Standing with the skeptics

(December 2, 2009) The correspondence I have received on Climategate — the leak two weeks ago of emails and computer files from Britain’s Climate Research Unit (CRU) that show global warming to be grossly misrepresented, if not an out-and-out fraud — can essentially be sorted into two categories: “Why isn’t this a bigger story?” or “Why does this matter?”

National Mekong Committee urged to take people-centered role on Mekong mainstream dams

(December 2, 2009) On the final day (December 1st) of the Mekong River Commission’s (MRC) call for public submissions to its Strategic Environmental Assessment on the Mekong mainstream dams, the Save the Mekong Coalition sent a letter to the Chairpersons of the National Mekong Committees (NMCs) of Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, urging for a strong and trusted consultative process at the national and local level on development options for the river, which guarantees the participation of all riparian communities who would be affected by the eleven dams proposed on the lower Mekong mainstream.

Ethiopia’s Tekeze Dam fiasco

(November 28, 2009) The recently completed Tekeze hydroelectric dam in Ethiopia is said to be the largest public works project in Africa. It also could turn in to the biggest blunder with disastrous environmental impact, as the investigative report below tries to illustrate. There is so much secrecy surrounding the project that it is not even clear who really paid for it, although the ruling Woyanne junta claims that it has provided all the funding.