The Green Climate Fund (GCF) on Thursday rescinded the Finance Activity Agreement for the BioClimate project, Integrated Climate Action to reduce deforestation and strengthen resilience in the Bosawas and San Juan River Biospheres, which would allocate $116.6 million to the Nicaraguan regime to implement project.
The fund was to be used for integrated climate action to reduce deforestation and strengthen resilience in the Bosawas Biospheres and San Juan River in Nicaragua. However, indigenous peoples ' human rights defenders have made constant calls not for the disbursement of such a fund, as the dictatorship does not ensure the well-being of indigenous peoples.
In terminating the contract, the Green Fund argued that there was “non-compliance with environmental and social safeguards policies and procedures.”
The decision was taken by the Secretariat of the GCF (Green Fund) following a thorough investigation and evaluation process, as well as the actions taken by the Secretariat to address cases of non-compliance, which constituted legal violations of the relevant legal agreements between the GCF and the Accredited Entity, announced on its website.
According to the communiqué published on the official website of the Green Fund, this agency did not disburse funds for the project and the project had not begun its implementation.
Fund was frozen
The board of directors of the Green Fund decided on July 24, 2023 to keep frozen the millionaire fund that approved the Nicaraguan regime to finance the BioClima project. At that time, he was given a period of 120 days to meet some requirements, including the consultation process.
The dictatorship, in its eagerness to defrost the fund, carried out a mock of consultations in indigenous and non-indigenous territories to complete the quota of 6,746 people set by the BCIE, denounced at that time the environmentalist and president of the Rio Foundation, Amaru Ruiz.
In its termination of contract, the Green Fund refers to this. In June 2021, he said, the Fund’s Independent Reparation Mechanism received a complaint – which alleged, among others, a lack of adequate consultation with indigenous and Afro-descendant communities and the non-compliance of the Accredited Entity, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), to policies and procedures of the GCF.
Subsequently, the mechanism conducted a compliance investigation and submitted its report to the board, which took its decision.
The Secretariat of the GCF has been collaborating with the BCIE on this issue and is committed to working in collaboration with the Accredited Entity and the Implementing Entity to develop a clear strategy to complete the project in an orderly and responsible manner that includes informing all relevant stakeholders in the field and managing the expectations of those who would have been the beneficiaries if the project had been implemented, the Fund added.
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in La Prensa NI