Category: <span>World Heritage Convention</span>

Old energy minister gets a new term…in prison

Former Mongolian Energy Minister M.Sonompil was sentenced to four years in prison over the abuse of power on Wednesday, 24 July 2019. M.Sonompil worked as Energy Minister between 2012 and 2016. Those were decisive years when energy development in Mongolia fell victim of corruption and political favors. Instead of pursuing …

“Test killing” of Tigris River by Turkish Authorities Has Started

The Turkish government has started filling the controversial Ilisu Dam Reservoir on the Tigris River in the Kurdish Southeast of Turkey. Photos shared on social media from the 23rd July 2019 showed how a road along the Tigris River just upstream of the dam has been flooded. New photos from …

Liberation of the Selune River – Work in Progress

Work in Progress Notes of Eco-Pilgrim by Eugene Simonov RwB’s Eugene Simonov spent his “Tigris River Solidarity Day” at Selune River in Normandy, where two dams are being decommissioned to restore ecosystem and spawning paths of Atlantic Salmon. These are his notes from this trip. The hydroelectric dams of La …

Jump in Tigris River at tranquil Selune Estuary

Resistance continues against Ilisu Dam! Following a call by the Initiative to Keep Alive (HYG) and the Mesopotamia Ecology Movement (MEM) for the “Big Jump” ecology activists in Hasankeyf, Turkey and the world protested the controversial Ilisu Dam on the 14th of July. This action day is the continuation of …

Proposals to weaken World Heritage protection confronted by NGOs

Difficult dilemmas are discussed at the 43rd World Heritage Committee session in Baku. The RwB had a chance to introduce the “Heritage Dammed” Report during debate on two World Heritage sites threatened by dams. From July 1 afternoon African countries (which usually vote here in one united block) are challenging …

River Protection Crisis and the World Heritage System

The RwB Guide to the 43rd WH Committee Session, 2019 The 43rd Session of the World Heritage Committee is opening today in Baku, Azerbaijan. This is an overview of most pressing river and dam related issues planned for review or voiced by NGOs. The 6th International NGO Forum on World …