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July 09 2019 Aida Publication

Putting people’s fundamental rights at the core of solutions to the climate emergency

Announcing the first ever global summit on human rights and climate change.

July 06 2019 Aida Publication

The GCF should thoroughly assess the policies and practices of the BNDES and require conditions for its accreditation

The accreditation process is an opportunity to strengthen the Bank’s policies and procedures designed to identify, address and remediate environmental and social impacts linked to its operations.

June 20 2019 Blog Bolivia

International tribunal supports indigenous struggle for the Amazon

The International Rights of Nature Tribunal ruled that the Bolivian State had “violated” the rights of nature and of the indigenous people that inhabit a natural protected area in the Bolivian Amazon.

June 07 2019 Press releases Costa Rica

In historic decree, Costa Rica legally protects its corals

We congratulate the government for taking this important step and setting a legal precedent for the protection of marine environments in the region.

June 05 2019 Blog

Clean air should be a human right, says UN Special Rapporteur

While the majority of countries around the world have recognized the right to a healthy environment, the right to clean air does not yet enjoy the same level of global recognition.

May 20 2019 Blog Latin America

Is the UN finally turning against fracking?

It is crucial that the international community as a whole commits to developing only truly sustainable energy projects. Fracking is not one.

May 15 2019 Press releases Latin America

Protests Challenge Hydropower Companies at Global Event in Paris

Civil society organizations denounce corporate attempts to label hydroelectric dams as “green energy,” citing human rights abuses and environmental damage.

An aerial view of the Amazon jungle surrounding the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil.

May 13 2019 Aida Publication

The False Promises of Hydropower

How dams fail to deliver the Paris Climate Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals A Joint Statement by Civil Society Organizations on occasion of the 2019 World Hydropower Congress in Paris, France We live in an age of urgency. Scientists have warned that we have little time to act to bring climate change under control and protect the integrity of life on our planet. Confronting the climate crisis requires creative solutions that both protect nature and respect human rights. Facing these challenges, we cannot remain silent onlookers while corporate profiteers, financiers, and their allies peddle false solutions for addressing climate change and implementing sustainable development. A flagrant example of such deception is the attempt to portray large hydroelectric dams as a ‘clean and green’ source of energy, as can be seen at the 2019 World Hydropower Congress. Organized in Paris by the industrial lobby of the International Hydropower Association (IHA) in partnership with UNESCO, the conference’s title reads, “Delivering the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.” Such glossy portrayals of hydroelectric dam projects—with an eye toward capturing financial incentives through mechanisms like Climate Bonds and the Green Climate Fund—conveniently ignore a long legacy of social and environmental catastrophes, economic waste and, all too often, massive corruption schemes that are the antithesis of truly sustainable development. ... A Call for Action The undersigned civil society organizations call on the members of the International Hydropower Association, governments and international financial institutions to implement the following urgent actions: Steer priorities, investments and financial incentives away from additional hydroelectric projects and towards energy efficiency and truly sustainable renewable energy options (solar, wind and biomass and, when appropriate, micro-hydro). Special attention should be given to opportunities for technological innovation, decentralized generation and improving energy access among isolated, off-grid communities. Eliminate financial incentives for new hydroelectric projects within climate change mechanisms, such as the Green Climate Fund and Nationally Determined Contributions, and within programs to promote implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (with the possible exception of micro-hydro projects). Commission independent audits of controversial existing dam projects and basin-wide cascades in terms of their social and environmental consequences, identifying steps to mitigate impacts and ensure just reparations for affected communities, based on direct consultations. When such measures are prohibitively expensive or otherwise inviable, the de-commissioning of dam projects should be promoted. Ensure the alignment of operational procedures for existing hydroprojects with relevant territorial plans at the basin level, such as integrated water resource management and protected areas that ensure key ecological processes and the rights of local communities, based on the concepts and tools of participatory, adaptive management. Ensure that renewable energy policies and projects adopt, across the board, robust guidelines to safeguard human rights and environmental protections, such as ILO Convention 169 and the UN Principles on Business and Human Rights. No energy facilities that potentially impact the territories and livelihoods of indigenous peoples and other traditional communities should be authorized without obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of the community and ensuring the cooperative design of co-management strategies. Among the benefits of such a paradigm shift in energy strategies and development planning will be major contributions toward protecting the world’s last free-flowing rivers, vital for climate resiliency, biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods. Energy companies and governments must halt all efforts to dam the world’s remaining free-flowing rivers and concentrate instead on: i) improving efficiency and the sustainability of existing hydropower projects and cascades; and ii) investing in energy efficiency and truly sustainable renewables. Moreover, governments must urgently promote the permanent legal protection of the world’s last free-flowing rivers, including transboundary watercourses, with due respect for the territorial rights of indigenous peoples and other traditional communities, who play fundamental roles as the guardians of healthy rivers. Read the Full Statement Here

May 13 2019 Blog Latin America

Nature first: it’s time to build environmental consciousness

The good news is that the changes we need to make to resolve the environmental crisis are not only achievable; they are what people living on this planet actually want.

May 07 2019 Press releases Brazil

Inter-American Commission to examine rollback of indigenous rights in Brazil

In a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, civil society organizations will demonstrate how measures adopted by the administration of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro are undoing decades of human rights protections in the country.