On
World
Water, Big
Dams Talked Up
at UN, Haiti
Dodged, No
Time for
Fracking
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
25 -- When the
UN held a
briefing on
its World
Water
Development
report, Inner
City Press
asked some
obvious
questions:
about dams and
destruction,
and about the
UN's
responsibility
for
water and
sanitation in
Haiti after
its
introduction
of cholera to
the island.
Video
here, from
Minute 28:52.
The
report's lead
author Richard
Connor gamely
answered on
dams, arguing
that while
some prefer
smaller damns
to larger,
they generate
much
less energy.
He said a 20%
decrease in
height of a
dam would
result
in a decrease
in electrical
output of 40%.
He noted that
dams use but
don't draw or
consume water,
and said that
timing, for
example as
relates to the
planting
seasons, is
what matters.
Inner
City Press
named the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo's
Inga 3 dam,
which the
World Bank
just funded.
But the answer
was general,
contrasting
dollars and
cents to
social,
cultural and
environmental
impacts.
On
Haiti, Connor
countered with
a story about
Hurricane
Mitch in
Honduras, how
infrastructure
can be
repeatedly
knocked out.
He referred to
the poverty
cycle. But not
the UN's
responsibility.
Afterward,
Connor
told Inner
City Press he
had also been
ready to
answer
critically on
fracking.
Currently the
situation in
Ukraine has
given
rise to, or
been used as
the pretext
for, calling
to increase
fracking and
dangerous
shipment of
gas.
Speaking
of
gas, the UN
gave the first
question to
Pamela Falk of
CBS as the
head of the
United Nations
Correspondents
Association,
which has as
documented
history of
trying
to get the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN.
Since the UN
is supposed to
be for media
freedom, this
seems like a
contradiction.
Since Connor
had to leave
the room
before
speaking for
example on
fracking, it's
also worth
considering if
Falk
gets or put
any story on
this into CBS.
If not, wasn't
it a wasted
question? It's
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance
-- and it's
opposed by the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access.
Watch this
site.
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