Month: <span>May 2016</span>

Mongolia still fails to acknowledge that Eg River Hydro that puts at risk the Lake Baikal cannot be an “internal affair”

  Mongolian governmental news agency MONTSAME  covering  Russian-Mongolian expert meeting on hydropower plans in Baikal Lake basin instead of official report published quote from the Facebook account of an engineer responsible for Egiin Gol Hydro construction: "On May 24 Russian and Mongolian authorities inked a protocol where the Russian Federation …

UNESCAP Secretary Concerned with Unsustainable Resource Extraction along the New Silk Road

  The first time a UN regional body established explicit cooperative program to facilitate sustainable development on the New Silk Road (OBOR). And we are happy to see that UNESCAP Secretary clearly outlines key obvious problems already  challenging implementation of the OBOR Initiative: lack of multilateral decision-making mechanisms and unsustainable …

Kazakh President Calls for a Global Green Economy Roadmap

  Paris Climate Agreement or Silk Road Initiative – according to  Nursultan Nazarbayev  -all major strategies are not comprehensive enough to advance development and deal with  environmental challenges. He timely suggested to build a holistic global roadmap for green economy. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has suggested mapping out the …

If Lake Powell reservoir is useless – who will dare to build new giant dams for “climate adaptation”?

NYT article “Unplugging the Colorado River” by Abrahm Lustgarten published right before World Fish Migration Day gives detailed description of water management options in drying Colorado River Basin. Proposal to drain giant reservoir behind Glenn Canyon Dam is given serious attention  as a measure to prevent unnecessary water losses. Many …

“Surplus Russian water” to quench Xinjiang’s thirst?

Altai floodwater could be sent to parched Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, says Russian agriculture minister. Picture by Sarukhanov. Novaya Gazeta. ‘We are ready to offer the project of the transfer of fresh water from the Altai region of Russia through Kazakhstan to arid Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of …

What’s wrong with Silk Road Dams in Lake Baikal Basin?

The Silk Road Initiative lacks clear environmental safeguards and specific green development guidelines. The China-backed Egin Gol Hydropower Project in Mongolia could disturb the sensitive ecosystem of the lake. Every Chinese person knows about one place in Siberia – Lake Baikal. It is not necessarily famous for its unique biodiversity …