Open letter calling Panama’s Environment Minister for the withdrawal of Barro Blanco’s registration under the Clean Development Mechanism

An open letter from 80 organizations requests the withdrawal of the Barro Blanco hydroelectric project from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The authors argue that the project violates international human rights standards and Panamanian law, specifically regarding the right to free, prior and informed consent of the Ngäbe indigenous people, whose lands and sacred sites are being flooded.

• The Barro Blanco hydroelectric project has caused severe environmental and human harms, including the flooding of homes and sacred lands of Ngäbe communities starting on August 19, without prior notification.
• A 2012 United Nations Development Programme fact-finding mission identified that the project would directly impact the Ngäbe communities of Quebrada Caña, Nuevo Palomar, and Kiad, flooding at least 6 hectares and 9816.86 m² of land used for subsistence, including homes and sacred petroglyphs.
• The project developer, GENISA, failed to reach an agreement with the Ngäbe Bugle Comarca, leading to a fine by the Panamanian Environment Minister in August 2015; despite this, a "test flood" was permitted in May 2016 without consulting affected communities.
• The project is deemed unsustainable because it violates international human rights standards and the American Convention on Human Rights, specifically the rights of indigenous peoples to consultation, free, prior and informed consent, and the right to not be forcibly removed from traditional lands.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2016). Open letter calling Panama’s Environment Minister for the withdrawal of Barro Blanco’s registration under the Clean Development Mechanism. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-calling-panamas-environment-minister-for-the-withdrawal-of-barro-blancos-registration-under-the-clean-development-mechanism/

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Open letter calling Panama’s Environment Minister for the withdrawal of Barro Blanco’s registration under the Clean Development Mechanism. 2016. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-calling-panamas-environment-minister-for-the-withdrawal-of-barro-blancos-registration-under-the-clean-development-mechanism/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Open letter calling Panama’s Environment Minister for the withdrawal of Barro Blanco’s registration under the Clean Development Mechanism |date=13 September 2016 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-calling-panamas-environment-minister-for-the-withdrawal-of-barro-blancos-registration-under-the-clean-development-mechanism/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{carbonmarketwatch2016open, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Open letter calling Panama’s Environment Minister for the withdrawal of Barro Blanco’s registration under the Clean Development Mechanism}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2016}, month = sep, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-calling-panamas-environment-minister-for-the-withdrawal-of-barro-blancos-registration-under-the-clean-development-mechanism/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }