UnDam the United Nations!
United Nations and Member Countries
Will climate agreements result in more dammed rivers?
The United Nations and member countries are still deciding: (1) whether to extend a program that approved more than 2,000 hydroelectric projects as carbon offsets; and (2) how dams should count toward emission reduction targets, measured by U.N. member countries as “Nationally Determined Contributions” (NDCs). The voices of river-dependent communities were strong during COP26 in Scotland in November. We're making progress but we still have work to do.
Tell the U.N. dams must not qualify as offsets or NDCs.
Why Aren’t Dams a Climate Solution?
- Methane: Dams & reservoirs emit massive amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 86 times more potent in the near term than carbon dioxide.
- Clean Alternatives: Solar & wind energy are cleaner, cheaper, and faster to build, offering far greater positive impact for limited climate funding.
- Indigenous Rights, Human Rights: Dams have displaced millions of Indigenous people and other river-dependent communities. Dams eliminate traditional, healthy, local food sources. Dams destroy ancient, sustainable, low-carbon, place-based cultures.
- Water Loss: Dam reservoirs have tremendous water losses to evaporation and seepage, increasing impacts of droughts.
- Water Quality: Dam reservoirs can elevate water temperatures, reduce oxygen, and breed toxic algae which contain dangerous neurotoxins.
- Extinction & Ecosystems: Dams destroy habitat, block fish passage, damage the food web, and cause extinction of native species.
- Counterfeit Carbon Credits: Carbon offset credits from dams do not account for methane emissions and U.N. offset verifiers take dam builders at their word that dams are "additional." Nonetheless, fossil fuel companies can purchase these credits to avoid emission reductions.
- Climate Resilience: Dams aren’t climate resilient and they reduce the ability of communities and ecosystems to adapt to climate change.
The U.N. is focusing on methane emissions (a potent greenhouse gas) but has not yet agreed to account for methane emissions from dams and reservoirs. The U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People contains strong language, but the U.N. has not applied it to dam construction which has displaced Indigenous communities, eliminated traditional food sources, and submerged villages. Finally, the U.N. has not addressed the fact that dams are a leading cause of biodiversity loss in freshwater systems.
Please sign the petition to call on the U.N. and its member governments to stop incentivizing new dams and start measuring the methane from existing dams.
By signing this petition, you agree you may receive occasional email updates from its sponsors. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Sponsored by
.jpg.png){kind=logo}
To:
United Nations and Member Countries
From:
[Your Name]
Please stop supporting new dams as a climate solution and account for methane emissions from existing dams.
During your negotiations, please adopt language to:
1. Exclude hydroelectric dams from all offset schemes including those in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and any continuation of the Clean Development Mechanism (which approved more than 2,000 hydroelectric projects as carbon offsets).
2. Require that member countries fully account for methane emissions from dams and reservoirs when calculating Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
3. Exclude from NDCs all new hydroelectric dams and existing dams that violate the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Why Aren’t Dams a Climate Solution?
Methane Emissions:
Dams and their reservoirs emit methane, a greenhouse gas 86 times more potent in the near term than carbon dioxide. As the latest IPCC report confirms, U.N. member countries cannot know if they achieve emission reduction targets until they account for methane emissions.
Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
Dams displace Indigenous communities, submerge ancestral territory, and eliminate healthy traditional food sources. Dams destroy ancient, sustainable, low-carbon, place-based cultures. Dam companies routinely do not seek free, prior and informed consent before flooding Indigenous communities. The dam building Industry has a history of murder, torture, and intimidation of Indigenous people.
Clean & Cost-effective Alternatives:
Solar and wind energy are cleaner, less expensive, and faster to build. The relative cost-effectiveness of solar and wind would be even more pronounced if the U.N. accounted for the externalized social, environmental, and intergenerational cost of dams.
Water Loss:
Dam reservoirs lose water to evaporation and underground seepage exacerbating water shortages and droughts. Some dams lose more water to evaporation than they deliver for water users.
Pollution and Water Quality:
Dam reservoirs exponentially increase the concentration of toxic algae which can poison humans and kill animals and fish. Dams elevate water temperature and reduce dissolved oxygen levels killing native fish.
Extinction & Ecosystems:
Dams cause species extinction and harm ecosystems by blocking access to spawning habitat upstream from dams, destroying downstream habitat, and supporting non-native species.
Carbon Sinks:
Dams limit the ability of rivers to carry carbon to the sea where it is absorbed and feeds plankton.
Unreliable Energy-Source:
Climate change has led to more frequent and severe draughts. Many countries that rely heavily on hydropower have suffered energy crises as their dams didn’t function efficiently due to low river flows.
Counterfeit Carbon Credits:
Under the Clean Development Mechanism, dam builders did not account for methane emissions or verify claims of "additionality." This resulted in “Certified Emission Reductions” (CERs) that do not represent actual emission reductions. Nonetheless, fossil fuel companies and other polluters can purchase these CERs to avoid emission reductions.
Climate Adaptation:
Climate adaptation goals of the Paris Agreement would be better served by protecting free flowing rivers and the people who depend on them.
Free flowing rivers protect biodiversity, ecological resilience, and emotional resilience. Free flowing rivers provide food and sustainable economic livelihoods. Free flowing rivers sustain ancient place-based cultures which, unlike modern dominant cultures, provide for the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Please adopt strong language to exclude hydroelectric dams from all carbon offset schemes, require U.N. member countries to fully account for methane emissions from dams, and exclude from NDCs all new hydroelectric dams and existing dams that violate the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]