Brazilian Government Revives Plan for Amazon Dams
8/23/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT REVIVES PLAN FOR AMAZON DAMS
Source: International Rivers Network
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 23, 1999
23 August, 1999
The Brazilian state electric company, Eletrobr s, has unveiled a new
blueprint for a series of large dams in the Amazon region. The
government's plans include a cascade of large dams on the Tocantins
and Araguaia Rivers, and the revival of a controversial plan for a
dams network on the Xingœ River. The dams would flood tens of
thousands of square kilometers of tropical forests, displace more
than 100,000 people, and could flood extensive areas of indigenous
reserves, affecting the Xingœ indigenous park.
Under the plan, revealed in the testimony of Mr. Luis Alberto Machado
Fortunato at the Latin America regional consultation of the World
Commission on Dams in Sao Paulo on 12 August, eleven large dams are
planned to be constructed on the rivers of the Amazon by the year
2015. Besides the staircase of six large dams on the Tocantins River,
which would turn the raging river into a chain of great lakes, and
the doubling of capacity of Tucuru Dam, Eletrobr s announced the
revival of plans for two large dams on the Araguaia River -- Marab
and Santa Isabel, which could require expulsion of more than 100,000
people. Also part of the Eletrobr s plan are two huge dams on the
Xingœ River, Belo Monte and Altamira. In the 1980's, feasibility
studies showed the dams to be economically unfeasible without
construction of additional dams upstream which would extend the area
of flooding to the Xingœ indigenous park.
Mr. Fortunato's testimony came amid growing public criticism of the
way that the Brazilian electric sector has handled resettlements and
environmental mitigation. Sadi Baron, representing the Brazilian
Movement of Dam-Affected People, said that more than one million
people have already been directly affected by large dams in Brazil,
and that, by Eletrobr s' own data, more than 850,000 sq. km. has been
flooded by reservoirs. Victims of large dams have seldom received
adequate resettlement provisions and compensation for their losses,
and some 30,000 families have lost their land and livelihood without
indemnification. Spokesmen for indigenous people and quilombos said
that constitutional guarantees of land rights and the right to prior
informed consultation regarding large-scale water projects have been
consistently violated.
Despite these problems, Brazilian government officials say that
energy alternatives are still some years away from being technically
and economically viable, and that Brazil, which today receives 93% of
its electricity from large dams, will continue to remain dependent on
large dams for the foreseeable future. Independent experts criticized
the government for its timid efforts at implementing viable
alternatives, including natural gas, wind, biomass, cogeneration, and
solar energy in Brazil, and said the country should be more
aggressive at managing consumption by electric-intensive industries.
According to Glenn Switkes, Latin America Program Director of the
International Rivers Network, an NGO based in the U.S., "Electric
company officials keep telling Brazilians that there are no
alternatives. Rather than responding to the needs for integrated
energy planning in Brazil, Eletrobr s continues to favor a small
cartel of construction companies and equipment manufacturers who are
finding it harder and harder to build dams in other parts of the
world. If dam constructors had to internalize the true social and
economic costs of their projects, dams would be acknowledged to be an
obsolete form of energy generation."
Communities of dam-affected people from various regions of Brazil
filled the RebouØas Center auditorium where the hearing took place.
Carrying picnic baskets and cushions , about 500 men, women, and
children cheered representatives of the dam-affected from Brazil,
Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Colombia, Panama, and Guatemala who told
of torture and death threats they had suffered as a result of their
opposition to dams. They heard of innovative tactics used by dam
opponents, including a unique "anti-dams" law passed by legislators
in Entre Ros Province, Argentina.
Their concern over the impacts of dam projects received technical
support by researchers from major research institutions, including
Dr. Philip Fearnside, who countered industry arguments portraying
dams as "clean energy", by revealing new research showing that
Tucuru Dam, the largest ever built in a tropical rainforest, emits
the same amount of greenhouse gases annually as that emitted by cars
and industries in the city of Sao Paulo.
The World Commission on Dams is an independent body which includes
industry, government, researchers, and civil society representatives.
The Commission plans to release its final report, evaluating the
promises and problems of large dams worldwide, and proposing
guidelines for future dam construction, by June, 2000.
According to Eletrobras, the Amazon dams network includes the
following projects, with their planned installed capacity (MW) and
expected date of completion:
Xingœ River:
Altamira, 6600 MW, 2012
Belo Monte, 11000 MW, 2009
Araguaia River:
Marab , 2070 MW, 2015
Santa Isabel, 2200 MW, 2012
Tocantins River:
Serra Quebrada, 1328 MW, 2006
Estreito, 1200 MW, 2006
Tupirantins, 1000 MW, 2006
Peixe, 1106 MW, 2007
Lageado, 850 MW, 2004
Cana Brava, 450 MW, 2001
Tucuru (2nd phase), 4125 MW, 2002
For more information:
Glenn Switkes, Director, Latin America Program, International Rivers
Network, Brasil
tel: +55.65.791.1313 or cellular +55.65.971.6306 email:
glen@cba.zaz.com.br
http://www.irn.org
Sandra Ines Paulino or Sadi Baron, Movimento dos Atingidos Por
Barragens tel: 011.256.0839
email: mnab@zaz.com.br
M rcia Amazonas, Informare
tel: 011.258.0077