(May 21, 2009) Shares of the Yangtze Power Company – operator of the Three Gorges dam – shot higher this week after the company announced that it will acquire the remaining 18 turbines at the Three Gorges dam from its parent, China Three Gorges Project Corporation.
The drag of the South-North Diversion Project
(May 21, 2009) A recent announcement that the much-criticized South-North Diversion Project is facing further delays may be the first sign that the Chinese government is reconsidering its penchant to pursue massively ambitious infrastructure projects.
Ending Ghana’s odious debts
(May 21, 2009) Political activist and anti-corruption campaigner, Lord Aikins Adusei, is calling on Ghana’s new government to put politics aside and start initiating economic and development programs. His remarks come after the country elected a new president, John Atta Mills, in a tightly contested vote last December.
Odious debts on YouTube
(May 20, 2009) Odious debt-like challenges have been happening under our very noses – we just haven’t been looking for them. That, says Probe International’s Executive Director Partricia Adams, is the underlying theme of a 2007 paper by Professor Robert Howse of the University of Michigan Law School.
Three Gorges in China and Landslides
(May 19, 2009) Another landslide that took place at the Three Gorges, China on May 18 prompted me to write this post and look closer at the causes of slope instability in that area.
Bracing for the unknown
(May 14, 2009) Last year’s earthquake in China is a salutary reminder about preparing for risk in the face of uncertainty.
More landslides in the Three Gorges Dam area
(May 19, 2009) Dramatic images of the moutainside after a landslide in the Three Gorges dam area dumps around 20,000 cubic meters of rock and mud into the Yangtze River.
Indonesian dam kills hundreds of citizens
(May 19, 2009) On March 27, a 76 year-old dam collapsed on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, killing more than a hundred citizens and destroying hundreds of homes. The Situ Gintung dam stood 16m high and held back a lake of nearly two million cubic metres of water.
CPP Investment Board urged to abandon controversial Chilean transmission scheme
(May 15, 2009) We are writing on behalf of the “Patagonia Defense Council” (“Consejo de Defensa de la Patagonia” – CDP), a diverse coalition of 58 organizations from Chile, USA, Canada, Spain and Italy, who have assumed the mission of defending the environmental integrity of Chilean Patagonia threatened by a mega hydroelectric project, called HidroAysén, and the associated transmissions lines.
Stop over-development of hydropower is the only way to save rare fish in the Yangtze
(May 15, 2009) Probe International provides a translation of a story detailing the effects on aquatic life resulting from the construction of hydro dams in the Yangtze. The article was originally published in The China Economic Times, on May 6, 2009.
PBS documentary “Great Wall Across the Yangtze” featuring Dai Qing now on You Tube
(May 14, 2009) While the debate surrounding the effect the Zipingpu dam in China may have had on the deadly 2008 earthquake in Sichuan continues, the toll on citizens that once lived on the banks of the Yangtze is increasingly well documented. PBS recently made its production “Great Wall Across the Yangtze”.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9aU43suUvg autoplay:0]
To aid or not to aid, that is the question
(May 31, 2009) If Africa’s underdevelopment has been compounded mainly by official aid, as the Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo argues in her book “Dead Aid”, then addressing it might be as straightforward as she suggests. Aid could be turned off, African governments would work harder to foster growth and private capital might prove more effective in curbing poverty.
China’s earthquake and early warning system
(May 13, 2009) The Chinese government has announced it is installing an experimental earthquake early warning system, capable of sending warnings within seconds before a quake strikes.
Beijing Water Authority postpones South-to-North Water Diversion Project, Prepares to raise Beijing’s water prices (Update 3)
(May 11, 2009) In our report, Beijing’s Water Crisis: 1949 – 2008 Olympics, Probe International argued that the city’s worsening water shortage would not be solved by building more dams and diversion canals. But rather, the city should implement laws and regulations to limit polluting and water-profligate projects and ensure that consumers and businesses pay the full cost for water. Now, water authorities have announced a hike in water prices. Read the news coverage here.
China’s government wants to be better prepared for natural disasters
(May 11, 2009) The first anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake that killed almost 90,000 people has prompted the Chinese government to go on a PR offensive. It’s preparing to release a white paper outlining steps to increase public-preparedness and warning systems for natural disasters.
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