Patrick McCully

Who is Patrick McCully?

Patrick McCully is an American environmentalist and the former executive director of the Berkeley-based International Rivers, a think-tank that aims to support communities around the world opposing destructive river development projects, and to promote sustainable and equitable freshwater management.

McCully is originally from Northern Ireland, and has a Bachelor’s degree in archaeology and anthropology from the University of Nottingham, England. He was co-editor of the UK journal The Ecologist, and editor of an information service for NGOs based in Uruguay.

McCully and the IRN played an important role in helping the Narmada Bachao Andolan movement for many years. McCully prepared an overview of the Sardar Sarovar Project highlighting its problems. IRN also helped in coordinating the activities of the NBA movement and also helped by lobbying the United States government as well as many financial institutions. McCully also played a prominent role in organising protests against the Supreme Court of India's ruling, which went against NBA.

He authored a book, Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams, and in 2008 published an article in The Guardian arguing that the UN-run carbon trading mechanism is corrupted and might actually promote damage to the environment while enriching the responsible companies.