(April 25, 2009) Nearly a year after the deadly earthquake, relatives and others who ask questions are harassed, spied upon and arrested.
Top fisheries scientist wants upper Yangtze dams scrapped
(April 24, 2009) One of China’s top fisheries scientists has warned that further dam construction on the upper Yangtze will drive the region’s rare fish to extinction. Professor Cao Wenxuan, a Sichuan native and senior researcher at the Wuhan-based Institute of Hydrobiology, says government officials ‘know only how to eat the fish and don’t bother about protecting them.’ He wants the government to scrap its plans for more dams and remove those dams already under construction on the upper Yangtze.
The False Promise of Gleneagles: Misguided Priorities at the Heart of the New Push for African Development
(April 24, 2009) The Gleneagles Summit, for all its good intentions, gave rise to unrealistic expectations. The heavy emphasis on aid and debt relief made Western actions appear to be chiefly responsible for poverty alleviation in Africa. In reality, the main obstacles to economic growth in Africa rest with Africa’s policies and institutions, such as onerous business regulations and weak protection of property rights.
HidroAysan rechaza denuncia por concesiones mineras
(April 23, 2009) La eléctrica dijo que la firma que trabaja en la línea de transmisión hizo las solicitudes como medida de precaución.
Nigeria’s economic woes and the doctrine of odious debt
Nigerian historian Femi Eseku makes an eloquent and compelling argument for establishing stricter conditions for receiving aid in order to end the cycle of odious debts perpetuated by what he calls "carnivorous economic saboteurs, disguised as international donor agencies and their greedy oligarchic African recipients."
World Bank lending programme suffers from “material weaknesses” in responding to fraud and corruption
(April 23, 2009) A report on the internal controls of the World Bank’s US $40 billion International Development Association (IDA) has found the current procedures for identifying and preventing fraudulent or corrupt use of aid money to be woefully inadequate. The report is the first of its kind to be done by any international development finance institution.
Moyo’s “Dead Aid” is dead on
Through our Odious Debts Online news service, Probe International has long critiqued and reported on the failures of the international multi-billion-dollar aid industry to help the world’s poorest countries develop, instead creating a cycle of dependency and stagnation. Economist Dambisa Moyo in Dead Aid comes to the same conclusion
Earthquakes too mysterious to predict
(April 21, 2009) According to an article in the April 13th edition of The New York Times, the ability to determine in advance the location, timing or intensity of a seismic event is beyond the abilities of modern science. Though that hasn’t stopped scientists from trying.
Say no to more dams on the Mekong river
(April 21, 2009) The Save the Mekong coalition is fighting to keep the governments of Cambodia, Thailand and Laos from building 11 massive hydroelectric dams along the Mekong River mainstream. If construction is allowed to proceed, the dams will disrupt fish migration patterns; effectively putting an end to what is currently one of the world’s most productive inland fisheries.
China says planning more dams on troubled Yangtze
(April 21, 2009) China will build at least 20 more reservoirs or hydroelectric projects in the Yangtze river system by 2020, the government said Tuesday, despite growing concerns over dam construction there.
Majority of Chileans reject dams in Patagonia
(April 20, 2009) The latest public survey addressing the issue of the construction of hydroelectric mega-projects in the Aysén Region of the Chilean Patagonia shows that the Chilean public is clearly against the dams.
Three Gorges reservoir sees 166 geo-disasters since last September
(April 17, 2009) The rise and fall of the water level in the Three Gorges reservoir has triggered 166 geological hazards and forced 28,600 people to relocate in Chongqing Municipality since last September, local officials said.
28,000 more moved from China Three Gorges area
(April 17, 2009) Landslides and mudflows caused by rising and falling waters behind China’s gigantic Three Gorges Dam has forced the relocation of over 28,000 people since September, state press said Friday.
Thai villagers win case against national power utility
(April 17, 2009) In a rare legal victory for Thai villagers, a provincial court has ordered Thailand’s national power utility to compensate hundreds of villagers for health problems caused by years of pollution from its Mae Moh power plant in northern Thailand.
Three Gorges dam faces 14.5-billion-dollar cost overrun
(April 16, 2009) China’s Three Gorges Dam, due to be completed in November, is getting bigger every day on all fronts. While officially the government said it has spent 180 billion yuan (26.35 billion dollars) on building the 185-metre dam and a reservoir stretching more than 600 kilometres, local critics and foreign observers said the real figure could be more than twice that amount, and that’s just in the construction phase.
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