This new report discusses the experience with environmental standards and how it can be useful for new financiers. It contains ten papers written by experts from civil society, financial institutions and academia. The authors present case studies of overseas projects funded by Chinese, Indian...

Improving our ability to cope with floods under current and future climates requires adopting a more sophisticated set of techniques -- the "soft path" of flood risk management, which aims to understand, adapt to and work with the forces of nature. The report gives an in-depth look at the flaws...

The world’s biggest carbon offset market, the Clean Development Mechanism, is a global shell game that is increasing greenhouse gas emissions behind the guise of promoting sustainable development. It is handing out billions of dollars to chemical companies and the developers of...

With 11 large hydropower dams proposed to block the Lower Mekong River’s mainstream, the future of the river lies at a crossroads. To inform decision-making, in October 2010, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) published a Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) report that offers a critical...

The Mekong is under threat. The governments of Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand are considering plans to build eleven big hydropower dams on the Mekong River’s lower mainstream. If built, these dams would harm the river’s ecology and block the major fish migrations that feed and...

This report studies the ongoing resettlement for the middle route of the South-North Water Transfer Project at Danjiangkou in Hubei Province, China. The Water Transfer Project is China’s biggest water project since the completion of the Three Gorges Dam. The relocation of 330,000 people...

The social, environmental and economic impacts of dams are summarised and outlines better options for water management and energy supply. [IRN Brief].

P roponents of large dams, hoping to capitalize on concern for climate change, are promoting a major expansion of large dams in developing countries. Yet large dams are highly vulnerable to climate change, which is changing rivers in ways we cannot predict. At the same time, healthy rivers are...

Chinese hydropower companies and banks are now the largest dam builders in the world. Chinese banks have stepped in to fill the gap left by traditional dam funders such as the World Bank. The Chinese government sees its hydropower companies’ global ambitions as playing a...

The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is the world’s largest and most controversial hydropower project. The 600 kilometer-long reservoir has displaced 1.3 million people and is wreaking havoc with the environment. The reservoir reached its final height in 2010, but many of its impacts...