Category: <span>Essential Publications</span>

Notes on the Renewable Energy and Sustainability Report. REN21. January 2024

The REN21, which presents itself as “the only global renewable energy community that brings together actors from science, academia, governments, NGOs and industry to collectively drive the rapid, fair transition to renewables”, presented a report on sustainability of renewable energy sources.The Renewable Energy and Sustainability Report (RESR) is built on …

Civil Society Calls on Bankers to Take Global Biodiversity Framework Seriously

As exemplified by the continuing extermination of river ecosystems supported by multilateral banks, most international finance institutions are yet to understand that the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is awake-up call for the whole concept of “international development assistance” and international investments in general. The RwB Coalition supported an important appeal …

Protecting Free Flowing Rivers – briefing for banks how to avoid harm

“Free flowing river” is an intuitively clear and appealing concept, but if we want its protection to be embedded into policies and regulations there is a need for formalized definition and identification algorithms. Our first attempt is directed at development banks, which often support destructive infrastructure projects negatively affecting wild …

Asian Development Bank Downplays Risks of Large Hydropower

Today, celebrating the Day of Action for Rivers, dozens of civil society groups published their critique of the Draft Guidance Note on Large Hydropower which was disclosed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a short “consultation period”. The ADB may establish a dangerous precedent issuing Guidance, that instructs its …

Amur-Heilong featured in the River Culture Book published by UNESCO

UNESCO published in Beijing a richly illustrated socio-ecological saga “River Culture –  Life as a Dance to the Rhythm of the Waters” (available in full and chapter by chapter here ) In 36 chapters spanning 900 pages the book analyses relationship between key ecosystem processes (e.g. periodic flooding) and ethno-cultural …