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Bolivia's Challenge Blocks Dams in the Amazon |
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By Mario Osava*
Environmentalists
in La Paz warn that one of the hydroelectric dams that Brazil is
planning to build on the Madeira River could flood Bolivian territory.
They are calling for a binational agreement.
RIO DE JANEIRO - Bolivia's charge of potential
harm to its national territory from the construction in the Brazilian
Amazon of two dams could delay work on the mega-projects, whose
environmental impact studies will be debated in November.
The national government plans to build two hydroelectric dams --
the Jirau and San Antonio -- on an uneven stretch of the Madeira
River, in the western Brazilian state of Rondonia, with energy production
potential of 3,300 and 3,150 megawatts, respectively.
The Madeira is the biggest tributary of the Amazon River, and begins
in the Bolivian Andes.
A recent report from the Bolivian Forum on the Environment and Development
called for an accord between the two countries as "the only route
possible for making the project for exploitation of the Madeira
River effective," as well as "a more in-depth analysis" of the possibility
of trans-border alterations in water flow.
Jorge Molina, author of the report, stressed that the Madeira basin
"concentrates 95 percent of the annual flow of the Bolivian rivers
and all the navigable waterways" in the country.
The Bolivian demands could prolong the discussions about the project,
whose environmental impact study will be reviewed in four hearings
next month.
The Brazilian authorities have said, for now, that they are willing
to listen to their neighbors.
"If Bolivia formally presents a consistent challenge, it will be
considered and could modify the operation of the Jirau plant, which
is closest to the border, so that its reservoir does not affect
Bolivian territory," Valter Muchagata, of the governmental Brazilian
Institute of Environment (IBAMA), said in a Tierramérica interview.
At its maximum capacity, the dam would elevate the level of rivers
in part of Bolivia, which would justify a bilateral agreement, but
the contract and rules of operation impede that possibility, he
said.
Construction of the two dams is urgent, according to energy authorities
and business leaders, to prevent a repeat of the 2001 blackouts,
when Brazil was forced to adopt measures to ration electricity consumption.
The issue has filtered into Brazil's electoral campaigns: social
democrat Geraldo Alckmin, presidential candidate of the opposition,
accused the Luis Inácio Lula da Silva government of being slow to
act in authorizing hydroelectric mega-projects.
But building dams in Brazil, particularly in the Amazon region,
has been difficult since the 1980s. In December 1988, the assassination
of environmental activist Chico Mendes turned the national and international
spotlights on the environmental and social struggles of the Amazon.
In 1989, the First Encounter of Indigenous Peoples put in check
the project to build five hydroelectric dams on the Xingú River,
in the eastern Amazon. The project remains paralyzed today. That
same year, another national meeting gave rise to the Movement of
People Affected by Dams (MAB, Movimento dos Afectados por Barragens).
MAB estimates that in Brazil dams have displaced more than one million
people, most of whom were not compensated or resettled.
"Jirau and San Antonio will jeopardize more than the 3,000 people
predicted by the companies promoting the project: the government's
Furnas and the construction firm Odebrecht," Wesley Ferreira Lopes,
MAB coordinator in Rondonia, said in a conversation with Tierramérica.
"MAB is organizing the population to resist the project through
legal means, but also for confrontation to the ultimate consequences,
if they build the dams," he said.
The activist fears that later the now-abandoned project for a major
water transport route on the Madeira River will be renewed, in order
to transport an expanded production of soybeans and other grains
for export -- which would also drive deforestation of the Amazon.
"Specialized studies have pointed out that the bed of the Jirau
reservoir could rise six meters, which could widen the flooding,
reaching Bolivian territory," says Glenn Switkes, of the non-governmental
International Rivers Network.
But Brazilian official Muchagata, of IBAMA, says "the environmental
impact study of the project predicts an intense deposit of sediments
initially, but which would reach equilibrium after 10 years. If
it elevates the reservoir bed, the volume of water would be reduced,
without surpassing the limits of capacity."
"All of these questions can be presented at the public hearings
in mid-November. The process is open to all who are interested,
and allows for introducing changes if serious problems arise," he
said.
Once the challenges have been resolved, licensing would be granted
to begin construction, subject to regulation and controls until
final authorization.
Private entities and government authorities in the energy sector
say a delay in construction of the Madeira dams will increase the
risk of electricity shortages in Brazil. However, not everyone agrees.
"Unless the economy grows much more than predicted, there won't
be problems until 2010, and there are thermoelectric and natural
gas plants in case of emergency," says Luiz Pereira, director of
the non-governmental Institute for the Strategic Development of
the Electrical Sector.
"It's wrong to describe the environmental demands as 'obstacles',
as those who are pressing for quick authorization do. But the environmentalists
exaggerate sometimes too," he told Tierramérica.
The fact that Brazil shares the Madeira River with Brazil does complicate
the energy projects, but its bilateral exploitation would be beneficial,
according to Pereira. "Energy integration is a good solution for
Brazil and South America, with the aim of overcoming dominant sources
of energy, like Bolivian natural gas and the gigantic hydroelectric
Itaipú dam, which Brazil shares with Paraguay."
* Mario Osava is an IPS correspondent.
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