On March 14, the International Day of Action for Rivers, international environmental organizations sent a joint statement to development banks — the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Eurasian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
The statement was addressed to the development banks by international environmental organizations such as Rivers Without Borders, International Rivers, Friends of the Earth US, Urgewald, and CEE Bankwatch Network.
In their statement, the environmentalists stated that the future of key rivers and lakes in Central Asia is under threat.
«The rapid construction of dams during the implementation of water and energy projects in Central Asia with the support of international development banks threatens the fragmentation of the region’s unique river basins, the destruction of vital natural habitats, and human rights violations. If all planned hydroelectric power plant construction projects are implemented, there will be virtually no unfragmented natural river ecosystems left in the vast river basins of Central Asia, even those that were not affected by the large-scale hydroelectric construction of the Soviet era,» the statement says.
Environmentalists noted that development banks should support the protection of the remaining biodiversity instead of financing destructive hydroelectric power plant construction projects.
«Recent studies point to enormous damage to coastal communities and ecosystems in the context of the climate and biodiversity crisis. Therefore, international development banks should abandon blind support for the construction of hydroelectric power plants and consider options for decentralized energy with a lower impact on nature,» Katharine Lu, Senior International Finance Program Manager at Friends of the Earth US, said.
According to environmentalists, there are more than 300 large dams in Central Asia, and more than 200 are in the planning or construction stages, including with the financial participation of international development banks.
