By Maureen Harris, Senior Advisor of International Rivers Today, 24 January 2025, marks three years since the unjust trial and sentencing of our partner and friend, environmental lawyer and climate advocate Dang Dinh Bach (Bach). Bach is a river defender. He worked for years to raise awareness about the downstream impacts of dams on the Mekong…
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JANUARY 24, 2025 Media contact: v4climateleaders@gmail.com Bach to Receive Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty for Human Rights While Behind Bars Vietnam – Today – Friday, January 24th – marks three years since climate leader Mr. Dang Dinh Bach (Bach) was sentenced to prison for his campaign to reduce Vietnamese reliance on coal…
Read More2024 has been a transformative year for rivers, thanks to you—our incredible supporters, partners, and river champions. Together, we’ve advanced protections, restored ecosystems, and amplified the voices of river defenders worldwide. Your support has fueled incredible progress, and we’re excited to share the highlights in our 2024 Year in Review. As we look ahead to…
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By Pai Deetes, Phairin Sohsai and Tanya Lee Roberts-Davis On December 17th, 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…
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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…
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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 MoreBy 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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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