Georgia swept by protests against EBRD-backed hydropower

Protests have in recent weeks broken out across rural Georgia after construction resumed on several large hydropower projects financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Demonstrators have complained that the projects were repeatedly decided behind closed doors, and that poor assessments of the social and environmental consequences mean their livelihoods are under threat.

The EBRD, together with other international financiers, should take responsibility and a long overdue critical stance towards hydropower in Georgia, at the least to ensure that the Georgian government respects standards of transparency and sustainable development.