The X International Conference
“Rivers of Siberia and the Far East”
Novosibirsk, Russia
12-13 October 2018

Announcement № 1
Dear Friends!

The 10th International Conference “Rivers of Siberia and the Far East” will take place 12-13 October 2018 in Novosibirsk, Russia. The conference will be dedicated to issues of sustainable development in river and lake basins in Siberia and the Far East, as well as other regions; the sharing of local and international experiences; and the generation of proposals for the community and diverse branches of authority.
We kindly request that you and your …

Photo: Famous Cross-Amur Half-Bridge in late 2016
 
Welcome to consultations…
On 10 May 2018  the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has launched public ​​ consultations on its Draft Transport Sector Strategy. The AIIB claims that the draft strategy outlines AIIB’s vision to develop sustainable and integrated transport systems that promote trade and economic growth in Asia. AIIB’s intended approach will embrace innovative and proven technologies, as well as promote environmental and social sustainability. While the energy sector presents a larger infrastructure demand need in Asia, the transport infrastructure sector arguably presents the …

The WB MINIS Project reports that Meeting of Sub-working Group took place in Irkutsk
Under the Mining infrastructure Investment Support Project (MINIS), Terms of Reference (ToR) of  Regional Environmental Assessment ( REA) for the Flow Regulation of Orkhon River and Construction of Reservoir Complex (OGP ) and Shuren Hydropower Plant Projects ( SHPP) is being developed, and covers Selenge River Basin and Lake Baikal. 

To ensure bilateral cooperation the Mongolian-Russian Sub-working group was established to discuss the draft ToR of REA of hydro-technical facilities’ projects which are being planned …

 
More statistics on energy development became available right before the Earth Day. Recently we published a post that mentioned  the 80% China’s share in 2017 hydropower investment world wide. The figure seemed exaggerated to us, so we looked into all sources available for last decade to confirm the trend. The graph below shows that since 2007 an average annual hydropower capacity installed in China represented 55% of that installed world wide. If overseas projects with China’s financiers\contractors added to that, then china’s “share” of the global hydropower installation goes up …

Rivers without Boundaries International Coalition (RwB) and Greenpeace Russia
Submission to the World Heritage Center and the IUCN. April 2018
Concerns regarding implementation of WHC decisions on Lake Baikal and recommendations for the 2018 World Heritage Committee Decision
Lake Baikal is undergoing serious environmental crisis. In 2017 among the good news was revocation by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the mining license for Kholodnenskoye Zinc deposit, which was the major step forward in ensuring lasting protection of the World Heritage Site. However, this is the only truly good news from …