Hydropower project activities located in High Conservation Values (HCVs) areas shall NOT be eligible for certification under Gold Standard for the Global Goals (GS4GG). Project Developers must assess if the project activity is in an HCV area.
For such assessment, the Project Developer shall consult with the local authorities (e.g. protected areas such as national parks) AND refer to existing international sources of information such as the World Database on protected planets, IUCN, UNEP, the Ramsar list of wetlands, and the United Nations list of protected areas. The outcome of the assessment shall be provided with the project documentation submitted for preliminary review.