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RE: The IFC and Lessons Learned
The document argues that the IFC's 'lessons learned' process is insufficient because it ignores institutional culture, fails to address the systemic miscategorisation of project risks, and lacks a formal implementation and monitoring framework. While acknowledging some positive steps, the authors highlight ongoing failures in projects across Honduras, Burma, Indonesia, and Nicaragua, and call for a time-bound plan to integrate human rights assessments and poverty reduction goals into IFC operations.
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Document type: Statement
Defendemos el medioambiente, defendemos los derechos humanos
The report by Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) details over 100 incidents of violence against environmental defenders across 27 countries. It identifies a systemic pattern of criminalization, physical attacks, and state repression linked to large-scale extractivist projects. The document advocates for legally binding international norms for transnational corporations and the recognition of environmental defense as a fundamental human right.
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Document type: Report
En solidaridad con el compañero Rafael Alegría y el pueblo de Honduras – Amigos de la Tierra América Latina y Caribe
The document is a statement of solidarity from Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (ATALC) regarding the persecution of activists and legislators in Honduras. It highlights the violent repression of peasant, environmental, and feminist movements, specifically citing the attack on deputy Rafael Alegría and police repression within the Honduran Parliament as evidence of a broader assault on human rights and nature.
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Document type: Statement
Open letter to FAO on the occasion of March 21st 2014 – International Day of Forests: Defining Forests by their true meaning!
A coalition of social movements and NGOs argues that the FAO's current forest definition is reductionist and primarily benefits industrial timber, pulp, paper, and rubber companies. The authors contend that by defining forests simply as land with a certain percentage of tree cover, the FAO erroneously classifies large-scale monoculture plantations as 'reforestation' and ignores the structural and cultural importance of forests to the 300 million people who depend on them for their livelihoods. The letter calls for a new, community-led definition process that recognizes the role of forests in food sovereignty and biological diversity.
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Document type: Statement
Climate change adaptation and social protection in agroforestry systems: enhancing adaptive capacity and minimizing risk of drought in Zambia and Honduras
The paper examines how adaptive capacity—comprising assets, institutions, knowledge, innovation systems, and governance—interacts with social protection measures to enhance income and capabilities in agroforestry systems. In Zambia, the adaptive capacity of farmers strengthened their social protection to reduce drought impacts, while in Honduras, formal social protection measures improved adaptive capacity. The author argues that understanding these linkages is essential for planning adaptation initiatives and identifying specific areas of adaptive capacity for investment to ensure social protection measures are effective.
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Document type: Research paper
Recent Progress in Applying Participatory Scenario Development in Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries Part II
The research demonstrates that participatory scenario development serves as a critical tool for capacity-building and awareness-raising in developing countries, complementing traditional vulnerability assessments by integrating socioeconomic trends with climate projections. Through case studies in Ghana, Honduras, and Tajikistan, the authors show that PSD can validate and complement donor-driven initiatives and national strategies. The paper emphasizes the need to combine qualitative stakeholder knowledge with quantitative data—such as downscaled global scenarios and crop modeling—to avoid 'myopic traps' and ensure adaptation options are compatible with broader development goals like poverty reduction and food security.
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Document type: Research paper
The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report
The document outlines the observed and projected climate impacts in Latin America, emphasizing the need for integrated adaptation and low-carbon development to protect economic growth and human security.
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Document type: Executive summary
CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual
The CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual describes a Microsoft Excel-based tool used to systematically assess risks to food security posed by climate variability and change. The tool employs a food systems and resilience approach, analyzing five dimensions: food utilization and consumption, food access, food availability, supporting resources and services, and supporting organizations and policies. It guides users through a six-module process—Introduction, Context, Food System, Resilience, Indicators, and Reports—combining participatory community consultations with secondary research to identify vulnerabilities and develop SMART resilience indicators.
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Document type: Guide
Manual del Usuario de la Herramienta CRiSTAL Seguridad Alimentaria 2.0
The CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 tool is a decision-support system implemented via Microsoft Excel to analyze the resilience of community food systems against climate threats. It employs a holistic 'food system wheel' framework consisting of five dimensions: food utilization and consumption, access, availability, supporting resources and services, and supporting organizations and policies. The tool guides users through a six-module process: introduction, context analysis (community and climate), food system analysis, resilience analysis, selection of SMART indicators, and automatic report generation. It emphasizes the use of participatory rural appraisal methods, such as livelihood strategies, threat and resource mapping, and vulnerability matrices, to gather primary data from local communities, which is then triangulated with secondary scientific data. The tool aims to identify specific climate vulnerabilities and develop measurable indicators to monitor food system resilience over time.
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Document type: Guide
Food Security Indicator & Policy Analysis Tool
The FIPAT guidebook outlines a structured analytical process for national and sub-national governments to strengthen food system resilience against climate variability. The tool is divided into two main sections: Section A focuses on mapping the food system, identifying climate risks, and developing resilience indicators; Section B evaluates the capacity of specific public policies to support resilience actions, enhance actor capacity, and maintain system stability. The process emphasizes stakeholder engagement and iterative learning to identify policy gaps and develop tailored recommendations for food security.
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Document type: Guide
Manual de la FIPAT Food Security Indicator & Policy Analysis Tool (Herramienta de Análisis de Políticas e Indicadores de la Seguridad Alimentaria)
The FIPAT manual describes a structured process for enhancing food system resilience against climate variability. It guides users through two main sections: Section A, which focuses on mapping food systems, identifying climate risks, and developing resilience indicators; and Section B, which assesses how specific public policies support resilience measures, actor capacity, and overall system stability. The tool emphasizes a participatory approach involving government officials and stakeholders to ensure that policy gaps are identified and addressed through a resilience-based lens.
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Document type: Guide
Water and Risk: Developing Sustainable and Resilient Communities
The report advocates for Sweden to shift its approach to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) from a humanitarian-led response model to one integrated with sustainable development and resilience building. It highlights that disaster risk is driven more by increasing vulnerability and 'risk blindness' than by natural hazards alone. The authors recommend that the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) and Sida move DRR activities out of purely humanitarian departments to address underlying structural causes of risk, particularly in urban areas and among the most vulnerable populations.
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Document type: Report
Land and environmental rights defenders in danger: an overview of recent cases
The report documents a pattern of violence and judicial harassment against land and environmental rights defenders in 2013. It argues that these individuals are particularly vulnerable as global competition for land and resources increases, often facing threats from government forces and corporations. The document provides specific case studies from Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia, detailing arrests, murders, and forced evictions linked to opposition against extractive industries, mega-projects, and agribusiness.
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Document type: Report
The Indirect Effects of Adaptation: Pathways for Vulnerability Redistribution in the Colombian Coffee Sector
The research investigates the risk of 'vulnerability redistribution,' where adaptation measures in one location inadvertently increase vulnerability elsewhere. The authors develop a framework based on the 'sustainable livelihoods' approach, focusing on five asset types (natural, physical, social, financial, and human) to identify 'risk transfer pathways.' Applying this to Colombia's coffee sector, the study identifies three primary pathways for indirect effects: global economic competition affecting price premiums, donor-funded projects diverting national institutional resources, and infrastructure improvements reducing demand for manual labour.
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Document type: Research paper
Open letter to Dr Jim Yong Kim, President concerning IFC investment in the financial sector
An open letter from civil society organisations to Dr Jim Yong Kim arguing that the IFC's action plan for financial sector lending fails to address critical gaps in accountability and risk management. The authors highlight that the IFC cannot currently determine if financial intermediary investments cause harm to the environment or local communities, despite these investments accounting for nearly 20 per cent of World Bank Group annual commitments. They call for a fundamental rethink of the IFC's investment strategy, including independent input and participatory consultation with affected communities.
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Document type: Statement
The International day for the elimination of violence against women 2013
Friends of the Earth International expresses solidarity with victims of gender-based violence and highlights the intersection of patriarchy and systemic injustice that threatens environmental activists, specifically citing the situation of Berta Caceres in Honduras.
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Document type: Statement
Offener Brief an die MinisterInnen und Abgeordneten der UNFCCC Unterzeichnerstaaten
The document is an open letter addressed to ministers and delegates of UNFCCC signatory states, urging them to adopt ambitious climate protection measures and stop the use of emissions trading to weaken climate commitments. The signatories, representing 33 countries, demand the rejection of a pilot phase for emissions unit trading under the Framework for Various Approaches (FVA), the prevention of double counting, and the exclusion of non-additional projects and coal from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). They also call for the cessation of fossil fuel subsidies and the implementation of human rights safeguards in climate projects.
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Document type: Statement
Local realities of CDM projects
The report documents systemic failures in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) across seven projects in five countries. It highlights consistent patterns of inadequate stakeholder consultation, violations of indigenous rights, and environmental degradation. Specific examples include coal power plants in India causing pollution and displacement, hydroelectric projects in Panama, Honduras, and Guatemala ignoring indigenous consent and destroying ecosystems, and a waste incinerator in China causing local pollution. The document argues that CDM safeguards are insufficient to protect local populations and ensure genuine sustainable development.
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Document type: Case study
COPINH: Urgent call for solidarity
COPINH denounces the criminalization of its leaders, including Bertha Isabel Cáceres Flores, who face prison sentences and punitive measures due to lawsuits filed by the DESA corporation and the Honduran state. The organization argues these legal actions are racist and designed to protect private corporations building a hydroelectric project without consulting the indigenous Lenca people of Rio Blanco. COPINH demands the annulment of these sentences, the enforcement of ILO Convention 169, and an end to the military presence in Rio Blanco.
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Document type: Statement
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: INTERNATIONAL OFFSETS IN EU’S 2020 CLIMATE LEGISLATION
The document examines how international carbon offsets under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) have contributed to an oversupply of allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) and the Effort Sharing Decision (ESD). It highlights critical failures in 'additionality', noting that many projects would have occurred without offset funding, and points to a lack of sustainability and human rights protections. The author recommends a ban on industrial gas projects, large-scale power projects, and JI track 1 projects for the 2013-2020 period.
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Document type: Policy brief