On the Criminalization of Civil Society Activists in the Russian Federation

We, the Civil Society Organizations who have attended the 9th International NGO Forum on World Heritage at Risk organized by World Heritage Watch online from 22-24 February 2021, as active and concerned citizens dealing with Natural and Cultural World Heritage properties at different places, would like to bring the following to the attention of the World Heritage Committee: We have been informed about unprecedented pressure on the activists of the non-governmental organization Ecodefense! by the Russian State Party responsible …

The shore of Siberia’s Lake Baikal that has seen the building of most hotels is now covered by algae caused by releasing untreated waste into the water. Every wave brings more algae [Image by: Vitaliy Ryabtsev]

After the closure of the Baikal cellulose-paper industrial complex in 2013, the main cause of pollution for the great Siberian lake became mass tourism. In 2019, the flow of tourists was three to four million per year.

One of the environmental consequences of tourism is the
pollution of the …

“Blue Horse” also known as “Bluecifer” . Source: https://masterok.livejournal.com/2328912.html

In many transboundary basins of the World the lack of joint plans of shared basin management based on the latest environmental and hydrological research prompts riparian countries to unilateral actions for water accumulation and use within their respective boundaries, while ignoring environmental consequences of such practice. The countries often present such projects as voluntary commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Dam is being built across floodplain of Ulz river just in 27 kilometers upstream of the transboundary …

Photos by By Mariam Nikuradze    

Georgian Government has been slow at learning lessons from the failure of Nenskra Hydro, which construction ignited protest of Svan minority population. As Korean K-Water is struggling to get out of the Nenskra project it owns, Turkish ENKA and Norwegian “Clean Energy” initiated similarly damaging project in much more populous Rioni River Valley. this eventually evoked a thunder of popular discintent. Fearing snowballing protest the Georgian government stopped construction and promised to start risk assessments it initially neglected, but people still went to …

Construction of the diversion tunnel from Lesser Zab basin to Lake Urmia

Statement by Save the Tigris Campaign Coalition

Save the Tigris
Campaign is a coalition of civil society organisations from nine countries
concerned with water justice in the Tigris-Euphrates basin. Our commitment is
to the sustainable and equitable use of water for the sustenance of all,
regardless of nationality or religion. We believe that the obstacles to this
goal are rooted in policies that emphasise competition for water resources
rather than co-operation in their management; in practices that encourage the
squandering of water, whether in agriculture or …

According to the International Hydropower Association, starting in early 2021, the Swiss Government-funded three-year initiative will see IHA Sustainability, the organisation’s non-profit subdivision, work with project developers, alongside regulators, investors and civil society organisations from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. They will try to reestablish good name for “sustainable hydropower”, which is probably a hopeless business given the history of hydropower development and its current reputation in the Balkans. Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina blocked all new small hydro project applications last year, now …