Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Wind, hydro and other renewables · Mexico · 2012–2022

Isthmus of Tehuantepec wind farms, including Mareña, faced local opposition

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

Wind farms on Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec faced community opposition over land and livelihoods. The original Mareña site was cancelled in 2014 and rebuilt as Eólica del Sur, and a community police member who opposed Mareña was killed in 2018.

What?
Wind farms on Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec, including Mareña Renovables, drew community opposition; the original Mareña site was cancelled in 2014 and rebuilt as Eólica del Sur. La Jornada
Where?
Juchitán and El Espinal, Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Inter-American Development Bank
When?
The original site was cancelled in early 2014, the killing took place in July 2018, and the Gunaa Sicarú cancellation is dated 2 June 2022. La Jornada
Who?
Gained
  • Mareña Renovables joint venture (Macquarie, Mitsubishi, PGGM) — Developer of the Mareña wind farm; the joint venture partners are named in the company response page Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
  • Heineken and FEMSA — Named as buyers of Mareña's electricity under a 20-year agreement (2012) Silicon Republic
  • Walmart, Coca-Cola bottlers, FEMSA, Heineken and Nestlé — Corporate buyers of electricity from Isthmus farms that supplied companies directly
Lost
Harmed
  • A community police member who opposed Mareña — Killed in Juchitán, Oaxaca, on 22 July 2018; no court outcome was found HRD Memorial
  • An Oaxaca human rights defender — Detained in February 2012 on the way to meet a wind company; bail was about 1,000 dollars Christian Science Monitor
Why?
Protesters claimed the wind farm would adversely affect their livelihoods, and the joint venture responded (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre). Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
How?
Corporate buyers were supplied directly, and the original site was moved to other locations under the Eólica del Sur name. Inter-American Development Bank
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The original Mareña Renovables site was cancelled in early 2014, and PGGM said the wind farm would move to two other sites (La Jornada, 2014).

It was rebuilt as the 396 MW Eólica del Sur in Juchitán and El Espinal with an Inter-American Development Bank loan, which the bank lists as closed (IDB).

A community police member who opposed the Mareña wind farm was killed in Juchitán in July 2018; neighbours named a municipal police officer as the shooter, and no court outcome was found (HRD Memorial).

A 2022 record shows that the 300 MW Gunaa Sicarú wind farm, developed by France's EDF, was cancelled on 2 June 2022.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • None on record Gap: the sources reviewed do not give the ownership shares of the Mareña joint venture.
    • None on record Gap: no court outcome was found for the 2018 killing.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: Vestas supplied turbines to Mareña Renovables.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: a wind farm opponent in the Isthmus was killed in 2013 (name and details not verified).

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    2. Eólica del Sur loan (ME-L1107)
      Inter-American Development Bank ·
    3. A case of Big Wind bullying in Mexico
      Christian Science Monitor · 2012-02-28

    Communities and civil society

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Institutions

    IDB
    The Inter-American Development Bank.

    Bonds and banking

    Guarantee
    A commitment by a third party, often a development bank, to pay if the borrower does not.

    Science and environment

    Groundwater
    Water held underground in soil and rock, drawn through wells.
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