Katy Yan's picture
Campaigns Assistant
In my former life, I researched carbon footprints, integrated water management, and the intersection of art, activism and environmental education. Now as a blogger, I monitor the current carbon offsets craze, throwing in climate change and carbon financing to the web of interconnected earth systems that I explore, and in which we all belong.

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Activists Surprise Dam Lobbyists at Barcelona Climate Talks

Climate activists protest dam lobbyists at Barcelona climate summit

Climate activists protest dam lobbyists at Barcelona climate summit

On November 3rd, at the Barcelona climate summit (the lead-up to the much anticipated climate talks in Copenhagen this December), officials from the dam industry and negotiators from the UN Conference on Climate Change received a rude awakening at dinner.

Activists from corporate and climate watch groups, including our climate scientist Payal Parekh, "greeted" officials from the International Hydropower Association (IHA) at an official dinner hosted by IHA to, as the protestors claim, lobby climate negotiators.

According to Olivier Hoedeman from lobbying watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory, "From Washington DC to Ottawa, Brussels to Tokyo, the most influential governments in the climate negotiations are facing an unprecedented corporate lobbying offensive, aiming to weaken greenhouse gas reduction targets." 

Among these are dam companies, represented by corporate lobbyists such as IHA, that are receiving billions of dollars through the offseting scheme, the Clean Development Mechanism, at the expense of dam-affected communities and our climate.

At the dinner, IHA officials were met by fiery local protestors -- drumming with pots and pans, chanting "Our climate is not for sale - No dams, no lobbies," and carrying signs like "Lobbying with Our Future."

More information: 

Click here to read the translation of the Press Release sent out about the action.