NGOs appeal to the Board of the Green Climate Fund to abstain from large dams and do better risk assessment
 
Friends of Earth initiated an appeal to the Green Climate Fund that may become another pocket to enrich large corporations and international banks instead of becoming a vehicle for sustainable development. Consideration of large hydropower in GCF portfolio shows that the Fund is likely to slip into the traps in which previously Clean Development Mechanism and other precursors were eventually caught: supporting projects that cause serious environmental and social harm in …

The topic for the book with such teasing title  was selected due to outstanding flood that took place on transboundary Amur River in summer and autumn of 2013 and need to explore feasible options for integrated flood management jointly implemented by Russia and China.
Now, as in September 2016 the “Lionrock” typhoon again brought havoc to  villages and towns of the Far East and helpless  management agencies instead of concerted action started are again discussing “flood-prevention hydropower”, we should remove brackets in the book title: “Lessons Unlearned”. But our …

Great Amur River saved by rivalry and mistrust may be degraded in the name of friendship.

Taipingou -mysterious heart of the Amur-Heilong river
The new vision of "Ecological Civilization" put forward by China’s Communist Party is coming to a decisive test as leading "new clean energy" company Hanergy, which suffered a severe failure at HK Stock Exchange, proposes to Russian Ministry for Development of the Far East to revive an old plan for a giant dam to harness flow of the greatest untamed river of Asia.
The Amur River (Heilongjiang in …

Sukhgerel Dugersuren (OT Watch and RwB Mongolia cooperated with the  Front Line Defenders  to prepare a chapter of the forthcoming nonfiction graphic novel about human rights defenders challenging extractive industries around the world. We republish it with kind permission of Sukhgerel.
Mongolia is a new star on the extractive industry’s stage. Being brand new means it does not have the necessary legal framework, norms and standards aimed at protecting the environment and the rights of local communities.

The World Bank leads a team of international financial institutions, namely the International Financial …

OFFICIAL ANOUNCEMENT: “The WB Board on July 20 approved the Panel’s recommendation to defer for a second time a decision on whether the Panel should investigate a complaint related to the Mining Infrastructure Investment Support (MINIS) Project in Mongolia. In a February 2015 Request for Inspection, the complainants had claimed that the project is supporting two subprojects that may have potential irreversible environmental and social impacts on the Selenge River in Mongolia and on Lake Baikal in the Russian Federation. On July 27, 2015, the Board had approved the …