***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** Manila, Philippines –Civil society groups across South, Southeast and Central Asia are raising the alarm as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) gears up to announce a new Energy Policy that — unless recalibrated — will fail to reflect the realities of climate science and local peoples’ burning concerns. On September 6th, the…
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Last week, the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) announced their approval of a new bond certification scheme for hydropower.1 This represents an unfortunate setback for the climate and for meaningful efforts to address the climate crisis. As our written submissions into the process pointed out,2 the CBI hydropower standard will generate no tangible climate benefit and…
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Rulings loom as UNGA meets on biodiversity OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA—A new report by the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, Earth Law Center, and International Rivers finds that a movement to grant legal rights to rivers and nature is rapidly gaining momentum globally. The report examines how the ancient notion that nature possesses basic rights…
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By: 276 civil society organizations On behalf of 276 civil society organizations from around the world, we are calling upon the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) to abandon the certification of destructive hydropower projects as climate-friendly. The proposed hydropower criteria developed by CBI and its technical working group fall far short of acceptable standards and practice, and…
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By: Michael Simon This article was originally published on the International Business Times This month, the 3,000 inhabitants of Hasankeyf, Turkey, await rising floodwaters that will permanently drown their 12,000-year-old village. With it will go a unique ecosystem and countless cultural artifacts from millennia of human history. Hundreds of miles downstream, the marshes thought to…
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By: Michael Simon There is no defensible way to continue damming the world’s rivers. That was the message that a powerful uprising of individuals, NGOs and social movements delivered to the World Hydropower Congress last week. (It’s not too late to lend your voice here.) Civil Society Constructively Challenges the World Hydropower Congress 9 MAY 2019 from Todd…
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By Josh Klemm, Policy Director, and Florencia Ortúzar from AIDA This article was originally published on Climate Homes News The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the primary financial mechanism established under the UN climate body, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help countries cope with climate change. It is cause for hope, due to its ability to…
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By: Amazon Watch – Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact – Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente (AIDA) – Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation – Carbon Market Watch – Fondation Danielle Mitterrand (France Libertés) International Rivers – Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement International – Movimiento Rios Vivos – Oxfam International – Rede Latinoamericana contra represas y por…
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By: Sarah Bardeen zom·bie dam /ˈzämbē dam/ noun 1. A proposed dam project that activists successfully halt before it’s built, only to see it rise again and again – years later – in different forms. We’ve all seen classic zombie movies like “Night of the Living Dead.” If you haven’t, here’s a summary: A member of…
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By: Institute for Policy Studies and International Rivers The Green Climate Fund must be a vehicle for a fundamental shift in global energy lending to ensure a transformation to low-carbon and climate-resilient energy sources that are universally accessible for all people by 2030. We call on the Green Climate Fund not to finance dirty energy. But…
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