro. Similar, albeit less dramatic, decision has been made by China four years ago, where many hydropower plants have been demolished in last …
A year ago, on October 6, 2019, Golfrid Siregar, an Indonesian environmental lawyer died under suspicious circumstances. He was one of the key activists confronting the Batan-Toru Hydropower Dam built by Sinohydro in the only habitat of endemic Tapanuli Orangutan. On October 3, 2019, Golfrid Siregar was found beaten and …
Appeal to Director of UNESCO World Heritage Centre Dear Ms. Rossler: Using satellite imagery we established the fact that, in July 2020 Wellmot (Вэлмот) Company started construction of a dam across Ulz River in Dornod Province of Mongolia, the principle source of water for “Landscapes of Dauria” World Heritage property. …
