Bolivian Locals Fight Pipeline in Unique Forest
7/27/99
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Title: Environment-Bolivia: Locals Fight Pipeline in Unique Forest
Source: Inter Press Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: July 27, 1999
LA PAZ, (Jul. 26) IPS - The construction of a gas pipeline
between Bolivia and Brazil will have a profoundly negative
impact on the Chiquitano Forest, say indigenous
organizations and the Bolivian Environmental Forum.
The Chiquitano is thought to be one of the last intact dry
tropical forests in the world.
These organizations, as well as city governments, civic
committees and three provincial environmental forums,
released a communique in which they declared their
opposition to pipeline construction between San Miguel
(Bolivia) and Cuiaba (Brazil) and demanded an alternative
route.
The construction of the pipeline began on July 19, and is
expected to be completed by the end of January 2000, said
Steven Hopper, president and general manager of Transredes,
one of the stockholders in the joint venture that is
building the pipeline.
Gas Oriente Boliviano is the executive firm for the project
and consists of the transnational corporations Transredes
(60 percent), Enron Corp (20 percent) and Shell (20
percent).
Hopper said $120 million will be invested on the project's
Bolivian side of the border and $380 million on the
Brazilian side -- where a natural gas power plant will be
built.
Beginning in January 2000, the San Miguel-Cuiaba pipeline
will transport 2.5 million cubic meters of gas per day,
coming from Bolivia and Argentina, added Hopper.
The pipeline will be 610 km long, with a diameter of 18
inches and a capacity of 7.5 million cubic meters of natural
gas per day.
Its route will begin as a branch off the giant 2,000 km
pipeline that runs from Rio Grande (Bolivia) to Sao Paulo
(Brazil).
According to Hopper, the pipeline companies have
approximately $4 million at their disposal to support
community development projects along the pipeline route.
Bolivia will have 335 km of pipeline, while 257 km will be
in Brazil.
But the indigenous communities and environmental
organizations from eastern Bolivia say the pipeline
project's environmental impact assessment (EIA) was
insufficient. Entrix and PCA, the firms that authored the
assessment, gave the green light for construction to follow
the project's original plan.
"Several organizations have classified the region as primary
tropical forest, but Enron categorized it as a secondary
forest in an attempt to play down the direct negative
impacts on this fragile ecosystem that covers six million
hectares," said the group's communique.
The environmental and indigenous groups also questioned the
process for consulting the populations along the pipeline
route, saying that it was limited and that the people most
affected by the pipeline lack information about the EIA and
management plans.
The groups protesting pipeline construction affirm in their
document that conservation groups from the United States and
Bolivia negotiated with project promoters, "giving their
stamp of approval in exchange for money."
Among the organizations that allegedly participated in the
parallel negotiations are the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the
World Conservation Society (WCS), the Missouri Botanical
Garden, Friends of the Earth Foundation, and the Noel Kempff
Mercado Museum.
The local populations and indigenous groups are responsible
for conservation of the area and they own the region's
natural resources, say the anti-pipeline construction
groups. This means that making decisions about projects to
be implemented in the region are theirs and theirs only, the
groups maintain.
"With what legal right have they dared negotiate our natural
resources? Have they been caring for and conserving them? Do
they live in the region? Nobody here knows them. Can natural
resources be bought? Can one put a price on the destruction
of the last forest reserves of the planet?" asked the local
groups.
At the end of the document, they warn that if their demands
are not met, the region's communities and indigenous peoples
will block the pipeline's construction.
Bolivia is one of the principal suppliers of clean energy
sources, like natural gas, in South America's Southern Cone.
The country currently sells gas to Argentina and the Sao
Paulo region, and plans to expand to other regions of Brazil
and Paraguay.