The planned Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River in southeast Turkey will displace at least 50,000 people, most of them Kurdish, and flood the 10,000-year-old town of Hasankeyf. The dam is extremely controversial within Turkey and around the world because of its massive negative environmental, social and cultural impacts.
Last year, the German government granted export credit guarantees for the project. It justified this support by attaching environmental and social conditions to the contracts, claiming that if the conditions are met, the displaced people would not be impoverished and the ancient cultural art would not be destroyed.
Now, revelations in a new report show that these conditions are not being followed. In fact, the report highlights that the social and environmental risks of the project are as immense as has been anticipated by critics - people will indeed become impoverished and an ancient culture will be destroyed.
Germany is well-known in Turkey for its democratic system and its respect for human rights and the environment. This image would be severely tainted if Germany tolerates the violation of contractual obligations and international standards because of diplomatic concerns. This move would also weaken democratic forces in Turkey who seek to increase respect for international human rights and environmental standards in Turkey.
We ask Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Secretary of State, to withdraw the German government's financial support for the Ilisu Dam project before it destroys the lives of the people and ancient history of Turkey.
Der am Tigris im Südosten der Türkei geplante Ilisu-Staudamm steht seit Jahren aufgrund seiner massiven ökologischen, sozialen und kulturellen Probleme in der Kritik. Die Lebensgrundlage von 50.000 Menschen steht auf dem Spiel und Hasankeyf, eine 10.000 Jahre alte Stadt, würde von dem Stausee des Ilisu-Damms überflutet werden.
Die Bundesregierung hat für das Projekt letztes Jahr eine Bürgschaft übernommen. Sie rechtfertigt ihre Bürgschaftsübernahme damit, dass sie Auflagen erteilt hat, die das Projekt verbessern sollen und garantieren sollen, dass die betroffenen Menschen nicht verarmen und dass die gefährdeten Kulturgüter nicht zerstört werden.
Ein gerade veröffentlichter Bericht von Experten, die im Auftrag der Bundesregierung die Umsetzung der Auflagen überprüft haben, bestätigt jedoch, dass alle Bedenken gegenüber Ilisu berechtigt sind. Die sozialen, kulturellen und ökologischen Risiken sind tatsächlich so groß wie von Kritikern befürchtet – die betroffenen Menschen drohen zu verarmen und eine Jahrtausende alte Kultur droht, zerstört zu werden.
Deutschland besitzt in der Türkei hohes Ansehen als ein demokratisches und die Menschenrechte respektierendes Land. Würde die Bundesregierung nun die Verletzung internationaler Standards und der vertraglich vereinbarten Auflagen aus diplomatischer Rücksichtsnahme tolerieren, würde sie dieses Ansehen verspielen und den demokratischen Kräften in der Türkei in den Rücken fallen.
Wir fordern daher den deutschen Bundesaußenminister, Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier auf, die deutsche Bürgschaft für den Staudamm zurück zu ziehen und somit alte Kulturgüter und die Lebensgrundlage tausender Menschen zu schützen.
Für mehr Informationen über Kampagnen gegen den Ilisu Staudamm, siehe die folgenden Webseiten:
The planned Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River in southeast Turkey will displace at least 50,000 people, most of them Kurdish, and flood the 10,000-year-old town of Hasankeyf. The dam is extremely controversial within Turkey and around the world because of its massive negative environmental, social and cultural impacts.
Last year, the German government granted export credit guarantees for the project. It justified this support by attaching environmental and social conditions to the contracts, claiming that if the conditions are met, the displaced people would not be impoverished and the ancient cultural art would not be destroyed.
Now, revelations in a new report show that these conditions are not being followed. In fact, the report highlights that the social and environmental risks of the project are as immense as has been anticipated by critics - people will indeed become impoverished and an ancient culture will be destroyed.
Germany is well-known in Turkey for its democratic system and its respect for human rights and the environment. This image would be severely tainted if Germany tolerates the violation of contractual obligations and international standards because of diplomatic concerns. This move would also weaken democratic forces in Turkey who seek to increase respect for international human rights and environmental standards in Turkey.
We ask Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Secretary of State, to withdraw the German government's financial support for the Ilisu Dam project before it destroys the lives of the people and ancient history of Turkey.
The Mekong River is under threat. The governments of Cambodia, Laos and Thailand are considering plans to build 11 big hydropower dams on the river's mainstream. If built, these dams would block major fish migrations and dramatically change the Mekong forever, placing at risk the food security and income of millions of people.
Scroll down to sign the petition to keep the Mekong flowing freely!
The Save the Mekong coalition was created to protect the river, its resources and people’s livelihoods, and encourage policymakers to adopt more sustainable ways of meeting people’s energy and water needs. The coalition is formed of non-government organizations, local groups and ordinary people who all share a concern about the future of the Mekong River.
The Save the Mekong coalition is calling on the Prime Ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to keep the Mekong flowing freely to save this critical source of food, income and life for present and future generations. From March until early June, coalition members will be collecting signed postcards from people in the countries who would be affected by the projects and around the world. You can show your support by adding your name to the corresponding online petition asking the governments to Save the Mekong and protect the livelihoods of those who depend on it.
Please take action now to Save the Mekong. Sign the petition to the Prime Ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam and urge them to keep the Mekong flowing freely.
The Turkish government is hoping to build the massive Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River in southeast Turkey amid extreme national and international controversy. The dam would have considerable negative environmental, social and cultural impacts; at least 50,000 people, most of them Kurdish, would be displaced and the 10,000-year-old town of Hasankeyf will be flooded.
Hasankeyf is one of the oldest continuously occupied towns of in the world and the more than 300 archaeological sites in the Tigris Valley near Hasankeyf are of great scientific and cultural importance.
Ask Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, to stop the Ilisu Dam Project and to propose Hasankeyf and the Tigris Valley as a UNESCO Natural and Cultural World Heritage Site.
The Brazilian government is planning to build what would be the world´s third largest dam on the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon. The Belo Monte Dam, meant principally to fuel the expansion of aluminum foundries and other industrial plants in the Amazon, would require diverting nearly the entire flow of the Xingu, drying up the “Big Bend” of the Xingu and its tributary, the Bacaja, home to hundreds of indigenous people. Native people upstream would also be affected by the dam's impacts on fish stocks, their principal food source.
In May, one thousand indigenous people and their allies gathered in the town of Altamira, on the Xingu River, to protest the plans for Belo Monte and other dams on the Xingu. The resolved to "not accept the construction of dams, large or small, on the Xingu and its tributaries.”
Please tell Brazil´s President Lula and other decision-makers in the Brazilian government that you support the position of indigenous peoples of the rainforest - that Brazil has better ways of providing its future energy needs than destroying the mighty Xingu River.
You can write to the Dilma Rousseff, President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva's Chief of Staff and Carlos Minc Baumfeld, the new Minister of the Environment by filling out the form below. You can also reach President Lula da Silva's office by clicking here. Please note that after you fill out the form on President Lula da Silva's website, you'll receive an email asking you to confirm the email that you sent.
Thanks to your support, the campaign to protect the rivers of Patagonia is gaining momentum. Thousands of customers have stopped shopping at The Home Depot until the company severs its ties to the corporations involved in plans to dam Patagonia's Baker and Pascua rivers.
But Home Depot is not the only company with power to stop the disastrous plans that would kill Patagonian rivers, destroy rare Patagonian forests, displace families, disrupt livelihoods and spoil local tourism income. A giant Italian company, Enel, owns a controlling interest in the parent companies of Endesa Chile, the European partner for the Patagonian dam scheme called HidroAysén.
Please write to Enel and ask it to use 'parental power' to stop these plans.
-Personalize the letter below (personal letters have more impact), or simply use our version.
-Fill in your contact information
-When you hit send, your letter will be automatically signed and emailed to Enel.
Thanks to your support, the campaign to protect the rivers of Patagonia is gaining momentum. We've now got the European "head" of the two-headed monster called HydroAysén in our sights.
A giant Italian electric company, Enel, now owns more than 90% of the European developer of the Patagonian dam scheme. Our Italian partner CRBM has begun to pressure Enel with a postcard campaign in Italy, so we need you to send letters to Enel's CEO to show them the whole world cares about Patagonia.
Please ask Enel to use its power to stop HidroAysén and find clean energy solutions for Chile.
-Personalize the letter below (personal letters have more impact), or simply use our version.
Thanks for your interest in taking action to Save Patagonia from a 5 dam scheme called HidroAysén. Actions are already happening around the country and will continue in order to pressure The Home Depot into protecting Patagonia's rivers.
Why The Home Depot?
The Home Depot is the largest buyer of timber products from the Matte Group, one of the owners of the company behind HydroAysén – aplan to build 5 big dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers in Patagonia, southern Chile. The dams and their associated transmission lines would require clearcutting and flooding of a type of forests found nowhere else in the world.
We're calling on The Home Depot to protect Patagonia and stop buying timber products from the Matte and Angelini groups.
How You Can Help
Educate your community and mobilize US opposition to the Patagonian dams.Organize a community action at your local Home Depot store.
Fill out the form below to receive materials and information on how to organize an action at your local Home Depot store.
We'll email you a Patagonia Action Kit that will provide background information and ideas and tools to take action. Let us know how many flyers, factsheets, and stickers you want us to mail you, along with the store location, approximate date you'll do the action, how many people will be involved, and what type of action you're planning.
If you’ve never organized an event before, send us an email or give us a call; we can help you work out the details.
Together, we can get The Home Depot to do the right thing.
Viva la Patagonia!
Gary Hughes
Patagonia Campaign Coordinator
International Rivers
The Home Depot is the largest US buyer of timber products from the Matte and Angelini Groups, two Chilean companies that are part of a consortium planning to build 5 dams on two pristine rivers in Patagonia, southern Chile. The dams and their associated transmission lines would ruin rivers, flood rare endangered forests and destroy livelihoods. The 1,500-mile transmission lines would slice through rare Patagonian forests, creating the world's longest clearcut.
We're calling on The Home Depot to stop buying wood products from the Matte and Angelini Groups, and to use their influence to protect forests and rivers in Patagonia from mega-dams.
In the past year, even after receiving thousands of letters and postcards from concerned customers, The Home Depot has continued to support the companies proposing the destruction of Patagonia by purchasing millions of dollars worth of timber from them.
Tell The Home Depot you won't shop with them until they use their buying power to keep Patagonia wild.
If possible, please take a minute to personalize the letter below for more impact. When you hit send, your letter will be automatically signed and emailed to Frank Blake, CEO of The Home Depot.
18 activists with Brazil’s Dam-Affected Peoples Movement (MAB) are still imprisoned after being arrested on April 26 for protesting at the Tucuruí Dam in the Amazon. The group was part of 400 people asserting their right to compensation by the dam builders -- the state-owned company Eletronorte -- in the form of community development projects for agriculture and fishing.
Tucuruí, the largest dam ever built in the rainforest, has been in operation for 25 years, generating subsidized energy for multinational aluminum smelters. 32,000 people were displaced and thousands of families have never received compensation or resettlement benefits. Instead, leaders of the dam-affected people are being persecuted and the movement criminalized. As you're reading this, 200 MAB members are camped near the dam site in support of the imprisoned leaders.
Please take a few minutes to personalize the letter below and send it to the Brazilian judges in charge of this case. Your quick action will help these courageous people in their ongoing struggle for their human rights to social justice and sustainable development.
Por favor ayudenos a convencer al Presidente y a otros gobernantes de Ecuador que es necesario proteger el Río Topo y el Corredor Ecológico Llanganates-Sangay. Solicitenle que consideren alternativas para desarrollar energía segura y renovable para Ecuador y que den protección permanente para que el Río Topo pueda fluir naturalmente y libremente para las futuras generaciones.
The Topo River is an exceptional free-flowing river in the Ecuadorian Amazon. It is part of an ecological corridor that was recognized for its outstanding biodiversity by WWF as a "Gift to the Earth." But all this could change if the Topo Hydroelectric Project is built.
The Ecuadorian government will determine the fate of the Topo River in the coming days. Dam construction will open up this sensitive area to deforestation and fragmentation. The river's natural flow cycles will be altered and its fragile ecology deteriorated.
Please help us persuade the President and government decision-makers in Ecuador to maintain the integrity of the Topo River and the Llanganates-Sangay Ecological Corridor. Urge them to consider developing other solutions to provide secure and renewable energy for Ecuador, and to permanently protect the Topo River as a wild and free-flowing river for future generations.
We need your help in strengthening a climate bill that doesn’t include credits from dirty hydropower!
Congress is expected to vote on the American Clean Energy and Security Act (also known as the Waxman-Markey Bill) in the coming weeks. Unfortunately the bill sets pollution caps that are far weaker than science says is necessary to avoid climate chaos. It is further undermined by allowing the use of billions of carbon offsets (many from destructive hydro dams), which would permit polluting industries in the US to avoid cutting their emissions until 2027.
You can help make sure that the first climate bill to move through the House of Representatives actually takes meaningful steps to curb climate change.
Urge your representative to amend and strengthen the bill by:
1. Stopping the use of carbon offsets;
2. Requiring 40% cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, consistent with the latest science;
3. Maintaining the EPA’s authority to regulate coal plants under the Clean Air Act; and
4. Removing free giveaways of pollution allowances to industry.
Tell Your Senator: Write a Climate Bill that Avoids Catastrophe
We need your help to ensure that the upcoming Senate climate change bill protects our environment, including our rivers and forests.
In late June, the House passed a climate bill that was so full of loopholes, it would not require the United States to reduce its emissions for over a decade. Now it's the Senate's turn to craft its version of the bill. It is essential that the Senate legislation be strong enough to meet the goals set by scientific facts to avoid climate catastrophe.
We don't have that much time before the international climate negotiations this December in Copenhagen, where a strong global deal is needed to avert climate catastrophe. Let’s make sure that the US shows the rest of the world that it is willing to do its part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Write your senator today, and say that you want to see an effective climate change bill in the Senate:
STOP OFFSETS: International offsets delay domestic reductions by allowing the purchase of dubious foreign reductions from projects like dirty hydropower instead of making real reductions at home.
REDUCE FREE ALLOWANCES: Giveaways of pollution allowances steal the incentive for carbon-polluting industry to reduce carbon emissions at the expense of the consumer and environment.
START NOW: The House-passed climate bill would allow polluters to delay reducing their carbon emissions for ten years or more. That is too little too late.
AB 1404 — the bill that would plug the offset and CDM loophole in California's global warming program — has passed!
Over the past few months, thousands of citizens and activists (including International Rivers supporters) wrote letters to Assembly and Senate members, made calls, visited local representatives, and educated their friends and family about the important health and job benefits of minimizing offsets and maximizing local emissions reductions in California.
Now the bill moves to the Governor's desk, and he needs to hear from you! Tell Governor Schwarzenegger to sign AB 1404 and support a healthier, greener California.
You can learn more about what how AB 1404 passed on my blog.
Chileans fighting to protect their rivers from
destructive development need you.
A new study released this summer showed that there's no need to dam Patagonia's rivers; Chile already has more than enough existing and approved generating capacity to meet its energy needs through 2025.
In spite of this, HidroAysén - the consortium planning to dam the spectacular Baker and Pascua rivers in Chilean Patagonia - resubmitted its environmental impact assessment (EIA) on October 20, 2009.
Last year, after HidroAysén’s initial 10,500-page EIA received thousands of criticisms from state agencies and the public, it was given 11 months to resubmit a completed EIA. The "Adenda" is almost 5,000 pages long, yet it still lacks crucial information about the impacts of the 1,500-mile-long transmission line required to send the power to Santiago, the economic benefits of the project, viable alternatives, and the effects of climate change on the rivers’ flows. Without this information, the EIA is incomplete. To make matters worse, the Chilean government agencies tasked with reviewing the "Adenda" have only 15 days to complete their review of this massive, dense document in, and, there's no opportunity for public comment.
Write to the Chilean government today to urge them to reject HidroAysén's EIA, and to instead promote less destructive and cheaper options for meeting Chile's future energy needs.
The Brazilian government is planning to build the world´s third largest dam on the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon. Belo Monte Dam would require diverting nearly the entire flow of the Xingu River, drying up its famous “Big Bend” and its tributary, the Bacaja, home to hundreds of indigenous people. Native people upstream would also be affected by the dam's impacts on fish, their principal food source.
The indigenous people of the Xingu Basin have vowed to "not accept the construction of dams, large or small, on the Xingu and its tributaries.”
Please tell Brazil´s President Lula and other decision-makers in the Brazilian government that you support the position of indigenous peoples of the rainforest - that Brazil has better ways of meeting its future energy needs than destroying the mighty Xingu River.
You can write to Dilma Rousseff, President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva's Chief of Staff, and Carlos Minc Baumfeld, the Minister of the Environment, by filling out the form below.
You can also reach President Lula da Silva here. Please note that after you fill in the form on President Lula da Silva's website, you'll receive an email asking you to confirm the email that you sent.
In early February, the Brazilian government approved the environmental license for the controversial Belo Monte Dam in the Amazon.
The dam, slated to be the world’s third largest hydroelectric project, would devastate an extensive area of the Amazon rainforest, and threaten the survival of indigenous and traditional peoples. Construction could begin this year.
The decision has caused a national and international outcry. Right now, more than 5,000 Kayapo Indians are planning a protest camp on the Big Bend of the Xingu River to prevent dam construction. They are threatening war.
Studies have shown that by investing in energy efficiency, Brazil could cut demand for electricity by 40% by 2020 and save $19 billion in the process. The amount of energy saved would be equivalent to 14 Belo Monte dams!
The Brazilian government needs to hear from you today. Let them know that the international community will not sit idly by while they threaten indigenous lives and destroy one Amazon river after another.
Please write today to President Lula and his Ministers and ask them to revoke the preliminary license for Belo Monte Dam!
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The planned Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River in southeast Turkey will displace at least 50,000 people, most of them Kurdish, and flood the 10,000-year-old town of Hasankeyf. The dam is extremely controversial within Turkey and around the world because of its massive negative environmental, social and cultural impacts.
The Turkish government is hoping to build the massive Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River in southeast Turkey amid extreme national and international controversy. The dam would have considerable negative environmental, social and cultural impacts; at least 50,000 people, most of them Kurdish, would be displaced and the 10,000-year-old town of Hasankeyf will be flooded. 
The Brazilian government is planning to build what would be the world´s third largest dam on the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon. The Belo Monte Dam, meant principally to fuel the expansion of aluminum foundries and other industrial plants in the Amazon, would require diverting nearly the entire flow of the Xingu, drying up the “Big Bend” of the Xingu and its tributary, the Bacaja, home to hundreds of indigenous people. Native people upstream would also be affected by the dam's impacts on fish stocks, their principal food source.
Thanks to your support, the campaign to protect the rivers of Patagonia is gaining momentum. Thousands of customers have stopped shopping at The Home Depot until the company severs its ties to the corporations involved in plans to dam Patagonia's Baker and Pascua rivers.
Thanks to your support, the campaign to protect the rivers of Patagonia is gaining momentum. We've now got the European "head" of the two-headed monster called HydroAysén in our sights.
The Topo River is an exceptional free-flowing river in the Ecuadorian Amazon. It is part of an ecological corridor that was recognized for its outstanding biodiversity by WWF as a "Gift to the Earth." But all this could change if the Topo Hydroelectric Project is built.
Congress is expected to vote on the 
AB 1404 — the bill that would plug the offset and CDM loophole in 
The Brazilian government is planning to build the world´s third largest dam on the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon. Belo Monte Dam would require diverting nearly the entire flow of the Xingu River, drying up its famous “Big Bend” and its tributary, the Bacaja, home to hundreds of indigenous people. Native people upstream would also be affected by the dam's impacts on fish, their principal food source.
The indigenous people of the Xingu Basin have vowed to "not accept the construction of dams, large or small, on the Xingu and its tributaries.”
The dam, slated to be the world’s third largest hydroelectric project, would devastate an extensive area of the Amazon rainforest, and threaten the survival of indigenous and traditional peoples. Construction could begin this year.