Rivers
Drifting Toward Disaster: Breaking the Brazos
This is Part 2 of Drifting Toward Disaster, a Texas Observer series about life-changing challenges facing Texans and their rivers. For Part 1, see “The Second Rio Grande.” Sign up for the TXO weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Mastodon. Few rivers can claim as strong a connection to Texas’ natural and […]
Read More‘They paid for it with misery’: Q&A with Chile dam critic Jose Marihuan Ancanao
SANTA BÁRBARA, Chile — The Bío Bío River is the second-longest in Chile, forming in the Andes near the Argentine border and running 380 kilometers (240 miles) northwest before emptying into the Pacific. The river passes through rural, sometimes uninhabited, mountains and foothills, making it seem ideal for hydroelectric development. But other areas are home […]
Shady contracts, backdoor deals spur illegal gold mining in Bolivian Amazon
LA PAZ — Gold is Bolivia’s second-biggest export, valued at more than $1 billion annually and employing hundreds of thousands of people in the country. But much of that gold has uncertain origins, coming from somewhere deep in the Amazon rainforest, where environmental regulations often go unenforced. Setting up camp in secluded parts of the […]
Cambodian mega dam’s resurrection on the Mekong ‘the beginning of the end’
STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — A long-dormant plan to build a mega dam on the mainstream of the Mekong River in Cambodia’s northeastern Stung Treng province appears to have been revived this year, leaving locals immediately downstream of the potential sites worried and experts confounded. First studied in 2007, the 1,400-megawatt hydropower project, known as the […]
First gharial hatchlings spotted in nearly two decades in Nepal’s Karnali River
KATHMANDU — Villagers living near Nepal’s Bardiya National Park have discovered the first successful nesting and breeding site of gharial crocodiles in the park in more than 16 years. They spotted a total of 28 hatchlings in the Geruwa River, one of the tributaries of the Karnali River, the longest in Nepal. The discovery, two […]
Chinese investment in Latin America plagues people and nature: Report
China has spent the last two decades quietly establishing an economic foothold in Latin America, a region that has traditionally relied on Western investment. It’s become the top trade partner for countries like Brazil and Peru, and its banks have given out more than $137 billion in loans since 2005, mostly for infrastructure, energy and […]