Archive for the 'displacement of people' Category

Salmon revival in sight as Elwha River dams fall in U.S. Northwest

Published on 04/29/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, dam removal, dams, displacement of people, hydrology, hydropower, policy, riparian zone, rivers and species extinction. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.reuters.com

“The two dams, about 80 miles northwest of Seattle, blocked migratory routes of salmon and steelhead trout to some 70 miles of tributary habitat, in the process robbing Native Americans of income by halting a treaty-guaranteed reservation fishery.

The river teemed with thrashing pink salmon before the Elwha Dam was built to generate electricity for the nearby mill town of Port Angeles, with a current population of around 19,000, and later, to a naval shipyard in Bremerton, about 80 miles away.

The Elwha Dam’s removal, completed in late March, was hailed by Governor Christine Gregoire as a significant environmental milestone that “shows what happens, when against many odds, a river is restored to its natural beauty.”

Supporters of the dam’s destruction say the benefits to the environment of tearing it down outweigh the loss of its aging power-generating station.

The destruction of the Glines should be finished in about a year to 18 months, ending the biggest dam demolition in U.S. history.

The removal of the two dams – ordered by a 1992 law signed by then-President George H.W. Bush – is aimed at restoring the natural habitat of more than 300,000 salmon. Economic and environmental impact analyses delayed the project’s start.”

Read more: Reuters

lily victoria

Warm Spring May Mean Drought and Wildfires in West

Published on 04/27/2012 in climate change, displacement of people, drought, hydrology, rivers and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com

“On April 10th, 61 percent of the lower 48 states were listed by the U.S. Drought Monitor to be in abnormally dry or drought conditions. And the Southwest, which largely relies on ice melt into the Colorado River Basin from the Rocky Mountains and previous years’ melt stored in the Lake Powell and Lake Mead reservoirs for its water supply, is poised for a dry, hot summer, because those areas received less than 70 percent of the average snowfall according to the USDA National Water & Climate Center.

These reservoirs are already at only 64 percent capacity following a decade-long drought from 2000 to 2010. And the possibility of more drought years to come is raising concerns over how to manage a river of which every drop (and then some) is now allocated to some use.

Drought, however, may be only one factor in the drying up of the Colorado River Basin. To assess the vulnerabilities of the watershed and consider how water supply and demand might change in the coming years, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation has embarked on a study of the Colorado River Basin to be released this July. An interim report shows that current water use outstrips the supply and projected demand for water could be greater than the projected supply by more than 3.5 million acre-feet within 50 years, particularly when the effects of climate change are included.”

Read more: National Geographic

 

lily victoria

Protestors Condemn Ch. Karnchang over Xayaburi Dam Construction

Published on 04/25/2012 in dams, displacement of people, hydropower, policy, privatization and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.internationalrivers.org

“Coinciding with Ch. Karnchang’s Annual Shareholders Meeting, dozens of protestors rallied in front of the company’s headquarters in Bangkok on Tuesday, demanding a halt to all construction activities occurring on the Xayaburi Dam. Civil society groups and community representatives from villages along the Mekong River inside Thailand traveled hundreds of miles to make their voices heard. Together, their colorful affair helped to articulate the anger felt by many people whose lives and livelihoods would be impacted by the project.

“We are here today to oppose the irresponsible investment of Thailand’s company in Laos. They see the Mekong as a project site to make profit, but they do not see lives. We are here today to tell them there are millions of us who will have to bare the cost of their dam,” said Somkiat Kuenchiangsa from the Chiang Khong Conservation Group in Chiang Rai province.”

Read more: International Rivers

 

lily victoria

An Army Corps of contradictions

Published on 04/19/2012 in displacement of people, levees and management. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Sacbee

“Even as it clings to a policy requiring state and local agencies to clear trees from levees, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has granted one of its own districts a variance to plant 30,000 trees along the levee-lined Sacramento River.

Huh?

“The Corps has always been an agency of internal contradictions, but this one suggests a higher level of Dilbert-like bureaucratic incongruity. How can the top leadership of the Corps reasonably expect flood agencies to strip trees from riverbanks – putting themselves in conflict with environmental laws, and possibly undermining the structural integrity of levees – when the Corps is letting one of its own act like Johnny Appleseed?

“Ever since New Orleans was inundated during Hurricane Katrina, the national Corps office has aggressively enforced vegetation removal on levees, attempting to make trees a culprit for other institutional failings that led to the flooding of the Big Easy.

“Here in California, flood agencies and environmental groups have objected.

“Friends of the River has sued, and the California Department of Fish and Game has filed notice of intent to sue.

“Such lawsuits stand a good chance of success, partly because the Corps’ own research has shown that trees planted at the toe of levees can actually benefit public safety. Their roots help reinforce the levees’ integrity.

“The stakes are particularly large here because, as The Bee’s Matt Weiser noted in a story Saturday, early 20th century engineers built California’s levees close together to scour out old mining sediment. That has left us with little riparian forest – essential for fish and wildlife. The Corps, if its national office were to have its way, would mow down that remaining forest.

Read more here: Sacbee
sammykayed

Landslide Risk at Reservoir Cited in China

Published on 04/19/2012 in dam removal, dams, displacement of people, erosion and floods. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

“A growing threat of landslides on ground surrounding the massive Three Gorges Dam reservoir could force the government to relocate 100,000 more residents of the area, from which 46,000 were moved earlier, an expert with China’s land and resources ministry said this week.

“The dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric project, has been a target of criticism by environmentalists and some geologists since before the reservoir began to inundate a long stretch of the Yangtze River, long regarded as one of the world’s scenic wonders, in 2003. A massive landslide occurred that year, followed by others, but only in 2007 did the government admit that the rising waters were causing instability and that a catastrophe could occur unless preventive steps were taken.

“Officials have recorded 430 landslides and nearly 2,900 smaller geological incidents along the lakeshore, and 5,386 other potentially dangerous sites are being monitored, Mr. Liu said.

“The government relocated 1.4 million people to build the dam and reservoir, which is comparatively narrow but longer than Lake Superior in North America. The latest proposed relocation would affect residents along hundreds of miles of twisting lakeshore from Jiangjin, in the Chongqing municipality, to the dam’s location at Yichang, in Hubei Province.”

Read More: nytimes

Chippie Kislik

Water Risk Threatens Businesses, National Security

Published on 04/10/2012 in climate change, displacement of people, drought, floods and management. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Forbes

“One of climate change’s biggest impacts is on water systems. Unreliable water can impact both corporate bottom lines and jeopardize natural security, as two recent reports point out.

“Climate change is changing precipitation patterns and intensity, increasing the incidence of droughts, floods, and erosion. These changes are making water supply and quality more difficult to obtain, affecting runoff and soil moisture, increasing water temperatures, decreasing snowpack and lake and river ice, threatening fish and aquatic species, and allowing saltwater intrusion and sea level rise. These changes are difficult to plan for, as past water patterns can no longer be used to predict the future. That uncertainty is problematic for businesses and can cause political strife, but some states and regions are taking proactive steps to avoid water trouble and will therefore be more reliable places to do business.

“A recent report from the Natural Resources Defense Council ranked U.S. states based on how their governments are planning and preparing for the water–related impacts of a changing climate, including whether they have strategies to reduce the greenhouse gas pollution that contributes to climate change and whether they have adaptation plans for projected climate-related impacts. The report includes an interactive online map highlighting the unique water vulnerabilities each state faces and what each is doing — or not doing — to prepare. Climate modeling was drawn in part from a 2009 report (PDF) from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, but the NRDC report also considered state’s policies. It said:

“Some states are leading the way in preparing for water-related impacts with integrated and comprehensive preparedness plans that address all relevant water sectors and state agencies. Unfortunately, other states are lagging when it comes to consideration of potential climate change impacts — or have yet to formally address climate change preparedness at all.”

Read more: Forbes

sammykayed

Children of the Salween River

Published on 03/20/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, dams, displacement of people, hydropower, policy, privatization, rivers and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.internationalrivers.org

“At least 20 dams have been proposed for the mainstream Salween River, which flows from the Tibetan Plateau in China, through Burma and Thailand to its delta in the Andaman Sea. 13 are located in China, with two sites already undergoing preparatory work (Songta and Maji); none have been approved. Another seven are in Burma; two have been suspended but two more, the megadams Tasang and Hatgyi, are under active consideration. China and Thailand plan to invest in both.

The likely impacts of these dam cascades range from destroying fisheries and high biodiversity zones to flooding fertile land, from displacing over a hundred thousand largely indigenous peoples to triggering earthquakes and risking dam failure in this seismically unstable region. Of gravest concern for Burmese communities along the Salween, however, is the violence that has erupted around the Tasang and Hatgyi dams between the Burmese military and indigenous groups like the Karen and Shan. Tens of thousands have already been forced to leave their homes to escape the violence and occupation of their homes by the Burmese army.”

Read more: International Rivers

 

lily victoria

What Threatens Peace in India’s Northeast?

Published on 03/19/2012 in dams, displacement of people, greenwashing, hydropower, policy, privatization, rivers, water diversions, water rights and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.nytimes.com

“Roads through Manipur are frequently blockaded for months over the issue. Elections for the Manipur state assembly provided a break in the usual routine of ethnic animosities, but those could erupt again at any time.

In addition, the larger region could find itself in turmoil over environmental issues sparked by an attempt to build 168 big dams here. Popular protest movements have already gathered steam over these dams, which many people fear will lead to loss of their land and livelihoods. There are also fears of earthquakes leading to dam ruptures in this region.

Answering local residents’ concerns about the dams is essential to lasting peace, said Sanjib Baruah, a professor of political studies at Bard College in New York and author of “India Against Itself,’’ a book about conflict in the region.”

Read more: The New York Times

 

lily victoria

Time to tackle water crisis, global forum told

Published on 03/15/2012 in climate change, displacement of people, greenwashing, management, peak water, privatization, solutions and outreach, water rights, water shortage, water wars and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Spx daily

“A global meeting on water opened in France on Monday with demands to provide billions of poor people with clean water and decent sanitation and address the spiralling demands of the future.

“The challenges are huge and the problems are deep-rooted,” French Prime Minister François Fillon said as he opened the sixth World Water Forum in the southern city of Marseille.

“The number of human beings who have no access to clean water is in the billions. Each year, we mourn millions of dead from the health risks that this causes. This situation is not acceptable — the world community must rise and tackle it.”

“As many as 20,000 participants from 140 countries are expected for the six-day event, including scores of ministers for the environment and water and a scattering of heads of state from francophone west Africa.

“Separately, a massive UN report, issued only once every three years, said water problems in many parts of the world were chronic.

“Without a crackdown on waste will worsen as demand for food rises and climate change intensifies, it said. “Pressures on freshwater are rising, from the expanding needs of agriculture, food production and energy consumption to pollution and the weaknesses of water management,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in the report.

“Climate change is a real and growing threat. Without good planning and adaptation, hundreds of millions of people are at risk of hunger, disease, energy shortages and poverty.”

“Demand for food will increase by some 70% by 2050, which will lead to a nearly 20% increase in global agricultural water consumption, the UN’s Fourth World Water Development Report said.

“Abstraction of aquifers has at least tripled in the past 50 years and now supplies almost half of all drinking water today. “In some hotspots, the availability of non-renewable groundwater resources has reached critical limits,” the report said.

“The report demanded an overhaul in the use of water, especially by curbing waste. Smarter irrigation, less thirsty crops and the use of “grey,” or used water, to flush toilets are among the options.”

Read more: Bworldonline

sammykayed

Scientists Warn of Catastrophe for Food Security in the Mekong

Published on 03/13/2012 in agriculture, aquatic ecosystems, dams, displacement of people, greenwashing, hydropower, policy, privatization, riparian zone, rivers, species extinction and water diversions. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.internationalrivers.org

“So far 51 dams have been built or are being built on tributaries to the Mekong River, mostly in Laos. At least 27 more could begin construction between 2015 and 2030. The PNAS study found that “the completion of 78 dams on tributaries, which have not previously been subject to strategic analysis, would have catastrophic impacts on fish productivity and biodiversity.” Many of these dams are not being discussed or monitored at the regional level.

89 dams appear, 100 fish species disappear

The Mekong River Basin is home to 65 million people. Dr. Guy Ziv, the lead author of the PNAS study and an environmental scientist now at Stanford University, told Nature that “Most of the people are poor and get 81% of their protein from subsistence fisheries.” As a result, the fates of the Mekong’s fish and people are closely intertwined. The study warned that if all of the proposed dams are built, fish productivity would drop by 51% and 100 fish species would become critically endangered.

Ziv and his colleagues highlighted the Lower Sesan 2 Dam in Cambodia, which will soon begin construction. The dam will block fish migrations on two of the major tributaries of the Mekong River, the Sesan and Srepok rivers. The impacts will likely be more serious than some of the dams proposed for the mainstream river. The PNAS study found that the Lower Sesan 2 Dam alone would cause a 9.3% drop in fish biomass for the entire river basin. Projects like this are not just a local concern, but a regional concern.”

Read more: International Rivers

 

lily victoria