Global Dam Report Confirms Activists' Fears
Copyright 2000 Inter Press Service
November 30, 2000
By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 30 - The recent report by the World Commission on Dams (WCD) has limitations, but is a welcome development given its acknowledgement of the damages caused by large dams, according to environmentalists in Brazil.
Thanks to the report released by the WCD, multilateral lending agencies at least have "parameters to follow, a series of requirements that should be met before they finance such projects," Glenn Switkes, the International River Network's coordinator for Latin America, told IPS.
The report, "Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making," confirmed what Brazil's Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAR) has been denouncing for years, said Helio Mecca, one of the movement's national coordinators.
The WCD, an independent body comprised of 12 representatives of affected communities in developing countries, dam builders and governments, was set up two years ago by the World Bank and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to study the impact of dams in a number of countries.
Besides the environmental and social damages, dams bring displacement, impoverishment and no development for affected communities, since their main beneficiaries are wealthy sectors of society and far-away businesses, said Mecca, who is himself a farmer who was displaced by a dam built in southern Brazil.
The report, released Nov. 16 in London, was formally presented to Brazil's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Nov. 27 by physicist Jos Goldemberg, a former Brazilian minister of education and the environment, and one of the members of the WCD.
The most positive aspect of the report, according to Mecca, is the recommendation that permits be granted for building dams only after "the consent of affected populations has been obtained through participative negotiations, and a prior accord has been reached providing adequate solutions to the people displaced" by the project in question.
The report also underlines that before work can begin on a new dam, an evaluation must be carried out to verify that it is truly necessary and that no other valid alternatives exist, said Selma Barros, MAR's foreign relations representative.
Between 40 and 80 million people, mainly small farmers and indigenous people, have been forced off their land by dams worldwide, and most of them have seen a decline, at times drastic, in their living conditions, says the WCD report.
The extinction of species of animals, the flooding of broad stretches of forest and farmland, and emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon monoxide are among the environmental damages blamed on dams.
MAR estimates that one million people have been displaced by dams in Brazil. At least half of them are still awaiting the fulfillment of compensation and resettlement arrangements, according to Mecca, who said that was especially true in the case of people affected by the oldest projects, carried out when Brazil was living under a military dictatorship (from 1964 to 1985) and civil society was not very well-organized.
But activists fear that the effects of the report will be limited to international lending institutions, which should set stiffer eligibility requirements for loans.
In Brazil, there is nothing to ensure that the government adopts the WCD's recommendations. The privatization of the power companies currently underway has reduced the dependence on financing from entities like the World Bank and its regional branch, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
There are 154 hydroelectric plants on the drawing board for construction up to 2008 in Brazil. Although the work on a number of them has already begun, economic difficulties brought many to a halt.
But the revival of economic growth this year and projections for even stronger growth in the next few years will lead to an increase in demand for electricity, and the consequent rise in energy production could lead to even louder social and environmental demands, said Mecca.
For that reason, MAR plans to conclude, by Feb. 15, a survey of all of the projects currently underway, after which it plans to launch a new national campaign designed to prevent new situations in which affected communities are left without adequate compensation.
The movement plans to hold public hearings with authorities, dam builders and other sectors involved in the projects, and to carry out consciousness-raising activities, said Mecca.
And if the response to public concerns falls short, activists will camp out in the capital, Brasilia, to demand negotiations with the companies and the government, which in the end is "the big culprit," he added.
The movement is also demanding the creation of a national commission on dams, along the lines of the WCD, to assess the impact of such works in Brazil. Environmental and social NGOs, government leaders, dam builders and local and international financial agents would participate in the commission.
The search for alternative, sustainable and cleaner sources of energy, as well as energy savings, must also be a top priority, said Switkes. The biggest shortcoming of the WCD report is that it overlooked that point, agreed Switkes and Mecca.
That is also a flaw in Brazil's energy plans, which are still heavily concentrated on hydroelectricity, said Mecca, who pointed out that dams generate 93 percent of the power consumed in Brazil.
The activist also complained of increasingly intense police harassment of the movement's leaders, 13 of whom are facing criminal charges, and several of whom are being prosecuted under the National Security Law, a holdover from the military dictatorship.