Bankwatch: For our rivers, for our lives - activists from across the globe meet in Tbilisi, Georgia

CCE Bankwatch Network

For our rivers, for our lives - activists from across the globe meet in Tbilisi, Georgia
   
By Sven Haertig-Tokarz, Web editor
March 27, 2017

85 river and dam activists from 40 countries and all continents gather in Tbilisi, Georgia this week to share experiences about their efforts to protect the world’s rivers and join their struggles against destructive hydropower projects.

The meeting, organised by Bankwatch and International Rivers comes at a time when dams are back in fashion, being considered as a clean and green source of energy, even though dam reservoirs are increasingly recognised as major greenhouse gas emitters.

In the 1990s investors including the World Bank had withdrawn from large hydropower installations over environmental and social concerns. Yet despite their resurrected enthusiasm, dams continue to be opposed (with some success!) by communities across the world for their destructive impacts on local ecosystems and livelihoods.

In Georgia, where the meeting takes place, the government and investors are fixated on tapping unused hydropower resources in remote and fragile mountain areas. In Upper Svaneti in the country’s north-west, 35 projects are planned in an area roughly the size of Mallorca in the Enguri river basin. Locals look back at decades of opposition to dam projects in the area and have so far successfully blocked the destruction of their homes and livelihoods.
Photo story

The community of Chuberi will lose part of its land should the Nenskra dam be built.

Read the photo story

Further east, some of the most important river systems in Central Asia are under threat with the Lake Baikal basin and the Amur River basin. In 2016, protests led to the freeze of a USD 1 billion loan by the China Export-Import Bank for the Egiin Gol hydropower project, one of several potential projects in the Lake Baikal basin. Not too far away, plans for several large dam projects in the Amur River basin – the largest transboundary free-flowing river of North Eurasia and China – are currently frozen following concerted efforts from opponents.
Rivers don’t know borders

The cross-border dimension of riverflows is becoming especially pronounced in the Middle East, where among others the Ilisu Dam in southeast Turkey may threaten the environmental, cultural and economic situation of downstream communities in Iraq as well as Iraq’s Marshlands that were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Another case, Iran’s Daryan Dam, set to be completed by 2018 is feared to have a destructive impact on the water flows to Iraqi Kurdistan.

River campaigners in the region acknowledge this transboundary importance. The Tigris and Iraqi Marshes Campaign for instance insists that water could be a force for peace, igniting cooperation between all countries of the Tigris-Euphrates basin. EcoPeace Middle East, another group represented at this week’s river gathering, looks beyond nationalities by working with communities from all faiths to stop the degradation of Jordan River and rehabilitate it as an important intercultural, traditional and life-supporting water source. (See for instance their guide for tourist guides.)
Small is not always beautiful

But also plans for small hydropower installations must be treated with care, as the situation in the Western Balkans illustrates. A study by Austrian NGOs Riverwatch & Euronatur showed that 817 or 49% of all projected hydropower plants in the wider Balkan region, most of them small, fall in protected areas. Weighing their biodiversity footprint against their often minimal carbon savings, makes the more than thousand projects planned in the Balkans seem rather irresponsible.
Photo story

Small hydro projects threaten the blue heart of Europe in the Balkans.

Read the photo story

The range of experience represented at the meeting will be rounded up by campaigners from the Americas, Africa, and South-East Asia, who will have stories to share from the Magdalena river campaign in Colombia and the Inga 3 dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo among others.

For impressions from the meeting and more from participating organisations, follow the hashtag #RiverGathering on Twitter.
Share:

Tags: activism  hydropower  local communities  protest  RiverGathering  rivers  Balkans  Central Asia  EU neighbourhood  Global South  Southern Mediterranean

Theme: Energy & climate, Social & economic impacts, Other harmful projects

Location: Georgia

Project: Hydropower development in Georgia, Khudoni hydropower plant, Georgia, Nenskra hydropower plant, Georgia

    admin's blog

Related news

    Serbian mining company ignores desperate calls for compensation while Kolubara mine is reaching family houses
    Italian authorities overrun communities in a bid to enable Europe's dash for gas
    Why no Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (NO TAP), here or elsewhere
    Making the coal phase out fair for workers - unions, companies and environmentalists discuss just transition in Romania
    River defenders gather forces in Georgia

About us

    Who we are
    Contacts
    Work with us
    Annual reports
    Governance
    Donors & finances

Our work

    Themes we work on
    Who we monitor
    Where we work

News and media

    Blog
    For journalists
    Photo stories
    Videos

Publications

    All publications

Get involved

    Stay up to date
    Join Active Bankwatchers
    Donate

Jaune
CEE Bankwatch Network gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.
The content of this website is the sole responsibility of CEE Bankwatch Network and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.
Creative Commons Licence
Unless otherwise noted, the content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 License.