Protests challenge hydropower companies in Paris

A broad coalition of environmental and human rights organisations held a peaceful protest against destructive hydroelectric dam projects at the opening of the World Hydropower Congress in Paris. Following the protest, a delegation of Munduruku indigenous leaders from the Brazilian Amazon attempted to hand deliver a letter to the headquarters of French energy giant EDF, questioning their involvement in destructive dam projects in the Amazon; corporate representatives refused to meet with them.

The biennial World Hydropower Congress, organised by the International Hydropower Association (IHA), was opened in central Paris. The industry is using the event to portray hydroelectric dams as a clean source of renewable energy, essential for delivering the Paris Climate Agreement and the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.

However, a broad coalition of environmental and human rights non-government organisations (NGOs), together with social movements, have dis-missed these claims as greenwashing, aimed at capturing new sources of financing, such as the green climate fund. They point to numerous cases where hydro-power projects have provoked disastrous consequences for people and the environment.

Citing mounting scientific evidence that dams are an important source of greenhouse gases like CO₂ and methane, civil society groups have also disputed the role of hydropower projects in mitigating climate change. These and other issues – including the impacts of hydroelectric dams on natural and cul-tural heritage sites – were debated by scientists, activists and representatives of affected communities from Brazil, Colombia, Myanmar and Turkey in a parallel event to the IHA Congress held at the Town Hall of the 6th Arrondissement of Paris on 13 May. The conference was organised by NGOs Planète Amazone, GegenStrömung/CounterCurrent, Rivers without Boundaries, International Rivers, and AIDA.

During the opening of the World Hydropower Congress in Paris, representatives of indigenous communities, social movements and NGOs protested together with environmental activists of Extinction Rebellion in front of the Espace Grande Arche in La Defense. One focus of the protest was to bring attention to the grow-ing number of human rights and environmental activists murdered in dam-related conflicts. “Miguel Ángel Pabón Pabón, disappeared as a result of his activism against the Hidrosogamoso dam in Colombia, which has continued despite severe human rights violations”, said Juan Pablo Soler from Movimento Ríos Vívos of Colombia.

Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/other-renewables/21052019/protests-challenge-hydropower-companies-in-paris/