Dilma Rousseff has been elected as Brazil’s first woman president. The Government has given the green light for a partial installation license to pave the way for the construction of the Belo Monte dam. This license will allow for access roads to be built and the rainforest to be destroyed. We investigate the construction of dams in Peru and Brazil which will be built by a Brazilian company and have the potential to devastate the lives and homes of thousands of indigenous people in the Amazon.
Dam construction in Peru and Brazil
Dam construction in the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon threatens the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of indigenous people. Their governments have not consulted with them and thousands may be forced to move from their land. Indigenous people’s idea of health is often bound up with the harmony of the community and their natural environment. The dams pose a direct threat to this. Their livelihoods, cultures, physical and mental health could be harmed if the construction goes ahead.
Peru
Background
The Peruvian Government has been negotiating with Brazilian utility company, Electrobras, since 2006 to build up to 6 hydroelectric dams in the Peruvian Amazon. The negotiations are now complete and the agreement is awaiting final approval from the Peruvian Congress before construction begins. The dams will cost an estimated US$15 million to build and will be financed by the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES). Peruvian people will benefit very little from them – Brazil plan to import around 80% of the energy generated.
Impact
Three of the proposed dams will be built in areas we work: Puerto Prado, Boca Tsomabeni and Paquitzapango. The Paquitzapango dam alone will impact on close to 17,000 Ashaninka indigenous people, with whom we work. They will severely disturb river flows which will in turn affect fishing and agricultural production. The proposed Inambari dam will flood more than 46,000 hectares of land, which would leave more than 15,000 people, many of them indigenous, without agricultural lands. Indigenous groups like the Ashaninka depend on rivers to survive, as Ruth Buendia Mestoquiari, an Ashaninka indigenous leader explains:
“The Ene River is the soul of our lands, the river that feeds our forests, animals, plants, crops and, especially, our children.”
Human rights
Indigenous groups have not been consulted at any point during the negotiations between the Peruvian Government and Electrobras. The Government has in fact expressed its desire to relocate thousands of indigenous people to make way for the dams through a recently proposed bill, which would enable communities to be moved from areas where development projects deemed to be of “public or fundamental interest” are planned. The Peruvian Government’s actions ignore the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and violates ILO convention 169 (the main international legal instrument setting out the rights of indigenous peoples), which they have ratified. The forced relocation of indigenous people would destroy the deep spiritual link they have with their land. The harmony between communities and their land will be broken and their health is likely to suffer as a consequence.
Resistance
The Ashaninka are fighting for their rights and have made a declaration to the Peruvian Government against the construction of the dams. It is vital the Peruvian Government listen to the voices of the Ashaninka people. Their livelihoods, indeed their lives and the lives of many other indigenous groups are under threat.
Brazil
Background
We work with our partners in Brazil to help improve the health of indigenous people. The Belo Monte dam, which could be the third largest dam in the world, threatens many indigenous groups. It is expected to cost upwards of US$20 billion. This enormous cost will be 80% financed by BNDES, with the remaining 20% financed by the Norte Energia consortium (a group of 18 companies led by Eletronorte, a subsidiary of state-owned utility holding group Eletrobras). Unlike the Peruvian Government, the Brazilian Government has given the formal go ahead for construction to begin. The complex on the Xingu river will take approximately 5 years to build and will include the creation of three massive reservoirs. Indigenous groups who will be directly affected, such as the Kayapó, Arara, Juruna, Araweté, Xikrin, Asurini and Parakanã have not been consulted at any point about the construction – they call the Belo Monte dam, ‘Belo Monstro’ (monster).
Impact
The three reservoirs will flood approximately 500 square kilometres of agricultural land and forest and cause a permanent drought on the Xingu River’s 100 kilometre ‘Big Bend.’ The drought in this stretch of river will reduce fish stocks. This will directly affect the lives of hundreds of indigenous people living in two areas, the Paquiçamba and the Arara. At the same time, it is estimated that the flooding will threaten the lives and livelihoods of up to 40,000 people. The combined effect of flooding and drought will also cause huge devastation to the rainforest. Indigenous people depend on the river and the rainforest for survival; without them their future looks bleak.
Human rights
The Brazilian Government also plan to relocate entire communities. Over 20,000 people from the municipalities of Altamira and Vitoria do Xingu will be moved, many of them, indigenous. This decision has been made without their permission. The Government is therefore ignoring the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and violating ILO convention 169, which they have ratified.
Resistance
As in Peru, indigenous groups in Brazil plan to defend their land and fight for their rights. Luis Xipaya, an indigenous leader of the Kayapo, plans to move some of his group to the building site to stop the construction of the dam going ahead.
“There will be bloodshed and the government will be responsible for that,”
The Xingu Alive Forever movement, along with 20 other movements, have submitted a formal petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), denouncing the human rights violations against the affected indigenous populations and calling for the Brazilian Government to halt plans to build the dam.
Prosecutors from Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry (MPF) advised that Brazil’s environmental agency IBAMA not issue an installation license until Norte Energia, led by Electrobras, can comply with an obligatory set of social and environmental conditions. Currently nine lawsuits have been filed against the Belo Monte dam.
Health effects
The dams will affect the health of indigenous people in a holistic sense, in terms of their connection to the land and the natural environment and they will pose a threat to their food security. They could also have narrower health consequences – indigenous groups in Brazil and Peru will be exposed to diseases brought in by migrating construction workers. With no prior exposure, they will not have the immunity to fend off new diseases. The creation of dam reservoirs also provides a perfect breeding ground for malarial mosquitoes. There is a very real risk therefore, that the dams could bring about the spread of disease, illness and death.
Health Poverty Action says:
• Indigenous groups must be consulted and their voices heard in decision making processes on issues that affect them. The construction of the dams should not go ahead without free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous people.
• The Peruvian and Brazilian Governments must not disregard the rights of indigenous people – they must not violate ILO Convention 169, which they have both ratified.
• Due to the threat the dams pose to the lives and livelihoods of indigenous people in Brazil and Peru and the lack of indigenous involvement in the decision making processes, the construction of the dams must halt immediately.
You can also find out about what the UK Government thinks about dams in the Brazilian Amazon – check out Jeremy Browne’s (Minister of State at the Foreign Office) response on this issue during parliamentary questions.
Last modified: 31/01/2011
