the cdm project barro blanco an obstacle to peace watch this 1

The statement details the social, environmental, and human rights conflicts surrounding the Barro Blanco hydroelectric project in Panama. It highlights the resistance of the Ngäbe Bugle indigenous people, the failure of stakeholder consultations, and the ecological risks to the Tabasará River, while criticizing the project's approval under the UN's CDM offsetting scheme.

• The Barro Blanco project is a 28.84MW hydroelectric facility under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) offsetting scheme, approved in June 2011 despite inaccuracies in its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and a lack of stakeholder consultations.
• The project is owned by Honduran electrical tycoon Luis Kafie and is financed by the German bank DEG and the Dutch bank FMO.
• The dam will flood land in the Comarca Ngäbe Bugle, affecting seven villages—Nancito, Tabasará Abajo, Quebrada Plata, Cogle, Quebrada Caña, Quebrada Kia, and Nuevo Palomar—and threatening the livelihoods of approximately 5,000 Ngäbe farmers.
• Environmental impacts include the flooding of 259 square hectares, the deforestation of 50 hectares of pristine riverbank forest, and the destruction of the habitat of the endangered Tabasará Rain frog, which was not mentioned in the EIA.
• The project's stakeholder consultation process was flawed, utilizing anonymous surveys that purportedly showed a 50-50% split in approval despite near-unanimous local opposition and the intentional exclusion of Ngäbe villages.
• Protests by the Ngäbe Bugle against concessions granted without their approval led to violent government repression, resulting in three deaths, over a hundred wounded, and reports of human rights violations including the rape of women and minors.
• Special Law 11, enacted in April, cancels mining concessions and requires future hydroelectric projects to be approved by indigenous authorities and resident referendums, though the already granted Barro Blanco concessions remain active.

APA

Sogandares, O. (2012). the cdm project barro blanco an obstacle to peace watch this 1. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2012/04/25/the-cdm-project-barro-blanco-an-obstacle-to-peace-watch-this-1/

Chicago

Sogandares, Oscar. the cdm project barro blanco an obstacle to peace watch this 1. Carbon Market Watch, 2012. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2012/04/25/the-cdm-project-barro-blanco-an-obstacle-to-peace-watch-this-1/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Sogandares |first1=Oscar |title=the cdm project barro blanco an obstacle to peace watch this 1 |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=25 April 2012 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2012/04/25/the-cdm-project-barro-blanco-an-obstacle-to-peace-watch-this-1/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{sogandares2012cdm, author = {Sogandares, Oscar}, title = {{the cdm project barro blanco an obstacle to peace watch this 1}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2012}, month = apr, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2012/04/25/the-cdm-project-barro-blanco-an-obstacle-to-peace-watch-this-1/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }