The false promises of hydropower

Radio France International International approach

May 15, 2019

The World Hydropower Congress defends in Paris as "green and renewable" the energy produced by mega-dams. "A death energy" denounce, on the other hand, environmentalists.

One by one, they were named in the Paris Defense Competition, at the gateway to the Great Hydropower Meeting, more than 500 social, environmental and indigenous leaders killed around the world, since the 1980s, for denouncing the horrors of large hydropower projects.

Extintion Rebellion activists, environmental NGOs such as Planet Amazone, International Rivers, GegenStrömung, Rivers Without, Latin American France and Aida, as well as community leaders, were posted Tuesday, May 14 in front of the auditorium who hosted the World Congress of Hydropower in the French capital. , organized by IHA (International Hydropower Association), the most important platform of the large dams industry.

Environmentalists gathered at the International Conclave to denounce the false promises of hydropower. Here are some of his main complaints, in addition to the murder of those who oppose these megaprojects:

Nearly 80 million people around the world have had to move, without compensation or compensation, because of the construction of dams. Human exodus accompanies illegal land grabbing, deforestation and increasing violence.

Sold as a sustainable hydropower, the industry builds dams on rivers of social and environmental importance, such as the Mekong, Madeira, Xingu and the Worst Tales.

In addition to the impact on people, especially indigenous peoples, dams have devastating effects on ecosystems: they disrupt the natural course of the waters, degrade it, enter the fish route and eliminate them with other species and destroy biodiversity.

Far from protecting the climate, lHydroelectric dams emit large amounts of greenhouse gases because they are a major source of methane, a gas whose contaminant impact is greater than that of carbon dioxide. Environmental experts say some hydro projects emit more than coal plants.

While environmental activists and community leaders denounced the devastating effects of dams, within the Paris Defense Auditorium, the major players in the hydroelectric industry – governments and megaproject guidelines – defended lasting ".

Source