Fearnside, P.M. 2012.Will Brazil's Belo Monte Dam Get the Green Light? Latin America Energy
Advisor, 27-31 Aug. 2012, pp. 1 & 4. [http://www.thedialogue.org]
www.thedialogue.org August 27-31, 2012
FEATURED Q&A
Will Brazil's Belo Monte Dam Get the Green Light?
QA Brazilian federal appeals
court on Aug. 14 ordered a halt to
construction on the controversial
Belo Monte dam until
indigenous groups are properly consulted,
The Guardian reported. However, on
Monday, the Supreme Court issued a preliminary
ruling that allowed for work on
the project to resume. How significant is
the charge that the consultation process
was not properly followed? Will local
groups be able to reach an agreement
with developers and the government,
which argue that the project is necessary
to meet the country's growing energy
demand? How could the consultation
processes be improved to avoid similar
conflicts both in Brazil and other countries,
including Peru, Ecuador and
Bolivia?
APhilip M. Fearnside, research
professor at the National
Institute for Research in the
Amazon (INPA) in Manaus:
"Brazil is a signatory to ILO Convention
169 and this requirement of consultation
with affected indigenous peoples before a
decision is made on building a dam has
been incorporated into Brazil's constitution.
Belo Monte would divert 80 percent
of the Xingu River's flow through a series
of canals, leaving a 100-kilometer stretch
of the river (including two indigenous
areas) with very little water. These indigenous
people were not consulted, and their
claim has been endorsed by the Human
Rights Commission of the Organization of
American States and by the Public
Ministry (a branch of Brazil's Ministry of
Justice that was created by the 1988 constitution
to defend public interests). No less
than 13 legal suits against Belo Monte are
still awaiting decisions in Brazilian courts.
The heavy investment of financial and
political capital in the project by the executive
branch of the federal government
raises the danger that pressure on the judiciary
could severely damage the democratic
system in Brazil. Should the dam be
Copyright © 2012, Inter-American Dialogue Page 1 of 6
Continued on page 4
Featured Q&A
Continued from page 1
built despite being 'totally illegal' (as it has been described by the Public Ministry in
Belém), the consequences could well prove to be the most severe impact of this highly
controversial project. The lesson for dams in any country is that legal requirements for
consultation and licensing need to be respected in full."
Fearnside, P.M. 2012.Will Brazil's Belo Monte Dam Get the Green Light? Latin America Energy
Advisor, 27-31 Aug. 2012, pp. 1 & 4. [http://www.thedialogue.org]
www.thedialogue.org
August 27-31, 2012
FEATURED Q&A
Will Brazil's Belo Monte Dam Get the Green Light?
Q
A Brazilian federal appeals
court on Aug. 14 ordered a halt to
construction on the controversial
Belo Monte dam until
indigenous groups are properly consulted,
The Guardian reported. However, on
Monday, the Supreme Court issued a preliminary
ruling that allowed for work on
the project to resume. How significant is
the charge that the consultation process
was not properly followed? Will local
groups be able to reach an agreement
with developers and the government,
which argue that the project is necessary
to meet the country's growing energy
demand? How could the consultation
processes be improved to avoid similar
conflicts both in Brazil and other countries,
including Peru, Ecuador and
Bolivia?
A
Philip M. Fearnside, research
professor at the National
Institute for Research in the
Amazon (INPA) in Manaus:
"Brazil is a signatory to ILO Convention
169 and this requirement of consultation
with affected indigenous peoples before a
decision is made on building a dam has
been incorporated into Brazil's constitution.
Belo Monte would divert 80 percent
of the Xingu River's flow through a series
of canals, leaving a 100-kilometer stretch
of the river (including two indigenous
areas) with very little water. These indigenous
people were not consulted, and their
claim has been endorsed by the Human
Rights Commission of the Organization of
American States and by the Public
Ministry (a branch of Brazil's Ministry of
Justice that was created by the 1988 constitution
to defend public interests). No less
than 13 legal suits against Belo Monte are
still awaiting decisions in Brazilian courts.
The heavy investment of financial and
political capital in the project by the executive
branch of the federal government
raises the danger that pressure on the judiciary
could severely damage the democratic
system in Brazil. Should the dam be
Copyright © 2012, Inter-American Dialogue Page 1 of 6
Continued on page 4
Featured Q&A
Continued from page 1
built despite being 'totally illegal' (as it has been described by the Public Ministry in
Belém), the consequences could well prove to be the most severe impact of this highly
controversial project. The lesson for dams in any country is that legal requirements for
consultation and licensing need to be respected in full."
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SUGGESTED CITATION
Macedo, M. and L. Castello. 2015. State of the Amazon: Freshwater Connectivity and Ecosystem Health; edited by D. Oliveira, C. C. Maretti and S. Charity. Brasília, Brazil: WWF Living Amazon Initiative. 136pp.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Amazon Region contains both the largest block of contiguous tropical forest and the largest river system in the world... The Amazon River network is the lifeblood of the regional economy, providing the primary means of food and energy production, transportation, and other vital ecosystem services... The Basin’s native forests and savannahs recycle 50-75 per cent of regional rainfall back to the atmosphere via evapotranspiration and help regulate the regional climate. These hydrological connections help maintain over 1 million km2 of freshwater ecosystems, which sustain a wealth of biological diversity and productive fisheries that are a vital source of protein and income for Amazonians. Amazon freshwater ecosystems are connected to the ocean, atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems via the hydrological cycle...
Today the Amazon faces unprecedented development pressures. Dam construction, mining, oil and gas exploration and exploitation, new accesses and land-cover changes...are increasingly degrading Amazon freshwater ecosystems, disrupting the magnitude and timing of hydrological flows. Across the Amazon, 154 hydroelectric dams are currently in operation, 21 are under construction and ~277 are in the planning stages. If all go forward as planned, the Amazon network of power plants will have an installed capacity of ~95,000MW, and only three free-flowing tributaries will remain. At the same time, agriculture and ranching have expanded dramatically in the region...
The cumulative effects of these hydrological alterations could irreversibly alter the hydrology, geomorphology and ecological integrity of Amazon freshwater ecosystems. Despite their regional and global importance, many of the Amazon Region’s freshwater ecosystems are not enough protected and have been largely ignored in the mainstream science and policy arenas...
The threats to the connectivity of Amazon freshwater ecosystems operate across multiple scales, as do efforts to curb their impacts and conserve freshwater resources. Conservation of these ecosystems requires a delicate balance between these opposing forces and a coordinated effort to overcome
the barriers to Biome and Basin-scale conservation planning. Maintaining Amazon hydrologic connectivity and freshwater ecosystem function will require integrated management of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and, in many cases, international cooperation. A lack of consistent ecological and
social data across the Amazon remains a critical barrier to such integrated management, making it impossible to quantify the true costs of development activities and hindering efforts to evaluate the potential impacts of proposed projects. Developing better baseline data, mechanisms for international
coordination and an integrated management framework will be crucial to mitigate the impacts of human activities and maintain freshwater ecosystem connectivity and function for future generations.
Threats to the freshwater ecosystem health are not limited to hydropower, but this sector is a considerable part of the problem and could be part of the solutions. Some textboxes in this report present the potential worst scenario, as in the case of Tocantins, example of a potential positive path and at the same time considerable risks, in the case of Tapajós, both basins in Brazil.
RECOMMENDATIONS
A key objective of WWF’s Living Amazon Initiative is to transform the way hydropower development is conducted in the Amazon by 2020. WWF is committed to developing constructive dialogues among civil society, industry, the finance sector and governments in order to enable sustainable hydropower programmes, should they be necessary, and associated territorial development plans.
In order to achieve this objective and reorient development in the Amazon Region toward a more sustainable path, new measures are necessary to mitigate threats to and alleviate pressures on the Amazon freshwater ecosystems.
Through its Living Amazon Initiative, WWF proposes a set of key recommendations to be adopted and implemented by decision makers in governments, the private and finance sectors, and the wider societies of the nine countries that share the Amazon Biome (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela and French Guiana).
A summarized version of the recommendations (chapter 7) can be found below:
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO:
FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS AND HYDROLOGICAL CONNECTIVITY
• Adopt an integrated vision of Amazon sustainable development and nature conservation.
• Develop an overarching regional policy framework for ecosystem conservation and watershed management.
• Incorporate the maintenance of ecological flows as a critical goal of decision-making related to land and water use, regional development, and environmental licensing.
• Designate new protected areas that increase ecological representation of freshwater ecosystems.
• Create or improve legal instruments for the designation of “protected rivers” as a special type of officially designated nature protected area.
• Mitigate the direct and indirect impacts of hydropower development projects.
• Promote greater international recognition of Amazon freshwater ecosystems.
• Sign and ratify the United Nations Watercourses Convention.
• Develop a regional strategic plan to maintain connectivity from the Andean highlands to the Amazon lowlands and from all headwaters to estuary.
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND SOCIAL IMPACTS
• Consider the water, food and energy security of Amazon communities.
• Ensure informed, free and democratic participation of local communities, including indigenous peoples, in all decisions related to energy and infrastructure development.
• Monitor the effects of hydropower development on freshwater ecosystem function, subsistence activities and human well-being.
• Respect the rights of indigenous peoples and other traditional communities to their land, water and resources.
• Gather better scientific information on migratory fish strategies.
MANAGING ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS
• Step up efforts to improve compliance with existing legislation on ecosystem protection, with particular attention to freshwater ecosystems.
• Implement policies and voluntary standards aimed at achieving zero net ecosystem conversion and degradation (including deforestation, forest degradation and transformation of freshwater ecosystems) by 2020.
• Evaluate the cumulative ecological and social impact of dams and associated infrastructure on whole river basins as part of the viability and environmental impact assessments of infrastructure projects.
• Assess the potential ecological impacts of the full portfolio of proposed government projects, in terms of both hydrological alteration and forest loss.
• Address the drivers of ecosystem conversion and ecological degradation through multi-stakeholder dialogue, exchange of lessons learned and coordinated actions across political boundaries.
• Identify and address the ongoing deficiencies that undermine environmental licensing processes.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
• Support scientific institutions, strengthening their ability to generate and disseminate reliable and consistent ecological, social and potential impact data for monitoring ecosystem health and social rights and sustainable
development, including at the Amazon-wide level.
• Produce better ecological and social baseline data to evaluate the impacts of dams, other infrastructure and projects, and deforestation on Amazon connectivity.
• Develop meaningful, measurable ecological, social and economic indicators.
INTEGRATED APPROACHES
WWF believes that integrated approaches (textbox page 114) are needed: to monitor Amazon freshwater ecosystems; plan the use and occupation of Amazon landscapes (terrestrial and freshwater); respect rights and promote social inclusion (especially of indigenous and other traditional communities); and to plan hydropower development in the Amazon.
1) An integrated approach to monitoring Amazon freshwater ecosystems can lead to improved conservation and sustainable use of these areas, as well as to the maintenance of hydrological connectivity in the region.
2) An integrated approach to planning the use and occupation of Amazon landscapes (both terrestrial and freshwater – or “aquascapes”) is key to the conservation and sustainable management of these areas.
3) Governments of the Amazon countries need to respect the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples and other local or traditional communities to their lands, waters and natural resources through granting official recognition of their territories and ensuring access to the natural resources and ecosystems they depend on (both terrestrial and freshwater).
4) In order to make hydropower development in the Amazon Region more sustainable environmentally and socially, and based on its experience in recent years of engaging with hydropower development processes in the Pan-Amazon, WWF has developed proposals for an integrated approach to planning hydropower development in the Amazon.
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This paper works on the situation of indigenous people in Brazil.
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