News & Press
In landmark decision, Panama withdraws UN registration for Barro Blanco hydrodam project
Marrakech, Morocco; Panama City, Panama – 10 November 2016: Last week, Panama withdrew its registration of the controversial Barro Blanco hydro dam project on grounds of stakeholder violation, a precedent under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). While this decision is a step in the right direction for climate action, lessons need to be learned…
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Carbon Market Watch at COP22 in Marrakech
Just after the Paris Agreement enters into force, the world will reconvene in Marrakesh to put the interpretive meat on the bones of the Paris Agreement, including on the role of carbon markets, notably Cooperative Approaches and the Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM) in Article 6. In elaborating the rules of Article 6, Carbon…
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By Juliane Voigt, Aki Kachi on 23 Sep 2016
Carbon markets in the Paris Agreement: what’s next on the negotiation agenda?
The Paris COP made strong provisions for markets and, non-market approaches. Next on the agenda is figuring out how these pieces work and fit together, what role they may play in a 1.5C scenario, how to improve and phase out the Kyoto Protocol’s measures (the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI)), and how…
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Barro Blanco: flooding suspended, international lenders pressured to act
Faced with intense national and international pressure, Panamanian authorities suspended the flooding of the Barro Blanco reservoir two weeks after it began. International lenders are being pressured by international NGOs as they have a key role in settling the situation. On May 22nd, Panama’s National Authority for Public Services (ASEP) announced a “test flooding” of…
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Carbon markets in the Paris Agreement: what’s next on the negotiation agenda?
The Paris Climate Conference agreed on strong provisions for markets, alongside provisions for non-market approaches. Next on the agenda is figuring out how these pieces work and fit together, how to improve and transition from the Kyoto Protocol’s measures -the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI), and how to integrate robust safeguards to…
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Barro Blanco: Panama urged to suspend hydro dam flooding amid growing concerns over human rights violations
In a move to bring the contentious Barro Blanco hydro dam project towards its completion, the Panamanian authorities have given the green light to begin flooding the reservoir. Affected indigenous communities still oppose the project, refusing to leave their endangered lands. Carbon Market Watch and other international NGOs have sent a letter to Panama’s President…
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Barro Blanco: Flooding begins on UN approved hydro dam as indigenous defenders are forcefully removed
Washington DC, Bonn, Kiad, Panama 24 May 2016 – Today the floodgates were opened on the contentious UN backed Barro Blanco hydro dam in Panama, sparking forced removal by authorities of indigenous Ngäbe communities that are living in protest camps near the dam site. With construction finished, GENISA, the company that owns and operates the…
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Paris builds recognition for Human Rights obligations in climate action
HR -Protect Human Rights in all climate actionsIn Paris, governments recognized the interconnectivity of climate change and human rights. With a detailed preambular language that specifies that Parties, when taking action to address climate change, have to respect, promote and consider respective human rights obligations, the Paris agreement sets the foundation to make the new sustainable development mechanism accountable to human rights obligations.
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Report highlights need for human rights in the Paris agreement
Paris, 10 December 2015. Today, at the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, Carbon Market Watch and CIDSE have released a new report highlighting the impact that climate projects can have on human rights. Join a large coalition of civil society groups at a media action at the COP21 venue.
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Leave poor land-use alone, he has his own problems
Land-use has always been a tricky subject, complicated even more by the fact that countries are putting land use into their INDCs, without clear measures and accounting rules. If, as with some parties, accounting rules hide CO2 released when harvesting, emissions will go unnoticed and the true amount of emission reductions achieved by land activities…
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