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News in the past few weeks about the long-debated DRC Inga 3 dam project – a “dream for Africa” and part of the world’s largest hydropower scheme – has only been more and more worrying. Environmental and social impact assessments and a resettlement action plan have yet to be carried out, even though funding was approved two years ago and a consultancy was selected in September 2015. Notwithstanding this, a consortium of China Three Gorges Corp. and Sinohydro appear to be the likely project developers to be selected in August, with construction beginning in June of next year.

In this context, it’s a small glimmer of hope that a resettlement guide for affected communities that I contributed to – along with others including International Rivers and the University of Washington School of Law’s Sustainable International Development Program – was recently published by International Rivers. This guide is just one of the many steps that local civil society organizations in Bas-Congo province are taking to prepare and equip the 10,000 people who will be affected by this project to know and assert their rights in the face of an increasingly worrying situation where politics may once again trump respect for the law.

“African Dams, Rivers and Rights: A Guide for Communities to be Impacted by the Inga 3 Dam” published by International Rivers is available for download in English and French.