In June, members of the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Executive Board unanimously approved the Santa Rita Hydroelectric dam project #9713 despite widespread concerns that the local stakeholder consultation was not conducted correctly resulting in alleged human rights violations.
AnnaIn 1996 peace was signed in Guatemala after 36 years of civil war (around 200,000 deaths, mostly Mayan people) and a new electricity law was ratified as a strategy of privatization and liberalization to attract foreign investment based on the exploitation of natural resources, laying basis of what is turning out to be nowadays an ecological and economical genocide.
The Barro Blanco Hydroelectric Power Plant Project was approved for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) despite the concerns of local and international NGOs.
Santa Rita CDM project registered despite violations of community consultation rights which are at the heart of the Guatemalan Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples
India is one of the top countries in implementation of CDM projects. The Indian CDM authority has stipulated a sustainable criterion for such CDM projects.
The infamous CDM Barro Blanco hydro power project, registered in 2011, continues to cause unrest amongst indigenous communities in Panama. Civil society organizations filed a letter in an ongoing domestic lawsuit in a Panamanian court, after a visit by UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples who concluded that the government should have ensured adequate consultation. Despite the negative impacts on the Ngöbe communities, the CDM remains without remedies for affected people to appeal against CDM projects that violate applicable international, including international human rights laws.
Request for recommendations that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) take action to protect the rights of indigenous people affected by the Barro Blanco dam and other CDM projects
Stay in touch and receive our monthly newsletter, campaign updates, event invites and more.
