The Gold Standard has recently launched a new website to better showcase the greater impact and value of Gold Standard projects. The site covers Gold Standard projects in key sustainability areas of energy, forests and water. One such project entails treating water with chlorine dispensers in Uganda: the project, developed by South Pole Group, has taken a community-based approach to installing and servicing chlorine dispensers so that local communities can have access to safe drinking water over the long-term. Each community has an elected dispenser 'promoter' who encourages use of the dispenser and reports any problems with the hardware.
To date, the project has resulted in an estimated decrease of up to 40% of cases of child diarrhoea, reduced firewood consumption and educated over 200 000 locals on the dangers of contaminated water.
"A well-attended and a well packaged community meeting awakens the community members to learn about waterborne diseases and how human activities contribute to water contamination. They can better understand the reasons why they should treat household water. It also provides a conducive forum for the program staff to clear any misconceptions about Dispensers for Safe Water."
Martin Wanda, field officer,Uganda
The project is financed through carbon revenues and aims to serve 9 million people by 2018.
Established in 2003 by WWF and other international NGOs as a best practice benchmark for energy projects developed under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Gold Standard was set up to ensure that projects delivered genuine emission reductions and long-term sustainable development. Now endorsed by 80+ NGOs and with more than 1,100+ projects in 70 countries undergoing certification. The Gold Standard has become the global benchmark for the highest integrity and greatest impact in climate and development initiatives.
