Rivers without Boundaries

Mongolian River-protection activists released

  Dear Friends: Union of Mongolian River and Lake Movements (UMMRL) is delighted to share with you good news that Munkhbayar and Tumurbaatar were released on 6th November after the amendments to the Amnesty Law of Mongolia were finally approved. They spent in jail two years out of their original …

Silk Belt needs UNECE Water Convention

Seventh session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Water Convention is being held in Budapest on 17 – 19 November 2015. Convention is opening for accession by countries from outside of UNECE region. On the first day meeting participants discussed what are main objectives and geographic priorities for …

Environmental historian: Lake Baikal in peril due to dams, fires and climate change

Bryce Stewart, marine biologist, published in “The Ecologist” his impressions from a field trip to the “Sacred Sea” this summer.  We republish it in abridged version. When you mention Siberia to most people they think of snow, ice and extreme cold – a remote place people were exiled to in …

Baikal World Heritage, World Bank and Dams – Two Steps in Right Direction

World Bank Agreed That Arguments Against Dams In Selenge Basin Are Valid. -World Heritage Committee Requested Environmental Assessments – Will Mongolia listen? Baikal and Hydropower Lying in the heart of Siberia Lake Baikal fed by Selenge River is the oldest freshwater depository on Earth containing 20% of drinkable water of …

A Second Call from the “Rivers of Siberia” International Conference

The 9th International Conference “the Rivers of Siberia and the Far East” Irkutsk, Russia November, 10-11, 2015 The Second Announcement The 9-th International Conference “The Rivers of Siberia and the Far East” will be held on November, 10-11, 2015 in Irkutsk City, Russia near Lake Baikal. The Conference is dedicated …

Can the World Heritage Convention save Lake Baikal from hydropower?

This session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) was crucial for the Lake Baikal: WHC had to decide whether to allow it to become a technocratic reservoir system managed primarily for hydropower in the interest of industry or it should be managed as a World Heritage site for the benefit …