Month: <span>July 2021</span>

World Heritage as a “No Go” Zone for Investment in Industry and Infrastructure

Dams threatening Lake Baikal and five other iconic areas are featured in a new report by Friends of the Earth US “World Heritage Forever? How Banks Can Protect the World’s Most Iconic Cultural and Natural Sites”. The report is examining how the international banking sector lacks strong policies and practices …

Recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. “Heritage Dammed” Updated. Part III.

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 …

“Heritage Dammed” Updated. Part II. CSOs’ Intervention at the Committee Session

Intervention on item 7 at the 44th Session of the World Heritage Committee:  On Rivers and Increasing Dam Damage. By Rivers without Boundaries International Coalition, International Rivers, World Heritage Watch, SOSORINOCO, Yayasan HAkA, Citizen Initiative Ohrid SOS, Wilderness Society – Tasmania. Thank you for allowing us to speak, Mr. Chairman! …

2021 Updates to the “Heritage Dammed” Report. Part I.Trends

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 …

Georgia Should Take Urgent Measures to Protect Rioni River Biodiversity

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 …

The Rivers without Boundaries Thanks the World Heritage Committee for its Wise Decision on the Lake Baikal

On July 23 the 44th Session of the World Heritage Committee, held at Fuzhou in China, unanimously approved (without discussion) a new Decision on the Lake Baikal – the most troubled property of the Russian Federation. As an observer at the Session, Eugene Simonov, Coordinator of the Rivers without Boundaries …