February 2000
Guardians of South American Rainforest Charge Canada with Destroying It
In the last remaining tropical rainforest of Colombia’s Caribbean coast, the Embera Katio indigenous people are fighting for their survival and for compensation for the destruction of their rainforest.
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June 1999
Villagers Occupy World Bank Dam Site to Demand Compensation
Earlier this year, more than 3,000 villagers set up camp at the Pak Mun dam site in northeast Thailand to demand compensation from the Thai government and the World Bank for damages to their fisheries, health, and livelihoods.
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October 1998
Canadian Gold Mine Spills Deadly Cyanide
On May 20, a truck carrying sodium cyanide to the Kumtor Gold Company -two-thirds owned by the government of Kyrgyzstan in the former Soviet Union and one-third owned and operated by a subsidiary of the Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corporation - overturned into the Barskoon River, spilling nearly two tonnes of deadly cyanide. . . .more
March 1998
World Bank Energy Complex Creates Hell on Earth for Indian Citizens
Inspection Panel Confirms Accusations: World Bank violated its own environmental and resettlement guidelinesA leaked report by the World Bank Inspection Panel has revealed that the Bank committed “serious violations of its policies and procedures” in approving its most recent loan to India’s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for the massive and controversial thermal power and coal mining projects in the Singrauli area of India. . . .more
September 1997
Canadian Mining Company Lays Waste to Philippine Island
For more than a quarter of a century, Canadian mining giant Placer Dome has mined copper on Marinduque Island in the Philippines through its 40%-owned subsidiary, the Marcopper Mining Corporation. Marcopper's operations have brought environmental harm and hardship to many Marinduque communities, a legacy that culminated last year in a major environmental disaster. . . .more
June 1997
Asian Development Bank Bulldozes Ahead with Mekong Dams
If the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (AsDB) has its way over the next decade, the Mekong and its largest tributaries will be choked by a series of giant hydropower dams, and up to 60 million ethnic minority people could be forced out of the region's highlands. . . .more
April 1997
World Bank Considering Guarantee for Controversial Dam in Laos
The World Bank is preparing to back a hydroelectric dam project in the Mekong region of southeast Asia that will decimate the fisheries, forests, economies, and water supplies of thousands of local people, and threaten endangered wildlife. To finance the project, the World Bank is promoting a public-private partnership between itself, the companies who want to build the dam, and commercial banks. But, according to environmentalists in Thailand who have witnessed the destruction of their watersheds through World Bank-funded dams, the Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric project in the tiny country of Laos will be an environmental, social, and economic nightmare for local communities. . . . more
January 1995
Canada to Help Finance Dangerous Nuclear Power Plant in Slovakia
A decision that could have disastrous results for the people of Slovakia and Europe, and could set a dangerous precedent for international funding of nuclear reactors, is about to be made by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a Canadian-backed institution. . . . more
September 1995
UN Body Financing the Destruction of Two Major River Systems
Grandiose Development Schemes Threaten Millions of People, Fragile Ecosystems
Contrary to its ideals of promoting "pro-poor, pro-nature, pro-jobs and pro-women" sustainable human development, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has a dismal history of supporting some of the largest and most destructive development projects in the world, including the disastrous Sardar Sarovar dam under construction in India, which will displace as many as 320,000 people, and the Mahaweli scheme in Sri Lanka, which exacerbated ethnic conflict and forcibly displaced at least 60,000 people.
The Mekong River in Southeast Asia, and the Tumen River in Northeast Asia are the next targets of the UNDP's ill-conceived attempts to play God with peoples' environments and economies. . . . more
February 1994
Mekong Ecosystem Under New Attack, as Asian Development Bank Prepares to Finance Dam in Laos
Meanwhile, Independent Experts Blast World Bank for Ignoring Mounting Disaster at Downstream Tributary's Pak Mun Dam
The Mekong River basin, after surviving years of destruction during the Vietnam War, is now facing another onslaught from the Western development agencies, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. . . . more
Villagers Occupy World Bank Dam Site in Thailand in Desperate Attempt to Protect the "Kingdom of the Fish"
Angry villagers occupied the construction site of the Pak Mun dam in Thailand March 3 to 6 in a desperate attempt to stop construction and prevent dynamiting of the Kaeng Taad Hua Phu rapids located in one of Thailand s most famous national parks.
Their occupation is the latest flare-up in the controversy that has plagued the World Bank-funded dam since 1991, when the Bank approved a US$54 million loan to build the dam at a site known as the "Kingdom of the Fish." . . . more
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 Mekong Program |
