Letter from Indigenous Leaders Regarding Dams
10/22/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: LETTER BY LEADERS OF INDIGENOUS AND RIVER BANK COMMUNITIES
REGARDING THE IMPACTS OF THE ARAGUAIA-TOCANTINS HIDROVIAS
AND LARGE DAMS
Source: Glenn Switkes, Director, Latin America Program,
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 22, 1999
(note: the Hidrovia is a project of the Brazilian Transportation
Ministry; INVESTCO is owned by a consortium of Brazilian utilities
and the Portuguese company EDP; the staircase of large dams planned
for the Tocantins River was made possible by construction of the
north-south transmission line funded by the Inter-American
Development Bank -- to date no studies have been undertaken on the
cumulative impacts of these projects and there are allegations of
fraud in the Hidrovia studies that are being investigated by the
Federal Police.)
LuziŸnia, Goi s state, Brazil, 21 October, 1999
We, Leaders and Chiefs representing the indigenous groups: Apinaj,,
Xerente, Karaj , Java,, Tapirap, and Krah" affected by the Araguaia-
Tocantins Hidrovia, by the construction of large dams, of which
Lajeado Dam is an example, and by the others planned for the basin --
such as Serra Quebrada, Peixe, Ipueiras and others, met in LuziŸnia,
Goi s, on 18 October,1999, to discuss the environmental, social, and
cultural imapcts these projects will cause for indigenous, river
bank, and farming communities.
The Araguaia and Tocantins Rivers form one of the largest basins of
drinkable water in our country. If these projects are carried out,
the waters will be polluted, directly affecting the entire ecosystem
of the region, compromising the survival of thousands of families
that directly depend on these rivers.
The Araguaia-Tocantins Hidrovia, besides affecting the indigenous
ethnic groups taking part in this meeting, will also affect the
Gaviao, Av -Canoeiro, Gaviao/Parkatej^, Parakana, Aikewar/Surui,
Assurini and Xikrin. Also affected will be the protected areas
Araguaia National Park; the Extreme North of Tocantins, Ciriaco, and
Mata Grande Extractive Reserves; , the Lajeado state reserve; the
Tapirap,-Aquiri National Forest; The Tapirap, Biological Reserve; the
Igarap, Gelado and Serra Azul Environmental Protection Areas; and the
Serra Azul state park.
The principal objective of this project is to implement commercial
navigation on the Araguaia, Tocantins and das Mortes Rivers, to
transport fertilizers, fuels, and the grain harvest from the Central-
western and Amazon regions of the country. We know that these rivers
are not navigable for large barges, and that to make them navigable,
it will be necessary to dynamite the river bed, and to dredge, which
will cause the death of the rivers, and the fish and animals that
depend on them. It is a project that will mean the death of thousands
of families, among them the inhabitants of 35 indigenous communities,
that depend completely upon them, since the river is the source of
our lives.
We are concerned with the threat that the construction of the
Araguaia-Tocantins Hidrovia represents. Its impacts on animals and
plants can cause various problems affecting our survival. The rivers
and lakes are the place where various beings that help the Karaj
people in our ceremonies, and with food are found. The rivers and
lakes are also the place from which our history and our myths spring
forth. For this reason, the destruction fo the river will not only
affect our food sources, but also will mean the end of our culture.
It will mean genocide for the Karaj people. We are against the
construction of this Hidrovia because, after 500 years of resistance,
struggle, and having to confront violence, this will be genocide.
Other large-scale projects also are placing our survival at risk -
these are the large dams. We are already suffering the impacts caused
by the construction of Lajeado Dam. There are thousands of families
and Xerente communities that are affected. The dam is being
constructed, and the compensation measures indicated in the Basic
Environmental Projects (PBAs) are not being carried out by INVESTCO,
the company which is responsible for the project. We wish to denounce
the following facts:
1. Lajeado Dam is bringing disease, prostitution, hunger, and alcohol
to the Xerente people, and causing disrespect for our culture and an
increase in violence on our lands. INVESTCO did not meet its
promises. The ethno-environmental diagnostic should have been carried
out before beginning construction, but it has yet to be presented to
the community. We demand that agricultural, health, and education
programs be permanent, because the dam will be in operation for 35
years. We do not accept the fact that we will have to suffer impacts
that will threaten the continuity of the Xerente people.
2. INVESTCO is violating the economic and food rights by
appropriating the production methods of the affected populations,
taking their lands for ridiculously low prices, and refusing to
comply with the proposal in the PBA for collective rural
resettlements, which could restructure the community and its means of
production in productive lots varying from 32 to 100 ha (PBA rural
pp. 33-38).
3. The company does not consider the production means of communities
such as Vila Graciosa, where most of the population survives through
agriculture, or are rural landowners (PBA urban pp. 21-24). The
Lajeadinho population was forced to move to nearby towns.
4. INVESTCO has been pushing urban and rural dam-affected populations
to sell their properties at prices below the cost of setting up a new
life in other places, in order to maintain the same conditions of
survival. The most fertile lands (floodplain land and river islands)
will be flooded by the dam.
5. Today, after various discussions, meetings, seminars, and hearings
dating from the beginning of the bidding process for construction of
Lajeado Dam, families are still awaiting concrete answers and they
are calling for placing into effect the proposals in the PBAs, such
as collective resettlement in productive lots, and a study of the
water table in the municipalities of Palmas, Porto Nacional, and in
the communities of Pinheir›poles and Sao Francisco.
6. INVESTCO only included 70% of the population in its census,
designating the rest as "landowners not located". As many do not have
formal definitive land title, this makes it difficult to recognize
all dam-affected.
7. INVESTCO, even before completing the Environmental Impact Studies
contracted a company called Agropastoril Lajeado, which used threats
and bad faith to acquire land, paying very low prices, and forcing
land owners to continue on the land as leasers. Today, they do not
know where to go, and most of the money they received has been spent.
8. The Community Association of Small Farmers of Palmas (ACUP),
consisting of 41 families of small farmers, calls for collective
resettlement in productive lots as indicated in the PBA rural (pp. 33
-39 ) o qual constam 41 famlias de pequenos agricultores.
The construction of large dams on the Tocantins River, in the same
way as Tucurui dam and Serra da Mesa dam, have caused serious imapcts
on animals, plants, and people -- river bank dwellers, indigenous
people, farmers and farm workers - people that depend completely on
the river, and whose lives are now threatened.
The project to construct Serra Quebrada Dam on the Tocantins River,
which will flood more than 5% of the land of the Apinaj, indigenous
people, places the survival of our children and the future of our
nation and our land, already too small for us, at risk. We Apinaj,
people have the river as our source, because our culture is the
mother earth, the river, nature, and animals. We do not accept this
dam. We will fight to the death so that our children may live in
peace. We do not accept Serra Quebrada Dam. Our will must be
respected.
We the Karaj -Java, people still suffer as a result of the failure to
demarcate our lands. Studies carried out in 1988 proved our
traditional occupation of the Boto Velho indigenous area (Ina -
WeboHana) on the Bananal Island by our people, but the process was
only filed by FUNAI at the beginning of this year. we are very
concerned with the slowness by which this process is moving forward.
We demand the immediate demarcation of our land in the next 30 days,
because IBAMA and ranchers are threatening us.
Given these facts we are against the carrying out of these projects -
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1. We do not accept the Araguaia-Tocantins Hidrovia 2.We reaffrim our
right to public hearings on the Hidrovia in affecte communities;
3. We demand the carrying out of a public hearing to discuss Lajeado
Dam; 4. We are against construction of Serra Quebrada Dam; 5. We
demand the demarcation of the Boto Velho indigenous land.
Sincerely,
Apinaj,, Krah", Xerente, Karaj , Karaj - Java, and Tapirap,
indigenous peoples River bank dwellers of the Tocantins and Araguaia
Rivers
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South America/Am,rica do Sul:
Tel/Fax/Message/Recados: +55 65 791 1313
email: glen@cba.zaz.com.br
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