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<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>Друзья, текст по-русски - по этой ссылке!</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="https://www.rivers4recovery.org/russian">https://www.rivers4recovery.org/russian</A></DIV>
<DIV>Здоровья и успехов,</DIV>
<DIV>Свет <BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>
<DIV dir=ltr class=gmail_attr>---------- Forwarded message ---------<BR>От: <B
dir=auto class=gmail_sendername>Maureen Harris</B> <SPAN dir=auto><<A
href="mailto:mharris@internationalrivers.org">mharris@internationalrivers.org</A>></SPAN><BR>Date:
ср, 25 нояб. 2020 г. в 21:52<BR>Subject: Join our global campaign - Rivers for
Recovery<BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr class=gmail_attr><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><B>*Apologies for cross-posting*</B></SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><B></B></SPAN></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN style="COLOR: black"></SPAN></FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><B></B></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial><SPAN style="COLOR: black">Dear all,
<BR><BR>I'm reaching out to you as a signatory of our campaign last year to call
on the Climate Bonds Initiative to scrap its "green bond" standard for
hydropower. While the CBI hydropower standard is yet to materialize, the
International Hydropower Association (IHA) recently announced concerning plans
to develop a </SPAN>"Sustainable Hydropower Standard" which would risk
greenwashing more destructive dam projects. <BR><BR>In response to this and the
industry's efforts to promote new hydropower dams as a key part of the Covid-19
economic recovery, <SPAN style="COLOR: black">International Rivers, Rivers
without Boundaries and other partners are seeking your support for our latest
campaign, 'Rivers for Recovery', a </SPAN><A
href="https://www.rivers4recovery.org/" target=_blank><SPAN
style="COLOR: blue">global call for a just and green recovery</SPAN></A><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">. </SPAN><BR></P></FONT><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"></SPAN></FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><BR></SPAN></FONT></P><FONT face=Arial></FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial><SPAN style="COLOR: black">This global
action focuses on calling out and confronting efforts to use the post-COVID-19
pandemic economic recovery to push for more destructive dams and prop up
the failing hydropower industry. At the same time, it highlights
alternative pathways for a truly “green recovery” through river protection and
other nature-based solutions, valuing community-based initiatives, that should
be supported by governments and financiers. </SPAN></FONT></P><FONT
face=Arial></FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </P><FONT face=Arial></FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN><FONT face=Arial>Our intention is to send the global
call to financiers, governments of dam-building countries, international
organizations, and publicize it widely in social and traditional media.
<B>We hope you’ll join u</B></FONT><B>s in signing the statement, and helping
circulate it widely to partners, networks and the media.</B> You can sign either
as an organization or individual. </SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>The global call is supported by a “Rivers for Recovery”
report, to be published soon. This report explores the urgent need for river
protection during the pandemic and beyond, overcoming the troubling legacy of
large dams, and the availability of truly sustainable and just energy and
development options. The report supports the global call in demanding a recovery
that is rooted in climate justice and that protects our rivers as critical
lifelines –- supporting biodiversity, water supply, food production, Indigenous
peoples, and diverse populations around the world –- rather than damming and
polluting them in pursuit of profit and economic
growth. </SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>The report will be formally launched on <B>3
December</B>. In the meantime, we are already collecting signatories on the
global call in advance of the launch. The signatories will be the first to
receive the report when it becomes available. </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>You can read the global call and sign on </SPAN><A
href="https://www.rivers4recovery.org/"
target=_blank><SPAN>HERE</SPAN></A><SPAN>. Please note that we are still adding
translations of the statement - if you would like to arrange to translate into a
regional language please let us know. Please also help us circulate the global
call widely within your networks. </SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>To mark the launch of the report on Thursday 3
December, we are planning an online media event highlighting key messages from
the #Rivers4Recovery global call and report. Stay tuned - more details to follow
soon!</SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><U><SPAN>READ THE STATEMENT TEXT BELOW AND
</SPAN></U></B><A href="https://www.rivers4recovery.org/"
target=_blank><B><SPAN>SIGN ON HERE</SPAN></B></A><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN>Rivers for Recovery: </SPAN></B><B><SPAN>A global
call to protect rivers and rights as essential for a just and green
recovery</SPAN></B><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting public health
and economic crises are devastating populations around the globe, affecting
marginalized and vulnerable groups most acutely. The massive, transformational
shocks these crises have produced for our current economic, energy, and food
systems require an equally transformational response, to address widespread
economic collapse, hunger, unemployment, and environmental damage, centered in
concerns for social justice and ecological integrity. </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>Rivers and freshwater ecosystems are vital to a
post-COVID global economic recovery. They underpin our natural systems, provide
critical ecosystem services, and work as an economic safety net for the poor and
vulnerable in many low- and middle-income countries. Yet, for generations, these
arteries of the planet have been dammed, diverted, and polluted at a
catastrophic cost to people and Earth’s living systems. One in three freshwater
species is now threatened with extinction. </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>Today’s tragic pandemic sheds new light on the
fundamental inequities and challenges of our time, providing an opportunity to
change course on the historic degradation of our rivers and freshwater systems
into the future. Our natural systems are integral to life on earth; for too long
we have taken them for granted, and exploited them to drive profit and
“development” for the primary benefit of a privileged minority. Globally, we
understand that this trajectory has been unsustainable.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>A new paradigm in river stewardship is critical, not
only to safeguard the water sources that are indispensable to life and public
health, but to help prevent countries bankrupted by COVID-19 from taking on
calamitous new debt, speed a just energy transition, and effectively confront
the climate crisis. The current push to escalate dam-building in many low and
middle income countries threatens such progress—a false energy solution that the
hydropower industry is promoting under the guise of a “green” economic
recovery. </SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>A false path to economic recovery is one that expands
crippling debt for countries already struggling under massive debt burdens,
prioritizes “green-washed” solutions that divert scarce funds away from better
alternatives, promotes large centralized grids designed around destructive
projects, such as mega-dams and fossil fuels, weakens environmental and social
safeguards, and continues the abuse of our freshwater
resources.</SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>Hydropower dams carry extremely high environmental and
social impacts—they are a false solution and cannot deliver a green recovery. By
comparison, investments in solar and wind technologies are affordable, quickly
deployable, and can deliver jobs cost-effectively in the economic recovery. In
order to rebuild towards a better future, economic stimulus packages should
invest in low-impact technologies and those that benefit vulnerable populations
and ecosystems, prioritizing community rights and participation rather than
bailing out destructive industries that are rapidly losing relevance and
financing. </SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>We call for a recovery that is rooted in climate
justice and protects our rivers as critical lifelines—supporting biodiversity,
water supply, food production, Indigenous peoples, and other culturally diverse
populations around the world –- rather than damming and polluting them in
pursuit of profit and economic growth.</SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN>We call for<B> a green economic recovery </B>that<B>
</B>includes:<B> </B></SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P
class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN> </SPAN></B><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN>● <SPAN></SPAN><B>A
moratorium on new hydropower dams as an essential step towards a sustainable and
just economic recovery. </B>This should be accompanied by a comprehensive review
of energy systems and pipeline projects to ensure priority to protecting
freshwater ecosystems and the community livelihoods and economies that depend on
them.</SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN>● <SPAN></SPAN><B>A
rapid upscale of investment into non-hydropower renewables and storage, together
with policies to facilitate socially and environmentally responsible investment.
</B>Investment should kickstart renewable energy projects, roll out centralized
and distributed connectivity, build jobs, and deliver low-cost and low-impact
electrification to those experiencing energy poverty. Governments can use
subsidies and grants to foster upstream value chain investment in local
renewable energy manufacturing and assembly.</SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN>●
<SPAN></SPAN><B>Upgrades to existing hydropower projects to increase efficiency
instead of building new dams. </B>This can include<B> </B>retrofitting turbines,
improved pumped storage, and grid-integration with wind, solar, and other energy
innovations, including co-generation. Upgrades should be accompanied by concrete
steps to reduce damage to freshwater ecosystems and local livelihoods through
robust mitigation compensation, and reparations. <B>Dam removal</B> and river
restoration should be undertaken when the adverse social and environmental
impacts of existing dams cannot be effectively
mitigated.</SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN>●
<SPAN></SPAN><B>Investment in green infrastructure that protects and restores
freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity, alongside laws governing freshwater
protection</B>. To ensure priority to ecosystem services and job opportunities
for local communities, facilitate dialogues between government, private sector,
and Indigenous and community water users. Green infrastructure and renewable
energy investments must be in line with international human rights standards and
environmental safeguards , including the right of Indigenous peoples and other
traditional communities to Free, Prior, and Informed Consultation and
Consent.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN>● <SPAN></SPAN><B>New
energy development plans</B> that emphasize investment in energy conservation
and efficiency, participatory demand-side modelling, and options for smart,
distributed energy and mini-grids located close to energy sources and end users,
with a focus on community grids and expanded energy access. Governments should
halt expensive and long-timeline hydropower projects to review and update energy
plans and reassess options for electrification, ensuring transparency and public
participation<B> </B>at all stages of planning and implementation.<B>
</B> </SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 36pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN>●
<SPAN></SPAN><B>Safeguards for protected areas in stimulus and recovery plans.
</B>This includes adopting policies supporting “no go” zones for environmentally
destructive investments in protected areas, endangered and vulnerable species
habitat, free-flowing rivers, and the territories of Indigenous people and other
traditional communities. Identify and halt destructive uses and development
pressures on protected areas. Instead of backtracking on existing legislation,
governments should strengthen policies to protect rivers, biodiversity and
people’s rights.</SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial',sans-serif"><BR><BR></SPAN></P>
<P></P></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<P></P>
<DIV>-- <BR>Вы получили это сообщение, поскольку подписаны на
группу "seu-international".<BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=svetfrog@gmail.com href="mailto:svetfrog@gmail.com">Svet Zabelin</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, November 26, 2020 2:01 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Fwd: Join our global campaign - Rivers for
Recovery</DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
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