In this bulletin we review some more examples violent implementation of dam projects, and of resistance to the more than 45,000 dams that have been built in the world.

BRAZIL:

 - The Tocantis and Araguaia Rivers-: The government is promoting the construction of eight dams on these rivers which are the principal hydraulic system of the eastern Amazon jungle, one of the richest ecosystems in the world.  There has been no evaluation of the social and environmental impacts.  The region houses an estimated 10,000 plant species, including 420 species of trees, many grasses and shrubs with medicinal uses, some 400 species of birds and 67 species of mammals. The International Development Bank (IDB) will grant 150 million dollars to the Tractebel corporation of Belgium, which acquired Enron’s investments in Mexico after its mega-bankruptcy. The area is inhabited by the native Avá-Canoeiro group, who have lost 10% of their reserve to the construction of the Serra da Mesa dam.

A community of “quilombos,” descendents of escaped slaves who have developed their land in the form of a cooperative, live in the zone affected by the project, which will primarily benefit transnational corporations involved in agro-exports. The arrogant attitude of Tractebel and of the IDB have generated an atmosphere of conflict in the zone. The local population has undertaken direct action to pressure the corporation. For example, in 2000, 500 people affected by the project occupied a camp at Cana Brava and protested in the city of Minaçu.

- The Dams of Jataizinho, Cebolão, São Geronimo, Maua: The construction of four dams have been proposed for the Tibagi River.  These dams would submerge the last remaining regions of tropical rainforest along the Atlantic coast. At minimum, 20 species of birds would be endangered, along with fishing resources used by 2,000 indigenous peoples, and 40 archeological sites.

- The Belo Monte Dam: Located in the Xingu river, this dam will cost 800,000,000 dollars. The dam will reduce the size of the reserve by 200 to 440 square kilometers, limiting the jungle and the indigenous population. The dam will flood the reserve of the Juruna Indians and part of the city of Altamira.

- The Tijuco Alto, Funil, Itaoca and Batatal Dams: In the Ribeira de Iguape, the last un-dammed river in the state of São will be affected, along with the largest remaining continuous fragments of jungle along the Atlantic coast. (13.5% of the total).

5,000 families of the communities of the descendants of escaped slaves (quilombos), will be displaced.  Migrating fish and cave-dwellers will also be harmed. Included among the species that face extinction are the “lobo con crin” wolf, the giant ant bear, the pantano deer (the largest tropical species), the tapir, the blue guacamayo and the Amazon turtle. Indigenous communities of the Xavante nation will also be affected.

CHILE (South América):

- The Ralco Dam: This dam on the Biobío River will be 155 meters tall, with a reservoir that will occupy 3,400 hectacres, displacing more than 600 people, among them 400 members of the Pehuenche indigenous group. The dam will flood more than 70 kilometers of the valley, submerging rich and diverse forests and harming the region's biodiversity. More than one million people use the Biobío's resources for potable water, recreation and fishing. The dam threatens 27 species of mammals, 10 species of amphibians, 9 species of reptiles and 8 species of fish. Examples: the Andean fox, the jaguar, the peregrine falcon and the national bird of Chile, the Andean Condor.

The dam will facilitate access the logging and expose the sides of the river to erosion and landslides. During the 1990's, the Spanish corporation Endesa, also with investments in México, started its plan to build six hydroelectric plants along the Biobío. Endesa was severely criticized by the inhabitants for failing to meet the needs of the displaced. The group "Mujeres con la Fuerza de la Tierra" (Women With the Force of the Earth) form the center of local resistance, organizing local protests, and pressuring Endesa. The Corporation for Development of Canadian Exports has offered 17 million dollars to Endesa for the acquisition of the ABB Power Canadá corporation, of Tracy (Quebec), for generating equipment needed for the generating plant at the Ralco dam. Irma explains the difficulties facing the group in it’s resistance: "the Pehuenches have little political experience and many of us do not speak or write Spanish. I was unaware that there was an indigenous law that supported our cause."

The indigenous law prohibits development companies from starting construction projects like Ralco without the written consent of indigenous groups affected by the projects. Irma, who was displaced in 1997 by construction of the Pangue dam, the first of six dams planned for the Bíobio, has not given her consent to be displaced by Ralco. In 2000, the  Heinrich Böll foundation gave its Petra Kelly 2000 prize to two Pehuenche women (Berta and Nicolasa Quintremán) for their fight for the rights of the Mapuche Pehuence.

COLOMBIA (South América):

- The Urrá Dam: This dam will flood more than 7,000 forest hectares and affect the indigenous town of Embera Katío and the area's community of fishermen. Communities in the area have been resisting the project since 1997 through all possible avenues of peaceful resistance, including court judgments, interviews with authorities, occupation of ministerial buildings and refusal to abandon their lands. Nevertheless, work continued according to plans, and in November 1999 the reservoir of the Urrá dam began to be filled on the Sinú River. Meanwhile, the Urrá dam has generated discord between the Embera Katío in order to weaken resistance through limited accords with some groups to the detriment of the others. The Embera Katío and the fishermen, along with many of their supporters, have suffered from grave human rights violations. People have been threatened, murdered, and forced into exile. The Department of Córdoba, where the dam is being constructed, is controlled by paramilitary groups. The population of the “bocachico” fish, which constitutes the most important source of protein for the Embera Katio and the basic economic product of the local fishermen, has greatly declined.

Some of the Embera Katío have lost all of their lands. For those who live upstream, there is no means of escaping the flooding of their camps, homes, holy sites and cemeteries. The same effects are evident downstream. The Sinú River is dying.

- The Antonio Narino and Besaco Dams: These dams on the Guamuez River will displace 4,000 people and impact lake La Cocha by flooding the plain, the lowest habitat in the world, threatening endemic species of plants and other species of flora and fauna.

BOLIVIA (South América):

- Bala Dam: This dam on the Beni River will cost 2.1 million dollars, and the electricity it generates will be exported to Brazil. The dam will affect an area of great, species of fish of great economic value, humid jungles and lowlands, the territory of the indigenous Pilón Lajas, the biosphere reserve and the National Park Madidi, including the territory of the indigenous Tacana, Chiman, Moseten, Esse Eijas and Quechuas.

- Las Pavas and Arrazayal Dams: These dams are on the Bermejo River between Argentina and Bolivia, along with another dam on the Grade de Tarija River in Bolivia named the Cambari. The dams will impact Las Yungas (humid jungle), threaten many species with extinction, and displace 700 families. The Regional Commission of the Bermejo River is in charge of the 540 million dollar project, with the transnational AES of the U.S and Hidro-Quebec of Canadá.

ARGENTINA (South América):

- Corpus and Itacuá Dams: These will dam the Paraná Rivers, which will form a continuous lake hundreds of kilometers long and affect the indigenous communities of the Guarani and the  Ribereñas. In a 1996 referendum, 80% of local residents voted "no" to the construction. The Argentine and Paraguayan governments continue to promote the project.

HONDURAS (Central América):

- El Tigre Dam: In Lenca territory bordering with El Salvador, years of indigenous and rural resistance have impeded construction of the Tigre dam, at the cost of much repression.  American AES corporation invested in the construction of the dam, and manipulated the environmental impact studies. 

BELIZE (Central América):

- The Chalillo Dam: will flood 1,100 hectares of virgin jungle, destroying jaguar habitat, tapirs in danger of extinction, and the Morelet crocodile. The dam will affect the passage of migratory birds to North America and a rare type of scarlet macaw  that nests in the region. The project may impact the largest coral reef in the western hemisphere, along with Mayan archeological sites and tourism.

MEXICO (North América):

-The Miguel Alemán Dam: Indigenous Mazatecs were opposed to its construction  on the Papaloapan River, and for this reason their homes were burned to force them to leave their lands before they were flooded.

- Itzantún Dam: More than 15 years of indigenous and rural fighting have helped to prevent the construction of  this dam in the state of Chiapas.  This dam would flood more than 11,000 hectacres of land and leave the municipal capital of Huitiupán underwater.

- The El Cajón Dam: The El Cajón, Copainalá and La Parota dams represent an investment of some 3,600 million and 4,000,000,000 dollars. Nevertheless, only the dam of El Cajón has been officially announced on the list of licenses for this year and the dam is scheduled for construction between 2002 and 2006. Across the Río Santiago in Nayarit state, the dam will flood land in the municipalities of Santa María del Oro, Jala, Hostotipaquillo, Ixtlán del Río and La Yesca in the states of Nayarit and Jalisco.

The dam will take sixth place in generation of hydro-electricity in México, and it’s concrete curtain will reach a height of 186 meters, making it the second tallest in the country. The dam is expected to require an investment of 650 million dollars. For the head of the Federal Commission on Electricity (CFE), Alfredo Elías, “the dam will not cause social problems, as is often the case with the construction of hydraulic projects, nor environmental problems; in the case of El Cajón, they will be easily prevented”.

GUATEMALA (Central América):

- The Chixoy Dams: These dams were constructed during the military dicatatorship in Guatemala, and led to the massacre of 400 Maya Achi people, mostly from the community of Río Negro, one of the townships that would be flooded with the reservoir. The violence began in 1980 when military police arrived in Río Negro and killed seven people. In July of that year, two community representatives agreed to attend a meeting held by the National Institute of Electricity (INDE). They brought with them the only documentation held by the people with respect to accords concerning resettlement and compensation. Their mutilated corpses were found one week later and the resettlement documents were never recovered. The soldiers gathered all of the women and children of the community on a hill behind the town hall, then tortured and murdered 70 women and 107 children.

The BID and the World Bank administered this 300 million dollar project. The Italian government gave bilateral aid and credit guarantees for exports. The consortium that planned, designed and supervised construction of the dam was formed by Lahmeyer International (Germany), Motor Columbus (Switzerland), and the International Engineering Company (U.S.). Gogefar (Italy) and Swissboring (Switzerland) were the companies directly in charge of construction. Hochtief (Germany) was the contractor of the tunnels. The World Bank admitted that the massacre took place but refused to accept responsibility. The companies that participated in the dam’s construction have not acknowledged the massacres. Nevertheless, witnesses affirmed that the army drove trucks belonging to Gofegar, and that the captured women were taken to and from the dam site in helicopters.

KENYA (Africa):

- The Sondu Miriu Dam: The Sondu Miriu River is one of the most important of the  basin of Lake Victoria. The KenGen company will channel the river's waters through a 7-kilometer tunnel to a reservoir of 1 million cubic meters, where a hydroelectric plant is to be located. This mega-project is financed by the Japanese Bank of International Cooperation and by KenGen. According to the non-government organization Africa Water Network, the river's dislocation will provoke an alteration in the entire hydraulic system of the river, with negative consequences for the flora and fauna as well as for the community of Colobus monkeys and hippopotamus.

Local communities have denounced  KenGen for not having made good on their promise to provide them with electricity, as was promised in the original agreement. The project has displaced 1,500 families and led to the forced resettlement of the families. In March of 2000 KenGen admitted that there were no plans to resettle the people affected by the transmission lines leading from the dam. Resistance to the project continues to grow, paralleled with repression by Kenyan authorities. Recently, Argwings Odera, an activist with the Africa Water Network who works with people affected by the dam, was detained, beaten and wounded by police gunfire. Now he faces court proceedings for having organized meetings and for revealing information and generating awareness about this project.

NAMIBIA (África):

- The Epupa Dams: These dams on the Kunene River will affect the Ovahimba, a tribal indigenous group in the region, who have lived as nomads in the zone for the past 500 years. The dam will feature a wall of 163 meters and will include a reservoir of 380 square kilometers. The dam will displace 1,100 Himba and affect some 5,000 occasional users of the excellent grazing lands at river's edge. In addition, 95 archeological sites will be lost along with 160 Himba cemeteries. The government has offered salaried work to the affected Himba, but they are nomads who have no need or desire for fixed settlements. The second possible location is Baynes, 40 kilometers to the south of Epupa, where the reservoir would only occupy 57 square kilometers and submerge 15 cemeteries and 45 archeological sites, leading to the permanent forced displacement of 100 residents and around 2,000 occasional users. The Himba have suggested solar and wind energy as logical alternatives, but their ideas have received scant attention from the government.

UGANDA (Africa):

- The Bujagali Dam: The government, backed by the World Bank, the U.S. agency Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and several credit agencies of European exporters, are promoting the construction of a giant dam that, if actually built, would destroy the living space of thousands of local residents, as well as the scenic beauty and historic sites in the Upper Nile region of the Bujagali falls. The AES corporation is in charge of the dam's construction, estimated at 530 million dollars. Currently, the majority of Ugandans have no money to pay for electrical service, given that they live below the poverty level. This mega-project will completely alter the countryside, flooding the entire territory where the Nile currently runs to the base of the Owen Falls dam. The dam will permanently displace 820 people and affect 6,000 others by flooding their communal lands and holy burial grounds. There are no plans to grant other lands to the displaced people, who will have lost their homes and crops. The dam will increase some illnesses related to water, such as schistosomiasis and malaria, the leading cause of death in Uganda.

Philippines (Asia):

- The San Roque Dam: With a concrete wall 200 meters high, this will be the largest dam in Asia. Preliminary work on the site began in 1998 and construction is expected to be completed in 2004. San Roque is the third dam to be built on the Agno River. Two others, Binga and Ambuklao, were built during the 1950's. The San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC) belongs to a consortium composed of Marubeni (31%), a subsidy of the U.S. energy corporation Sithe Energies Inc. with 51% ( 29% of its stocks are in the hands of Marubeni). Some 7.5% of the group belong to Kansai Electric, a Japanese energy company.

In 1997, the Philippines National Power Corporation (NPC) gave SRPC rights to construction, operation and maintenance of the project for 25 years. In April 1998 the U.S. corporation Raytheon obtained a subcontract for 700 million dollars to design and construct the installations. The estimated cost of the project rose to 190 million dollars. In October 1998 JEXIM (The Japanese Bank of Imports and Exports) approved a loan of 302 million dollars to the private agents of the project, and are studying handing over another loan of 400 million dollars to finance the NPC’s contribution to the project. 

Thousand of indigenous Ibaloi who live in the waters above the dam are opposed to the project. Non-government organizations in the region estimate that if the dam is built, more than 2,000 Ibaloi families who live in Itogon, Benguet, will be adversely affected by the project. Many of the people who will be resettled were previously obligated to leave their homes when the Binga and Ambuklao dams were built. Tens of thousands of residents who live downstream of the dam will see their livelihoods affected by the erosion and destruction of fishing resources. Some 4,000 local inhabitants, including municipal authorities, with the mayor of San Nicholas, and the BAYAN-Central Luzon y Cordillera Peoples Alliance, marched on the municipal plaza of San Nicholas, Pangasinan, on September 30, 2000 where they demanded the cessation of the San Roque Dam project. The dam will only serve to cover the energy needs of the foreign mineral corporations which have entered the region to exploit natural resources. The project also violates the human rights of indigenous and rural people.

MALAYSIA (Asia):

- The Bakun Dam: The largest dam in Southeast Asia was originally planned by Malaysian authorities during the early 1980's, abandoned in 1990, then revived in 1993 and reformulated in 1997. The Bakun Hydroelectric Corporation is the owner and future operator of the dam. Lahmeyer International of Germany, Harza of the U.S. and Dohg-Ah Construction and Industrial Co. of South Korea have participated in work supervision and construction of a tunnel to channel the waters. The principal initiative for the construction of this multi-million dollar project was given to the multi-national Swiss-Swedish ABB and the Companhia Brasileira de Projectos e Obras (CBPO), but in 1997 problems arose and ABB was retired from the project. The expected and actual impacts from the dam project  on the local environment and communities, along with the controversy that this mega-project has caused, are in scale with the project's giant size. Some 69,000 hectares of primary forest land, which represents a third of the remaining pristine forest in Sarawak, will be cut down. The fish population could decrease dramatically, such that 43 species of protected  fauna and 67 species of protected flora could disappear as a consequence of the dam's flooding.

Malaysian and international residents, indigenous groups and organizations for human and environmental rights have repeatedly denounced the lack of transparency that has marked the project from the beginning. The infrastructure needed for the work has facilitated the invasion of ancestral lands of the indigenous peoples. The forced resettlement of the residents of Bakun, 10,000 indigenous people who belong to 15 "longhouses", constitutes one of the most serious consequences of the project. Native communities of Kayan, Kenyah, Lahanan, Ukit and Penan have permanently lost their lands and crops, including traditional varieties of rice, and were relocated to a locality named Asap.

INDIA:

- The Candil Dam: In 1978 police killed four people when shooting into a crowd that opposed the dam's construction.

TURKEY (Asia):

- The Ilisu Dam: on the Tigris River. Nine countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S.), are studying how to support construction of this dam, which will allow corporations of these respective countries to do business with a state that practices torture. Since 1984 some three million people have been displaced, three thousand townships were partially or totally destroyed and more than 30,000 people have died. In this region the dam will affect more than 78,000 inhabitants. The historic site of Hasankeyf will be inundated, which is 10,000 years old and holds treasures such as churches buried in stone, ornate mezquites and islamic tombs. The dam will further generate wars over control of the water. Plans to build the Ilisu dam began in 1954. Prefabrication studies were completed in 1971 and the dam's final design was approved in 1982, but the project remained permanently archived  until the end of the 1990's. The participation of the ABB in the project ceased in March 2000, when ABB sold its interest in hydroelectric generation to Alstom of France, which has many investments in Mexico.

CAMBODIA (Asia):

- The Vietnamita Dam: The waters of the multi-million dollar dam cross the falls of Yali in Vietnam, which has been under construction for the past seven years with funds from the Russian and Ukranian governments.  They later combine with the Se San River, which courses Cambodia towards the Mekong. There has never been a study of the environmental impact on Cambodian territory. The unexpected rising of the river led to the deaths of 32 people, the majority of whom were children. The locals mentioned that their boats and fishing vessels were raided, their cattle drowned and their harvests flooded. Townspeople have documented the deaths of 952 people as a result of illnesses related to the alteration of  water quality over the past four years. They also note the loss of thousands of heads of cattle, with a significant number of wild animals that died due to drinking the river's water. Illnesses have increased in nearby communities.

Townspeople complain of itching, the appearance of lumps and skin infections along with eye irritations. They note other sanitary problems as well, whose appearance coincides with the violent change in the waters. Among these are stomachaches, diarrhea, respiratory problems and irritation of the mucus membranes of the eyes, nose and throat, as well as vomiting and coughing. The province of Ratanakiri has one of the highest levels of biodiversity in Cambodia. Many of the animals of the local fauna have been seriously affected, many reptiles have died, along with mammals and birds. At the same time, four years of irregular floods have caused grave food scarcity for the population. The dry season crops, which are planted along the shores of the Se San, have been swept away by waters discharged by the dam. Today the local population depends on wild potatoes and other roots for food. In recent years the population of 14 wild aquatic plants that the local people ate for food has diminished.

Sources: Boletín No. 42 of the World Movement for Rainforests, January 2001; 2000 Report of the World Comisión on Dams, Ríos del Mundo Volumen 14, Número 3/Junio 1999. Also: “Historia Inconclusa de la Lucha Social”, INI, Centro Coordinador Tsotsil, Bochil, Chiapas (Huitiupán January 1999); agreements signed between the inhabitants of the municipality of Huitiupán and the CFE; Publicación Ideas, Volumen 7, February 2002, Belice; International Rivers Network, “Guardianes de los Ríos, Guía para activistas”; Forum ¿Para dónde va Urrá?, August 2000; CIEPAC; WCD, Damming the Rivers: The World Bank’s Lending for Large Dams (1994); Comisión Federal de Electricidad - México (CFE).

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