A Cannibal Tasked with Writing “Responsible Eating Guidelines” Faces Natural Difficulties…

It has been almost two weeks since the International Hydropower Association (IHA) announced its “historic commitment” not to build dams inside the World Heritage areas. It became about the last in the long line of industries who have been convinced by the World Heritage Center to declare such a commitment. In the explanatory FAQ document the IHA even says that when creating dams in the same basins but outside World Heritage “the focus should be on avoiding and …

Bloomberg  

Remove dams in the Giant Salamander Reserve (poster)

As President Xi Jinping calls for greater environmental protection, officials are eager to demolish badly-planned dams. But the country will need vast amounts of clean hydroelectric power to meet its net-zero goal.

China is trying to wean its massive economy off coal and fossil fuels to meet its ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2060. So why is it trying to shut down as many as 40,000 hydropower plants?

Yebatan Hydro Construction on Jinsha (Upper Yangtze) River. 2018

The answer lies deep in the …

Zun Torey Lake (now inside Daursky Zapovednik core zone) . by Bart Wickel

State Strict Scientific Nature Reserve (Zapovednik) Daursky has been expanded by Governmental Decree #1301 issued on August 4, 2021.

The area of the strictly protect area has been expanded from 45 000 hectares to 84 000 ha (more than by 80%) by adding 11 new adjacent land plots in grassland and wetland ecosystems in Ononsky and Borzinsky districts of Zabaikalsky Province (Kray).

Maps of Daursky SSNR and adjacent protected areas.Left: Red- old strictly protected zones (45000 ha), Yellow – …

Given tragic situation with river ecosystem protection  in the realm of the World Heritage Convention,  we want to bring to attention of Your delegations a concise brief detailing our findings and recommendations. We hope that Your Country will be able to promote strengthening freshwater ecosystem conservation. Rivers without Boundaries Coalition would be happy to explore opportunities to assist Your country’s efforts to protect rivers under this convention. See Part I Heritage Dammed Trends. See Part II CSOs’ Intervention. Part III – Recommendations – below (and in original …

Sharp rise in negative impacts on World Heritage sites, occurring despite limitations of COVID, is in particularly obvious for properties affected by dams and other water infrastructure. This is the first part of a brief presented to World Heritage Convention Committee today by the RwB.

Here: Part I Heritage Dammed Trends. See Part II CSOs’ Intervention. See Part III – Recommendations (and in original “Heritage Dammed” Report.)

COVID lockdowns have not stopped river dammng

In 2019 the RwB and World Heritage Watch  presented at the
43rd Committee Session in Baku the …

A baby-sturgeon caught in Rioni River (Photo by Flora and Fauna International)

Today the World Heritage Committee inscribed the Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands, Georgia, on the World Heritage List as a unique ecosystem hosting outstanding biodiversity.

The Decision states that the Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands are relict forests, which have survived the glacial cycles of the ice age. The peatlands of the Colchis mire region, which are closely interlinked with lowland Colchic rainforests, also reflect the mild and extremely humid conditions there. These allow for the existence of percolation bogs, the …