4 December 2003
The Struggle Against the Yacyreta Dam
Winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize were announced April 17, 2000 in San Francisco. The Goldman Environmental Prize is the world's largest prize program honoring grassroots environmentalists. This year's prize is shared by Sobrevivencia/ Friends of the Earth Paraguay to honor their struggle to obtain justice for over 50,000 people displaced by a World Bank and IDB-financed dam on the Parana River.
Oscar Rivas and Elias Diaz Pena of Sobrevivencia, Friends of the Earth Paraguay, have been involved with communities affected by World Bank and IDB-financed Yacyretá Dam. In 1996, Sobrevivencia filed a claim with the World Bank’s independent inspection panel and the Interamerican Development Bank's Independent Inspection Mechanism, regarding the Yacyretá hydroelectric project. The organization charged that the project’s severe problems were caused by violations of World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank environmental and resettlement policies.
Founded in 1990 by Richard and Rhoda Goldman, the Prize awards $125,000 annually to six environmental heroes from each of the inhabited continental regions. Nominated by a network of internationally known environmental organizations and a confidential panel of environmental experts, recipients are chosen for their sustained and important environmental achievements.
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