Vast areas of Brazilian land have been and are still being expropriated
so that large hydroelectric dams can be built to generate energy
for industries. One million people have been forced off their
lands due to dam constructions. Now, those affected by dams
started their own movement to fight this trend.

The United Nations has declared the year 2003 as the "Year of Fresh Waters". In Brazil, many groups struggle to preserve and protect the water; however, the building of dams has greatly affected the quality and accessibility of the liquid. In Brazil, the Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (Movement of those Affected by Dams) is in the forefront of this battle for fresh water.

The Brazilian movement is part of the International Rivers Network and helps local communities to support their rivers and to encourage equitable and sustainable river development projects. In the 1970's, Brazil initiated the construction of large hydroelectric dams in order to generate energy for industries. Vast areas of land were expropriated.

Still today, more than 20 million Brazilians do not have electricity; 60 percent of these families are in rural areas. In addition, one million people have been forced off their lands due to dam constructions. Three and a half million hectares of land have been flooded. Those affected by dams include small farmers, indigenous peoples, river-dwelling populations, quilombo (former slave colonies) communities, and urban dwellers.

Many of these people lost their cultural roots because of their expulsion from the land but have now organized to struggle for resettlement on new land as well as indemnity. Their goal is to help current groups affected by dam construction remain on their lands and to preserve nature with an energy policy that takes human and environmental needs into consideration.

Many studies conclude that dams do not attain their promised objectives—they produce less energy, generate less water, and irrigate fewer areas than promised. They normally are more expensive and take a longer amount of time to construct than is projected. Along with this, dams have not contributed to equitable or sustainable development; in contrast, they have increased misery and social inequality among the peoples affected by their construction.

The construction of dams in Brazil has met the economic and political interests of dominant and elite national and international groups as well as the interests of electric companies and dam-construction industries. There are many viable alternatives to dams that have fewer social and environmental costs and that lead to the better administration of water resources.

Current struggles among Brazilian peoples negatively affected by dam construction include the following groups:

Uhe Itaparica - 6,050 families in Barra do Tarrachil, Pedra Branca.

Uhe Ita - approximately 400 families in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná and Santa Catarina.

The Movement of Those Affected by Dams has had some success in resettling people and halting the construction of new dams. However, the struggle to resettle populations or to stop the construction continues in many states including São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás Tocantins, Amazônia, and Pará.

Participants in the II Pan-Amazon Forum, held in Belém, Pará state, in mid January, approved the following text to be used in connection with the Campaign Waters without Dams.

"We, rural and urban workers, indigenous peoples, natural resource gatherers, and river populations from Pará, Maranhão, and Tocantins states, participants in the Campaign Waters without Dams in the Amazon basin, analyzed at a recent meeting in Imperatriz, Maranhão, together with 160 people from 66 organizations, the projects for energy generation included in the Advance Brazil program of the federal government, and their relationship with mineral exploitation and agro-business plantations, in the Araguaia-Tocantins and Xingu basins.

According to data from the map of hydroelectric potential (Eletrobrás, 1999) and of the Inter-American Development Bank, a total of 55 dams are planned for our rivers, with 40 planned for the Tocantins and its tributaries (31 large dams and 9 small dams), 10 for the Araguaia river and the rio das Mortes, and 5 for the Xingu River.

Four of these are already in operation (Tucuruí, Serra da Mesa, Lageado and Cana Brava), one is currently in construction (Peixe-Angical), four more are in the licensing process (Santa Isabel, Couto Magalhães, São Salvador and Estreito) and, for 2003, 10 more large dams are planned to be offered to private investors (Belo Monte, Marabá, Serra Quebrada, Araguanã, Ipueiras, Tupiratins, Maranhão, Torixoréu, Novo Acordo and Mirador).

Besides these dams, other large-scale projects are being planned, or are already being implanted in the region, including construction of the Araguaia-Tocantins Hidrovia and more than 10 agrobusiness projects, which will have cumulative impacts on the human populations of the region and the environment.

An example of the negative impacts brought to the Amazon region with the implantation of these projects can be taken from Tucuruí and Lageado dams:

* Disappearance of fish species (surubim, dourado, jaú etc), which are the basis for the diet of local populations, given the great quantity of biomass rotting in the water and the appearance of aquatic plants, which obstruct creeks; damming of rivers with the resultant impacts on the reproductive cycle of fish;

* Expulsion of affected populations from their homes and lands, without guarantees of a minimal infrastructure needed for their dignified survival;

* Loss of lands which bring life, employment, and cultural identity for traditional populations (indigenous peoples, riverbank dwellers, babaçu palm nut gatherers, etc.)

* Loss of biodiversity, of the productive capacity of farms downstream and proliferation of mosquitoes in affected areas and in the region;

* Swelling of slums in nearby cities and an increase in urban violence and unemployment;

* Climate impacts, especially regarding rainfall and temperature;

Even after having experienced all these problems, the same errors are being made. The Environmental Impact Assessments which were or are being produced for these dam projects in the region do not take the local population into account, present technical discrepancies, and are based upon fragmented studies which fail to consider the cumulative impacts of multiple dams in the basin.

It is necessary and urgent to think of other alternatives for energy generation, based upon clean energy sources, such as wind, biomass, and solar, besides the reduction of losses in the current electrical system and the retrofitting of dams already in operation.

Faced with this situation, the organizations present at the meeting reaffirm their commitment to the preservation of the rivers, ecosystems, and their respect for local populations in the Araguaia-Tocantins and Xingu basins, and they propose:

(I) the opening of a discussion with the government team so as to propose a moratorium on licensing and construction of dam projects in the region so that, through an evaluation of the cumulative impacts of these dams and of alternatives to them, the country's energy policy may be revised, so that there will be an end to the damages suffered by local populations and the environment;

(II) the launching of a Congressional investigation to investigate the impacts and human rights and environmental violations caused by the construction and functioning of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon basin, taking measures to correct these;

(III) to promote policies in the area of science and technology for research on clean energy sources and alternative forms of energy generation.

This material was supplied by Sejup, which has its own Internet site: http://www.oneworld.net/sejup  

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