Frontline Advocates Warn Green Projects Are Displacing Fishers and Farmers

A COP 31 side event on Nov. 12, 2026, put a hard question to the climate talks: when solar farms, reclamation projects and copper mines are sold as climate solutions, who pays? Fisher, women's rights and land advocates from the Philippines, Bangladesh and Zambia told an informational panel that green projects launched without consent are repeating old patterns of dispossession. They pressed negotiators to build a just transition mechanism that delivers grant finance and community control. No votes were taken.

• Philippine fishers say Laguna Lake solar and Manila Bay reclamation are pushing them off their waters.
• Bangladeshi women's advocate describes coastal land grabs and calls for safeguards and community control.
• FIAN Zambia cites a February 2026 copper-mine pollution accident that cut water access for more than 60,000 people.
• About 15,000 Zambian households evicted for mines employing fewer than 500 people, panelist says.
• Global Forest Coalition launches a map of "gender-just real solutions" to guide the Belém mechanism.
• Moderator says Global North countries resist a mechanism with implementation and finance functions.

The basics: The "blue economy" covers ocean- and water-based development, including offshore energy, coastal infrastructure and land reclamation. Panelists argued that much of it is now being marketed as climate action.