River & Water Policy

2001 : RESTRUCTURED RIVERS:
Hydropower in the Era of Competitive Markets by Philip Raphals, Associate Director, Helios Centre (published by International Rivers Network)
The last ten years have seen two debates taking place on a global scale. One concerns the structure of the electric industry, the respective roles of competition and regulation, how prices for electricity are set and how choices are made about generating it. The other concerns the pros and cons of dams, both large and small, for, among other purposes, the generation of electricity. Remarkably, these two debates have gone on in almost total abstraction from one another. Parts I and II are intended to introduce the energy restructuring and dam debates to each other. Part III attempts to provide a critical overview of the various policy tools and mechanisms available to account for the environmental and social impacts of hydropower in a restructured, competitive electricity market.

The report looks in detail at a wide variety of issues including: Part I: Restructuring and the Environment: the evolution of competitive markets, their implications for planning and for new and existing hydro projects, the role of hydropower in spot markets, environmental implications of large-scale inter-regional power transfers. Part II: Hydropower and the Environment: impacts of dams on ecosystems, biodiversity and human societies; recent findings concerning greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs; factors affecting the impacts of hydropower (siting, design and operating regime). Part III: Addressing the Impacts of Hydropower in a Competitive Environment: green power marketing (including a detailed review of North American certification systems), labelling and rating systems, renewables portfolio standards, and hydropower and the future of planning.

2001 World Commission on Dams final report :
see our page (Download of report, NGOs reactions and more ) and the official site

2000 : Water Framework Directive (EU)
2000 : VISION FOR WATER AND NATURE (PDF, 620k) , IUCN
A WORLD STRATEGY FOR CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

2000 : Water-Reservoirs and greenhouse emissions

2000 : New WRI Report Reveals World's Freshwater Systems in Peril

2000 : EEB Handbook on EU Water Policy under the Water Frame Directive,

2000 : Dams Incorporated, the Record of Twelve European Dam building Companies, February Full report downloadable.
2000 : European NGO Hearing on WCD (World Commission on dams) January 2000, Bratislava

1999 :Forum mondial de l'eau a La Haye: Conclusions (in french,ext. Website R.I.O.B.)

1998: Walker Creek Declaration NGO Founding Statement of LIVING RIVERS
1998: The International Coalition NGOs for the Restoration of Rivers and Communities Affected by Dams July 28 1998, Walter Creek Ranch, California/USA

1997: Declaration of Curitiba , (NGOs Affirming the Right to Life and Livelihood of People affected by Dams

1996 :SILENCED RIVERS The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams
by Patrick McCully Published by Zed Books (London) with International Rivers Network and The Ecologist

1994 Yangtze! Yangtze! by Dai Qing, edited by Patricia Adams and John Thibodeau, Earthscan Publications Ltd. 1994, 295 pp. Essays, interviews and statements by Chinese scientists, journalists and intellectuals opposed to the Three Gorges Dam

1994: Manibelli Declaration NGOs Calling for a Moratorium on World Bank Funding of Large Dams September, 1994

1993 Damming the Three Gorges -- What Dam Builders Don't Want You to Know. Compiled by Margaret Barber and Grinne Ryder of Probe International, Earthscan Publications Ltd. 1993, 183 pp. Second edition of a critique of the Three Gorges feasibility study, with three chapters written by IRN's president and founder, Dr. Philip Williams. $20 + S&H.

1986/1993 Cadillac Desert, The american West and Its Disappearing Water, Penguin Books, written by Marc Reisner ISBN 0 14 01.17824 4 (REVISED EDITION)