By Pai Deetes, Phairin Sohsai and Tanya Lee Roberts-Davis Last week Thailand’s Office of National Water Resources (ONWR), in its role as the secretariat of Thai National Mekong Commission (TNMC), announced that it intends to proceed with the implementation of the “Prior Consultation” (PC) process for the proposed Sanakham Hydropower Project in accordance with the…
Read More
Voices from the Tapajos: Advancing Legal Protections for the River’s Future
By Flávio Montiel, Manager, Brazil Program Text in Portuguese follows below Every visit to Santarém, along the banks of the Tapajós River, stirs deep memories. For over 14 years, International Rivers has worked with local organizations to defend rivers and community rights in the Tapajós Basin, one of the Amazon’s most biodiverse regions. This commitment was…
Read More
Historic Drought on the Tapajós River Devastates Riverine Communities in the Amazon
The Tapajós River, a lifeline in Brazil’s Amazon basin, has reached historically low levels this year amid an unprecedented drought. The urgent situation made the National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA) declare a water scarcity emergency for the river’s lower stretch, from Itaituba to Santarém cities, marking the first time the agency has issued such…
Read MoreThailand’s National Human Rights Commission Raises Serious Concerns about Impacts of Mekong River Dams
By Rin Sohsai In early October, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC) sent a letter to Thailand’s Prime Minister expressing serious concerns about the plans for four more hydropower projects to be built on the mainstream of the Mekong River near the Thai-Lao territorial border— namely, the Sanakham, Pak Chom, Ban Kum and…
Read More
Rising Tides of Hope: Advancing River Protection at COP16 CBD
By Monti Aguirre, Director, Latin America Program Returning to Colombia, my birthplace, for the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Cali was both deeply nostalgic and profoundly meaningful. The city’s warm weather and intermittent showers over the past few weeks mirrored the vibrant yet urgent tone of the conference. With its unparalleled biodiversity and mounting pressures on…
Read More
Why Saving Rivers Means Saving Democracy
By Isabella Winkler and Josh Klemm, Co-Executive Directors “It is an easy answer, but it is hard to digest.” This is how The New York Times opinion page put it this morning. The state of democracy affects everything downstream – including, quite literally, our rivers. At International Rivers, where we work with communities living alongside…
Read More
Peruvian Court Upholds Ruling Recognizing Rights of the Marañón River
The Civil Court of Loreto issued a ruling this week that upholds the rights of the Marañón River, marking a significant victory for environmental justice and Indigenous rights in Peru. Originating in the Andes and flowing into the Amazon, the Marañón is critical to biodiversity and Indigenous communities, particularly the Kukama people who have long…
Read More
The World Bank is poised to repeat the mistakes of the past in its embrace of megadams
By Joshua Klemm, Co-Executive Director 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 letter sent to the World Bank today…
Read More
International Rivers celebrates the unprecedented victory in removing dams on the Klamath River
This week marked the removal of the last remnants of four large hydropower dams on the lower Klamath River. On the occasion of the community celebration taking place on October 5 in Yreka, California, International Rivers extends its heartfelt congratulations to the many groups that worked together to make this happen. The decades-long struggle to…
Read More
A Victory After 15 Years: Land Restitution for Families Displaced by the El Quimbo Dam
By Monti Aguirre, Director, Latin America Program In a long overdue victory, Colombian President Gustavo Petro last week handed over nearly 1000 hectares of land to close to 100 families displaced by the construction of El Quimbo dam. Built on the Magdalena River—Colombia’s most important waterway, vital for the country’s ecosystem, culture, and economy—the dam effectively…
Read More
Recognizing the Rights of the Biobío River: A New Era of Environmental Stewardship
By Monti Aguirre, Director, Latin America Program For the Spanish version, click here. The Biobío River was Chile’s first major river protection campaign, which later helped shape and inform efforts to protect iconic rivers in Patagonia. The lessons learned from the Biobío campaign laid the groundwork for future advocacy, driving the successful movements to safeguard rivers…
Read More