(May 10, 1999) A global movement is asking Western nations to forgive ‘odious’ debt extended to despotic regimes. The cause has merit, but opposition is building.
Mekong river body opens new headquarters
(May 4, 1999) The four-country Mekong River Commission (MRC) inaugurated its new headquarters on a bank of the Mekong river on Tuesday in the southern outskirts of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
IOU – Take the hit
(May 1, 1999) Banks and governments knew perfectly well what they were doing when they lent money to prop up despotic regimes. Now, says Joseph Hanlon, it’s their turn to suffer the consequences.
World Bank inaugurates office in Laos
(April 29, 1999) The World Bank inaugurated an office in impoverished Laos this week, saying it would help strengthen its efforts to ease the country’s economic troubles.
Controversial dam projects may lose Development Bank funding
(April 24, 1999) The Asian Development Bank is poised to stop funding controversial dam construction in Laos amid fears of poor viability and rampant illegal logging of some of the region’s last rainforests.
Unforgivable: South Africa’s aparthied debts
(April 24, 1999) Debt is the new slavery. It is heartless to expect democratic third-world governments to repay loans made years ago to their nasty dictatorial predecessors.
Changnoi: Not a picnic for Pak Mool refugees
(April 21, 1999) This project completed in 1994 has proved to be a social and environmental disaster. It is a monument to bad development thinking and bad government. It has enough moral potential to magnify the importance of this remote protest.
Free Nelson Mandela
(April 20, 1999) When Nelson Mandela walked from prison seven years ago, it marked the success of one of the biggest grassroots international campaigns. Working together, we freed Nelson Mandela.
Development-Indochina: recession puts brakes on megaprojects
(April 16, 1999) At a recent symposium on the ‘Comprehensive Development of the Greater Mekong Subregion’ here, representatives mostly from the private sector, government and regional funding agencies complained that the Asian economic crisis had further put off chances of rapid growth for the Mekong Basin.
April 1999 Campaign Letter
Canada’s chief destroyer of the global environment is under review. You can help stop the damage.
News briefs
Special report: Resettlement problems at Three Gorges dam continue unchecked
(April 7, 1999) 10,000 villagers petition central government for help
China’s dam begins to crumble
(April 6, 1999) New premier Zhu Rongji seems poised to topple the giant Three Gorges dam, a Canadian-backed megaproject, write Dai Qing and Patricia Adams.
Damming the Se San
(April 1, 1999) Proposed dams on the Se San River; Case studies and appendices.
Thai villagers occupy dam site, make demands
(April 1, 1999) More than 5,000 villagers have set up camp at the Pak Mun Dam site on the Mun River in Thailand and are demanding compensation from the Thai government and the World Bank for their losses due to development projects. The eight groups of villagers have been affected by various development projects, including six dams which have depleted fisheries, in northeast Thailand.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
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