Rivers without Boundaries

World Bank’s financing role in the Rogun Hydropower Plant facing scrutiny

Eurasianet. Apr 11, 2025 An aerial view of construction works at Rogun. (Photo: president.tj) The World Bank is under fire over allegations of impropriety in financing the Rogun Dam project in Tajikistan. Specifically, bank officials are facing accusations that they failed to comply with procedures to account for potential environmental …

State of Renewables: Hydropower is a Harmful Outsider

This week the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) released a new Report Renewable Capacity Statistics 2025. Its contents are very predictable, almost boring: a new wave of unprecedented growth in renewable capacity installation in 2024. The 585 GW addition of RE last year holds a 92.5% share of the total …

Mapping of the freshwater biodiversity of Central Asia will help to preserve it from destruction

Central Asian rivers are home to dozens of endemic and threatened fish species, most of which are not well studied. According to the International Union for Conservation for Nature (IUCN) Red List, 21 fish species in the region are critically endangered (CR), endangered (EN), or vulnerable (VU).  Several vertebrate species …

How to interact with development banks lending to hydropower projects?

Bankwatch and Rivers without Boundaries have produced a Toolkit aimed primarily at civil society organizations working to challenge the construction of dams and other unsustainable water infrastructure. It focuses on Central Asia, a region where numerous highly problematic dam projects are still planned. As the region lacks an established culture …

Stop Attacks at the Tishreen Dam in Syria! Remember the Lessons of Kakhovka Dam Collapse in Ukraine.

Tishreen Dam on Euphrates River. Source: www.geosense.com A month-long intense clashes and recent aerial bombardment of the areas adjacent to Tishreen Dam on Euphrates River, as well as mutual accusations accompanying this conflict, vividly remind us the period before the blasting of Kakhovka Dam on Dnipro River in June 2023. …

World Bank makes a deadly mistake funding “The Pyramid of Rahmon” without consideration of alternatives

On December 17, the World Bank Board of Directors approved USD 350 million grant to Tajikistan to complete the tallest dam in the world – Rogun HPP on the Vakhsh River. This decision was taken despite the project being non-compliant with the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Standards. Kuwait Fund …