Volume 14, Number 2 / April 1999

Published by International Rivers Network

T he floodgates of dissent againstthe world’s largest dam, China’sThree Gorges project, may havefinally cracked beyond repair. In

a land where speaking out against the proj-ect is strongly discouraged, 10,000 dam-affected people have signed a petition urg-ing the government to solve major problemswith the resettlement program. And in Feb-ruary, a series of articles in Chinese publica-tions that were unusually critical of the proj-ect have given rise to speculation that high-level support for the dam is eroding.

The first major exposé within China ofthe dam’s extensive social problems waspublished in the February issue of the influ-ential policy journal Strategy and Manage-ment. The article details a host of problemsfacing the resettlement efforts for the dam.Up to 1.9 million people are expected toneed to be moved for the huge project,whose reservoir will drown a 400-mile-longstretch of the Yangtze River.

The article describes the acute scarcity of arable land in the steep, eroding hillsidesalong the river where most resettlers will bemoved. It quotes one person slated forresettlement as saying: “If you want me tomove there, you’ll have to make me do it at gun point.”

The rare criticism, by a Chinese scholarusing a pseudonym, made the cover page ofthe New York Times and the Washington Poston March 18, among other newspapers.

The Strategy and Management article citesa detailed case study of Yunyang county,where 120,000 people must be moved. Peo-ple in this county are being relocated ontoland too steep to farm, and yet are farmingit anyway. The funds allocated for terracingand other sustainable farming measures toreduce erosion are less than half the neededamount, according to the article.

Since industry in the region is alreadyfaring poorly, new factory jobs for resettlers

Three Gorges Dam Swamped by Problemsby Doris Shen

Early optimism: Project officials met with Merrill Lynch executives in 1994.The company later declined to invest in the dam.

continued on page 14

Commentary: The time forrethinking bad river developmentschemes is now. Page 2

India: After being halted for fouryears, the Supreme Court ruledthat construction on the NarmadaDam can resume. Page 3

Philippines: The San Roque Damis a bad deal for indigenous peoplebut a good deal for the privatecompanies developing it. Page 4

Thailand: Affected people haveoccupied the Pak Mun Dam site andare demanding reparations for lostlivelihoods. Page 5

Colombia: Emberas indigenouspeople are being murdered foropposing the Urra Dam. Page 6

Uganda: A proposed dam thatwould drown Bujagali Falls isdrowning in troubles. Page 7

Laos: Grand schemes to developLaos by damming its rivers are dis-sected in a new report. Page 8

US: Sustainable water stories fromCalifornia offer some ideas for therest of the world. Page 10

News Briefs: River news fromaround the globe. Page 12

Pakistan: Labor conditions onGhazi Barotha Dam have become ahuman rights concern. Page 15

Stop Press: The Brazilian govern-ment has stopped dredging workthat could harm the Pantanal wet-lands. Page 16

Volume 14, Number 2

ISSN Number 0890 6211

Editor: Lori Pottinger

Editorial Assistance: Susanne Wong

Design/Production: Jeanette Madden

Printing: West Coast Print Center

International Rivers Network

Executive Director:Juliette Majot

Staff:Monti Aguirre, Aleta Brown, SelmaBarros de Oliveira, Lorena Cassady,Yvonne Cuellar,Annie Ducmanis,Dzhennet Eshchekova,Tracy Furman,Mary Houghteling,Aviva Imhof, OwenLammers, Patrick McCully, PamelaMichael, Lori Pottinger, Steve Rothert,Elyse Shafarman, Doris Shen, GlennSwitkes, Susanne Wong, Petra J.Yee

Interns:Elizabeth Brink, Ignacio Fernandez,Lisa McNally, Nicole Nerio,Teerapong Pomun

Board of Directors:Paul Strasburg (Chair),Philip Williams (President),Dan Beard, Patricia Chang, Bob Hass,Dorka Keehn, Lauren Klein, JoshuaMailman,Walter Sedgwick, Brian Smith,Francesca Vietor

Contact Information:International Rivers Network 1847 Berkeley WayBerkeley, CA 94703 USATel: (510) 848-1155Fax: (510) 848-1008E-mail: irn@irn.orgWorld Wide Web: http://www.irn.org

Page 2 World Rivers Review April 1999

ll over Asia, rural villagers are challenging the powerful interests who haveappropriated their rivers in the name of “development.” From China to thePhilippines, from the Mekong to the Narmada, dam-affected communities areholding demonstrations, taking over dam sites, and pushing project authoritiesto take responsibility for the problems they have created.

These struggles are a powerful reminder of all that is wrong with the current model ofdevelopment in many low-income countries. It’s a model where expert opinion always takesprecedence over local knowledge (no matter how shallow the expert’s knowledge base), andwhere decisions about natural resources are made by those at the top, with no input by thosewho will be most affected by those decisions.

Says Boonteng Temdee, a fisherman from one of the villages affected by the Pak MunDam in Thailand, “EGAT [the Thai electricity utility] never asked me or any of these peopleabout fish, our river or the dam. No one from EGAT ever asked us what we thought. Theytold us what we had to do.”

Long before the Pak Mun Dam was completed in 1994, villagers knew that their primarysource of livelihood – the rich fisheries of the Mun River – would be destroyed by the dam.They knew that fish migrate up and down the river, and that the dam would block thismigration. They told the Thai government and the World Bank, and demanded that theirrights be recognized. They were ignored.

In 1991, World Bank staff told Bank executive directors: “The lack of understanding [of]project design has been the cause of much unnecessary criticism of the project… Pak Mun isnot a storage reservoir project impounding a large and stagnant mass of water. The adverseimpacts associated with such type of storage, such as impact on fisheries … is, therefore, notrelevant to Pak Mun…”

Six years after Pak Mun was completed, at least 3,080 families are still fighting for com-pensation for lost fisheries. At this writing, 2,000 of these people are camped at the dam site,demanding compensation from the Thai government and the World Bank. They will notmove until their demands are met.

In many parts of Asia, dependence of local communities on rivers for all aspects of theirlives – including fresh water, fish, farming and transportation – renders them highly vulnera-ble to the substantial changes in river systems brought about by dams. Yet more often thannot, these people are asked to sacrifice their lives and their livelihoods to a lofty notion ofnational development.

But who really benefits from the development of rivers? Certainly not the poor and mar-ginalized. At the Narmada in India, more than 200,000 people are being asked to make wayfor an irrigation scheme that will benefit rich farmers in Gujurat. At San Roque in the Philip-pines, the Ibaloi indigenous people are being asked to sacrifice their culture and communityto benefit foreign mining companies and industrial producers. On China’s Yangtze, 1.9 mil-lion people will be forcibly resettled for the world’s largest dam, making the claim of publicbenefits rather dubious.

At what point do the trade-offs become too much? When will the World Bank, the AsianDevelopment Bank, governments, and other powerful interests recognize that GDP growthdoes not equal a rise in living standards, that only poverty trickles down from poorlyplanned development schemes, not wealth?

The stories in this issue show the harsh realities of a number of dam projects. But they alsoreveal windows of opportunity to create critical change. One such window has been openedby the people affected by Pak Mun Dam, who are demanding reparations from the Thai gov-ernment and the World Bank. The payment of reparations should be mandatory for the fun-ders and backers of all dams that result in unmitigable harm to local people’s livelihoods.

Another opportunity revealed by stories herein is to stop the construction of – or at leastredesign – projects to reduce human suffering. Such an approach would solve serious prob-lems caused by the Sardar Sarovar Project, Three Gorges and San Roque.

Finally, the story of Laos presents a window of opportunity that could be opened by thedonor community and governments now backing hydropower development as an engine ofgrowth for the small nation. The Asian economic crisis presents an opportunity to reassesshydropower schemes, and to replace this flawed model of development with one that recog-nizes and respects the rights of local communities to their river resources.

We at IRN draw inspiration from the struggles of these communities. We feel confidentthat through their efforts, the momentum for change will come.

Aviva Imhof

Power of the People

A

International Rivers Network is an affiliate organization of Friends of theEarth International.

WORLD RIVERS REVIEW

World Rivers Review April 1999 Page 3

A fter being halted for more thanfour years, contractors havestarted pouring concrete again atIndia’s notorious Sardar Sarovar

Dam on the Narmada River. The go-aheadfor the Gujarat state government to restartconstruction came from India’s SupremeCourt, which ruled on February 18 thatanother five meters (16 feet) could be addedto the height of the partly completed damwall. An additional 3,000 families in 58 vil-lages are at risk of losing their land to sub-mergence or being otherwise seriously affect-ed by the extra five meters of concrete.

Work restarted the day after the courtruling in the presence of senior Gujarat offi-cials and a group of priests chanting Vedichymns. According to one Indian newspaper,the ceremony “re-created the jubilantatmosphere the State first witnessed whenthe . . . first stone of the dam was laid in1979.” The Sardar Sarovar Dam and its canalsystem are located in Gujarat while most ofthe 245 villages which could eventually besubmerged are in the states of Maharashtraand Madhya Pradesh.

Two weeks later, villagers held their owncelebration in Domkhedi, a village on thebank of the Narmada. The residents ofDomkhedi, like all those living along theriver for the first 70 kilometers or soupstream of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, are“tribals” or adivasis, the indigenous peopleof India, with a culture, religion and econo-my distinct from that of mainstream Indiansociety. Every March, adivasis from 50 vil-lages gather in Domkhedi to mark the reli-gious festival of Holi. This year marked pos-sibly the last ever Holi celebration here, asmuch of the village may be submerged whenthe monsoon comes mid-year. A journalistfrom the Indian Express described the scene:

“Dancing through the night, hundreds of[adivasis] – bodies painted with limestone,fruit hanging from their shoulders, imposingheadgear flaunting peacock feathers – bore asteely stoicism that hid the torment within.‘They can drown our houses and our farms,but … we will not leave this place; we will runto the hills to escape the water, but we willnot leave,’ says Hulia Bhola Vasave, sarpanch[headman] of Domkhedi. But he can’t concealthe catch in his voice, just as KeshubhaiVasave sitting next to him can’t hold back thetears in his eyes … Domkhedi exists withouteven basic facilities like electricity, transport,telephone and postal services. It survives onits river-based economy and its culture, which

the tribals do not wish to part with. ‘It is bet-ter to suffer and die here rather than live adead hostile life at a resettlement site a hun-dred kilometers away,’ says Vasave.”

A few days after Holi, representatives fromaffected villages met on the bank oppositeDomkhedi. According to the NarmadaBachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Move-ment), the villagers vowed “not to leave theirlands and villages under the pressure of fraudand threat of submergence.” The NarmadaBachao Andolan (NBA), which is made up ofthe residents of hundreds of Narmada Valleyvillages together with urban-based activists,has been struggling for the rights of the peo-ple of the Narmada since the late 1980s. Thevillagers meeting in Domkhedi strongly criti-cized the state governments involved in theSardar Sarovar Project for misleading theSupreme Court about the resettlement situa-tion in the valley, the costs and benefits ofthe mammoth project, its environmentalimpact and the viability of alternatives.

The NBA is currently preparing evidence topresent to an independent Grievance Redres-sal Authority which the Supreme Court hasmandated to investigate the condition of thethousands of “oustees” already moved toresettlement sites. On April 15 the Court willreconvene to consider the Grievance RedressalAuthority’s report and decide whether to givepermission to Gujarat to raise Sardar Sarovarby a further five meters – which would floodthe land and homes of thousands more.

The Gujarat government has repeatedlytold the Supreme Court that resettlement andrehabilitation has been satisfactorily complet-ed for all families affected by the dam so far

and those who would be affected by addinganother 10 meters to its height. Yet peoplewho have moved to resettlement sites – someas long as two decades ago – have faced greatsuffering for reasons including poor-qualityreplacement land given resettlers; shortages ofland, drinking water, fodder and fuelwood;increased sickness and death; intimidationfrom the villagers already living in the reset-tlement areas; the fragmentation of theircommunities and rising debts. In the last fewyears hundreds of families have returned totheir original villages, preferring to face theuncertainty of life in the submergence zoneto the misery of life as “oustees.”

On March 15, more than 1,000 adivasismarched to the office of the senior official incharge of resettlement in Maharashtra anddemanded that the government verify theclaims of land availability made to theSupreme Court. Officials were forced to admitthat they had served notices of impendingsubmergence to 527 families, while stating tothe Court that only 184 families need to beresettled. Officials also admitted that, con-trary to their statement to the court, resettle-ment land and amenities were not availableeven for 184 families in the coming months.The NBA has demanded that the governmentof Maharashtra admit the falsity of theirresettlement claims to the Supreme Court,request an immediate work stoppage, andstart criminal proceedings against the offi-cials responsible for misleading the Court.

At press time, hundreds of tribal peoplefrom the Narmada valley and their supporterswere planning a human rights march to chal-

Thousands More Narmada Villagers Face Submergenceby Patrick McCully

Children in the Narmada Valley at a school run by the NBA.The school will be flooded.

Phot

o:Pa

trick

McC

ully

continued on page 11

I n the mountainous Cordillera regionof the Philippines, the indigenousIbaloi people of Itogon Province arefighting for their lives. The threat to

their land and livelihoods comes fromSoutheast Asia’s largest private hydropowerproject, being built by US independentpower producer Sithe Energies and theJapanese Marubeni Corporation.

The US$1.19 billion, 345-megawatt SanRoque Multi-Purpose Dam Project is beingcelebrated by the hydropower industry as amajor success story in private sector financ-ing. No other private hydro project of its sizehas been able to secure the necessary financ-ing, particularly in high-risk, economicallyembattled Southeast Asia. If completed, SanRoque would be the tallest dam – at 200meters – in Asia and will provide power tothe burgeoning mining, agribusiness, exportindustry and tourism centers planned forNorthwestern Luzon. The government alsoclaims that the project will irrigate 87,000hectares of farmland, reduce the perennialflooding of at least 16 downstream townsduring the rainy season, and provide cleanwater for communities in Northern Luzon.

Yet, for the Ibaloi – some of whom havealready been displaced once before byupstream hydropower projects – there is lit-tle to rejoice about. The Ibaloi are a distincttribe, with their own socio-political institu-tions, traditions and rituals. They rely main-ly on agriculture for their everyday subsis-tence, supplemented by fishing and small-scale gold panning. By working hard, genera-tion after generation of Ibalois have lived inabundance and peace.

Santahnay, the Ibaloi peoples’ communi-ty organization, has stated, “We stand forthe defense of our ancestral land, for therespect of our indigenous culture, and forthe recognition of our right to self-determi-nation as indigenous Ibaloi people… Westrongly and resolutely oppose the construc-tion of the San Roque Multipurpose Dam…We are determined to fight against the proj-ect to the limits of our own capacity. We willnot be a party to our own death.”

Project Status and FinancingSan Roque is one of 22 large dams plannedfor the Cordillera region, and is the firstone to be built in the region as part of awide-ranging development plan of formerPresident Fidel Ramos. The dam site is

located on the Agno River in PangasinanProvince, but reservoir inundation willoccur in Itogon Province, home of theIbaloi people.

In 1997 the National Power Corporation(NPC) gave the San Roque Power Corpora-tion (SRPC) the rights to build, operate andmaintain the project for a period of 25 years.The SRPC is owned by a Japanese tradingcompany, Marubeni (41%); Sithe PhilippinesHoldings, Ltd, a subsidiary of US energycompany Sithe Energies, Inc. (51%); and aJapanese utility company, Kansai Electric(7.5%). In April 1998, US construction com-pany Raytheon won a $700 million sub-con-tract to design and build the facility. Prepara-

tion of the site began in 1998, and construc-tion is slated for completion in 2004. Theproject is currently on hold while financingis being secured.

Project authorities say 49% of the totalcost of $1.9 billion will go to the powercomponent of the project, 9.7% to the waterquality and maintenance system; and 1% toflood control. In October last year, theExport-Import Bank of Japan (JEXIM)approved a $302 million loan to the privatesector developers to finance the power com-ponent of the project. Funding for the non-power components is expected to comefrom a $400 million loan the government isstill negotiating with JEXIM. Other financ-ing is expected to come from a consortiumof Japanese commercial banks and equityprovided by the project sponsors.

JEXIM is reportedly holding off on anyloan disbursements until it is satisfied thatthe project will conform to its environmen-tal and indigenous people’s criteria. JEXIM’senvironmental guidelines state that peopleresettled by projects it funds must havegiven their consent. Given the stridentopposition of the populations slated forresettlement, it appears that JEXIM’s supportfor this project violates its own guidelines.Japanese and international NGOs, togetherwith the Cordillera People’s Alliance andSantanhay, have been calling on JEXIM towithdraw from the project. In March thisyear, an international appeal was deliveredto the Japanese Prime Minister, KeizoObuchi, urging him to withdraw all financialassistance for San Roque. The appeal wassigned by 77 citizens’ groups, 12 NationalDiet members and more than 500 individu-als from 26 countries, including more than450 Ibaloi people. At the time of writing, noresponse had been received and JEXIM wasstill indicating it would support the project.

History Repeats ItselfThe Ibalois already have experience withlarge hydro dams – the Binga and Ambuklaodams were built upstream of this site in the1950s. During that time, the Ibalois werecalled upon to sacrifice their lands and theirlives for the sake of “national development.”Though both dams generate electric power,nearby communities have seen few benefitsand most still have no electricity. Many ofthose relocated were never compensated forthe loss of their homes, lands and liveli-hood. Some died in malaria-infested reloca-tion sites, while others suffered from hungerin infertile lands and areas with very limitedemployment opportunities.

Now, the Ibalois are being asked to “sacri-fice for the majority” again. But they are notdoing so quietly. In a statement released lastyear, the Movement Against San Roque Damand All Megadams (MASRDAM) said the SanRoque Dam is not a good development toolfor the country, and that “the majority arebeing sacrificed for the interests of a fewelite.” MASRDAM states, “Agrarian reformand secured employment, not megadams,will lead to the country’s development.”

Said history teacher Lito Calderon, whoparticipated in a recent day of protestagainst the dam: “Foreign investors and

“We Will Not Be a Party to Our Own Death”Philippine Dam Draws Fire from Indigenous Peopleby Aviva Imhof

Page 4 World Rivers Review April 1999

continued opposite

San Roque Dam opponents meet near the site.

multi-national mining companies stand tobenefit more from this project than we do.”He added there are many other projectswhich the government should prioritize,“projects that will really benefit the people.”

If completed, the dam will negativelyaffect 2,325 Ibaloi households. In February,1998 more than 160 tenant farmer familiesoccupying land around the dam site weremoved despite the fact that no permanentresettlement site had yet been built. Theywere promised land, houses, alternativelivelihood sources and social services, butinstead the National Power Corporation dis-tributed $250 per family as compensation.Nearly a year later, most of the displacedfamilies were finally given houses in the newresettlement site. Another 402 families inPangasinan will be required to relocatebefore the project is completed.

It is estimated that about 100 hectares ofproductive rice fields will be submerged by thereservoir. Homes, terraced rice fields, orchards,pasture lands, gardens and burial grounds ofthe Ibalois close to the Agno river will eventu-ally be inundated by the rising waters. Thegovernment claims that only three house-holds will be affected in this area, yet indepen-dent studies show that at least 343 householdswill be impacted by the reservoir.

Aside from those areas to be directly sub-merged, residents of other higher-lying areasin Benguet may also be displaced because ofthe accumulation of silt resulting from min-ing operations upstream. At present, heavysoil erosion and siltation of the river systemhas already occurred as a result of large open-pit and bulk mining operations in Itogon.With the passage of the Philippine MiningAct of 1995, more large mining companieshave applied for concessions in the area. Ifthese applications are approved, the siltationof the Agno River will increase tremendously.

Given the high rates of siltation and ero-sion resulting from the present mining opera-tions, the economic life span of the San RoqueDam is already under question. It is doubtfulthe dam reservoir will be able to contain thevolume of mine tailings, soil and silt that willbe impounded there beyond 28 years.

Furthermore, while the governmentclaims that the project will control the occur-rence of floods on the Agno River, the proj-ect’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)admits that “the reservoir is vulnerable tomismanagement with respect to flood rout-ing.” The EIA states that this may result in“catastrophic flooding” in some downstreamareas. There is local precedent for this: theAmbuklao Dam has caused larger and moreserious floods downstream over the past fewyears as its reservoir has silted up. The dam isnon-functional today due to siltation.

It is not just individuals or families whowill be affected by the project. Whole commu-nities will be uprooted. The Ibalois of Dalu-pirip, like those of Binga and Ambuklao, willend up scattered in different places. And withtheir disintegration, the dissolution of theirindigenous socio-political institutions will fol-low. Their traditional knowledge, beliefs andsystems will break down. Dalupirip, and awhole unique culture, will be lost forever. ■

World Rivers Review April 1999 Page 5

M ore than 5,000 disgruntled vil-lagers occupied the Pak MunDam site in Thailand onMarch 23 to demand compen-

sation from the Thai government and theWorld Bank. The villagers have set up theirown settlement on the edge of the dam andintend to stay indefinitely, until theirdemands are met.

Eight groups of villagers affected by vari-ous development projects – including sixdams – in northern Thailand have united atPak Mun to demand reparations from theThai government.

The Pak Mun villagers are demandingcompensation of 15 rai (2.4 acres) of landfor the 3,080 fishing families who lost fish-eries income because of the project. The cost

of this would amount to US$45 million. Ifthe government and World Bank fail torespond, villagers are demanding that thedam gates be opened to allow fish tomigrate upstream. The villagers are alsodemanding funding to correct and preventthe problems they are now experiencingwith intestinal and liver flukes and thedebilitating disease schistosomiasis.

The 136 MW Pak Mun Dam, which wascompleted in 1994, was built by the Electric-ity Generating Authority of Thailand with$24 million in financing from the WorldBank. The project is located on the MunRiver, six kilometers upstream of the conflu-ence of the Mekong, in Ubon RathchataniProvince. From the outset, the project washighly controversial due to the predicted

impacts on the rich and productive fisheriesof the Mun River. Between 1990 and 1997,there was intense opposition to the dam bythousands of people living in communitiesalong the Mun River.

As a direct result of the dam, more than20,000 people have been affected by drasticreductions in fish populations upstream ofthe dam site, and other changes to theirlivelihoods. The dam has blocked themigration of fish, and a $1 million fish ladder, promoted by the World Bank’s fish-eries experts as a mitigation measure, hasproved useless. Whole communities havebeen disrupted and many people have beenforced to move to Bangkok to support their families.

“We strongly and resolutelyoppose the construction of

the San Roque MultipurposeDam… We are determined to fight against the project

to the limits of our owncapacity.We will not be aparty to our own death.”

Ibaloi peoples position paper, August 1998.

Pak Mun Villagers Occupy Dam, Demand CompensationBy Aviva Imhof

continued on page 11

O pposition to the Urra I dam iscosting Embera indigenous peopletheir lives. In February, fourindigenous leaders were assassinat-

ed, presumably by the right-wing paramilitarydeath squads who have threatened leaders ofthe affected peoples’ movement in the past.

The paramilitary groups are generallyalliances between militias, local elites, largeland owners and narco-farmers. Terror,threats, disappearances, forced displace-ments, assassinations and massacres are theway they keep their power over local people.

According to the Higher IndigenousAuthorities of the Sinu and Verde Rivers inthe Alto Sinu region, those killed were Ale-jandro Domico Jumi, Argemiro Domico,Euclides Domico and Abelardo Bailarin. Inaddition, ten indigenous people were kid-napped, including Eugenio Domico, a formercommunity chief; Solangel Arias Domico,member of the Indigenous Higher Council,and Gabriel Domico, a nurse aid. Theirwhereabouts was still unknown at press time.

The 340 MW Urra I Hydroelectric Project is98 percent completed. The project is ownedby the Electric Corporation of the Caribbean(CORELCA), which serves 1.2 million cus-tomers along Colombia’s Atlantic coast. Lastyear, the US company Houston IndustriesEnergy Inc. and its Venezuelan partner, Electri-cidad de Caracas, bought a 65 percent interestin state-owned CORELCA for US$1.05 billion;the venture expects to turn a profit within ayear, according to a 1998 Luxner News report.

Urra I will flood 7,400 hectares, much of it Embera land and parts of ParamilloNational Park. Dam proponents claim thatthe project will open for agriculture 10,000hectares of the Lorica wetlands downstream(by cutting off water to the wetlands), drainan additional 16,000 hectares, irrigate150,000 hectares of new land and provideflood control.

Affected peoples have not been consultedthroughout the project’s long history. “Wedid not know about the project, we hadnever seen a dam, and we could not imaginewhat it would be like,” said an Emberaleader at their community house in TierraAlta, the closest town to the dam site.

The Embera Reserve and the ParamilloNational Park have been a hotbed of activityby both the leftist guerrilla group Revolution-ary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and ofthe right-wing paramilitary forces of CarlosCastano. The Emberas have seen six of theirpeople killed, have had their houses and

canoes burned, and have been continouslyharrassed since construction of the dam beganin 1993. A few years ago, a professor at theUniversity of Cordoba was murdered after heraised the need for a public hearing about thedam. Although the crime was never solved,many people suspect his death was because ofhis probing into the dam’s impacts.

Urra S.A., which manages the project forCORELCA, has promised economic compen-sation to the indigenous peoples and fishingand farming communities of the area, butthe company has failed to come throughthus far. Although the constitutional courtruled last November in favor of an Emberaclaim, it was not until February 11 that thecompany responded to it by making an offerto the Emberas. The mayor of Tierra Altarefused to comply with the ruling of theSupreme Court. The Court had establishedthat construction of the dam can only pro-ceed with the approval of the Emberas.Death squads have threatened new mas-sacres of Emberas people if the dam projectis stopped.

Communities Keep on FightingIn this region, where the gun is the law andviolence is shockingly commonplace, com-munities downstream of the dam refuse tobe intimidated. “We feel that we are walkingwith our tombstones on our backs,” said arepresentative of the Association of Produc-ers for Community Development of the Lori-ca Wetlands Area (ASPROCIG). “We aredefending our right to life, and Urra is tak-ing our bread away from us,” said a memberof the group.

ASPROCIG was created in 1989 by orga-nizations of fishing people and small farm-ers, and now includes 92 organizations andrepresentatives of the Zenú and EmberaIndigenous peoples. Initially ASPROCIG wasformed to devise community developmentprograms, but when construction of Urra Ibegan, several groups joined in to organizearound the impacts of the dam on theircommunities.

A recent technical document, publishedby Urra S.A., the Ministry of the Environ-ment, the National Institute of Fishing andAquaculture and the Valley of Sinu Corpora-tion, maintains that fishing in the Sinu RiverBasin has increased significantly after theconstruction of the dam. Local communitiesmaintain that these assertions are untrue.

The ASPROCIG communities have joinedtogether to create a technically sound, com-

prehensive proposal for compensation andmitigation of the dam’s impacts, but Colom-bian Environment Minister Juan Mayr Mal-donado has not met with ASPROCIG to dis-cuss their plan, despite invitations to do so.The Ministry of the Environment is incharge of issuing the environmental andoperational license for the dam.

“NGOs have been declared targets of theparamilitaries because we haven’t agreedwith the dam project, but it was imposedupon us,” said a fisherman. “Since the riverwas diverted to construct the dam, the fishstarted to disappear, and that is our source ofwork,” he said. Another fisherman said,“Although we are not experts, we are theones who live here, and depend on theresources of this area.” ■

Page 6 World Rivers Review April 1999

Urra Dam Activists Murdered in Colombia by Monti Aguirre

Latin America

What You Can DoThe Urra-affected people call uponallies around the world to urgentlysend faxes and/or e-mails to Mr. Mayr.Letters should do the following:

■ Express your concern about thekillings, and urge him to exercise hisauthority to push for an investigationof the assassinations. Demand thatthe rights of indigenous peoples, fish-ing communities and peasants berespected.

■ Urge him to meet with ASPROCIGto discuss their mitigation and com-pensation proposal, to seriously con-sider the measures proposed by theaffected people to improve the situa-tion in the region.

Send your letter to:Dr. Juan MayrMinistro del Medio AmbienteCl 37 N0. 8-40.Santafe de Bogota D.C.ColombiaFax. (091) 288-9754e-mail: juan_mayr_m@hotmail.com

* Please send a copy of your letter to: asprocig@colnodo.apc.org;camaemka@col3.telecom.com.co,and onic@colnodo.apc.org

For more information, or to subscribe to a Colombia/dams listserv, write to:Monti Aguirre: monti@irn.org

World Rivers Review April 1999 Page 7

T he proposed Bujagali Fallshydropower project in Ugandahas suffered serious setbacks inrecent months. In January the

Uganda Electricity Board, Uganda’s state-runutility, refused to sign the Power PurchaseAgreement (PPA) proposed by project devel-oper AES, Inc. A month later the UgandaParliament refused to approve the project,based on problems with the PPA. In Febru-ary, the World Bank, which has beenbrought in to review the power agreements,slapped a one-year suspension on the sign-ing of the PPA, according to the UgandaMonitor, Uganda’s leading daily. Then onMarch 16, a local environmental organiza-tion filed an injunction to stop AES fromreaching an agreement with the governmentbefore the project’s environmental impactassessment is approved.

The US-based AES, Inc. – the largest inde-pendent power-producer in the world – pro-poses to build a 290-megawatt hydroelectricplant with a 30-meter-high dam on the NileRiver, 50 miles east of Uganda’s capital cityof Kampala. The project is the first privatepower project in East Africa. According tothe Uganda Monitor, the dam’s US$523 mil-lion price tag is greater than 16 percent ofthe country’s gross domestic product.

The proposed dam would flood a 10-mileswath of the Nile corridor, including theBujagali Falls, a spectacular series of rapidswhich are a popular retreat for tourists andwhitewater rafters. It is also likely to harmwater quality, increase water-borne illnesses,increase water hyacinth infestations andharm fisheries. Almost 200 hectares of pro-ductive agricultural land will be lost to theproject, amounting to an annual loss ofUS$675,000 at current prices, according toproject documents. Potential resettlers havecomplained that their lands have beenundervalued in project appraisals.

The Victoria Nile is already dammed bythe Owens Falls Dam, built in 1954, and theOwens Falls Extension Project, currentlyunder construction. Both are within 10 milesof the proposed dam.

Leaders of the Busoga Kingdom, some ofwhose people would be displaced if the damwere built, have publicly condemned theproject, stating that the Bujagali Falls them-selves are of “great social and cultural signifi-

cance” to their society. Moreover, the Busogaargued that the societal costs of the dam –which would displace hundreds of familiesand affect an additional 6,000 people – faroutweigh its benefits. Many have raised con-cerns about the loss of the thriving eco-tourism industry, a business which brings inas much as $600,000 per year to local towns,mostly from whitewater rafting expeditions.

The project’s most organized oppositionhas been the “Save Bujagali Crusaders,” acoalition of local residents and environmen-talists formed in early 1998 by MartinMusumba, a former district chairman. TheCrusaders have argued that the falls are oneof Uganda’s great national treasures, andthat the dam is unnecessary. Currentdemand for power in Uganda will be metwhen the 200 MW Owens Falls ExtensionProject is completed in the year 2000. TheSave Bujagali Crusaders have been a thorn inthe side of the AES Corporation, constantlyinforming the public of the project’s impactsand stating their case before the Parliament.

Unfair Power AgreementsIn the past few months AES has run acrossincreasingly serious stumbling blocks. OnJanuary 20, the Uganda Electricity Boardrefused to sign the Power Purchase Agree-ment with AES. The UEB was especially con-cerned by a clause that stated it would haveto buy all the potential power produced byAES at a set price, regardless of whether ornot the power was actually produced. Such adeal, while often sought by hydropowercompanies, can be crippling to a developingnation such as Uganda.

On February 18, the Parliament refused toapprove the construction of the dam, citingseveral problems with the controversialPower Purchase Agreement. The PPA statesthat the Uganda government must buy thepower produced by AES if the Uganda Elec-tricity Board fails to do so. Isaac Musumba,the Chairman of the Parliamentary Commit-tee on the National Economy, stated Parlia-ment’s concerns publicly in the Ugandanpress, sparking debate and arousing suspi-cion about the project among citizens.

Parliament’s greatest concern was thehydrological guarantee of the PPA. Thisclause states that the UEB, or alternativelythe Uganda Government, must pay for the

full capacity of the Bujagali Falls Dam, notnecessarily the actual power produced. IfLake Victoria drops significantly and theflow of the Nile decreases, Uganda will stillbe forced to pay for power that is no longerbeing produced. Other major concerns ofMusumba and the Parliament revolvearound the need for external markets tomake the project feasible. According to theParliamentary Committee on the NationalEconomy, 265 of the 290 MW produced bythe Bujagali Falls Dam would have to be soldto neighboring countries to cover the cost ofthe project. Furthermore, the Committeefears that once transmission and distributioncosts are added, the majority of Ugandanswill be unable to afford the power. Morethan 90 percent of Ugandans live in ruralareas with no access to a power grid.

Finally, Parliament raised the crucialpoint that the loss of tourist revenue fromBujagali Falls, as well as the loss of the aes-thetic value of the Falls themselves, has notbeen included in factoring the cost of thepower. With these figures included, buildinga dam at Bujagali Falls would make the effec-tive cost of power even higher.

Although AES says power from the damwill cost under 6 cents per kilowatt hour, theNational Committee on the Economy esti-mates it will cost 10.5 cents/kwh, a figurethat includes transmission costs, distributioncosts, taxes, and foreign exchange risk

Proposed Uganda Dam is Drowning in Difficultiesby Stephen Linaweaver

Africa

This Ugandan kayaker would lose his livelihood tothe dam. Where he is standing would be flooded bythe reservoir.

Phot

o:S.

Lina

wea

ver

continued on page 11

Page 8 World Rivers Review April 1999

IndentureDam-Development Schemes Prove a PA new IRN report, Power Struggle: The Impacts of Hyprovides a comprehensive analysis of the economic, socialof hydropower development in Laos. Based on field visits ain 1998, Power Struggle contains six case studies of hydstages of implementation. Herein is a summary of its scope

A cting on the advice of the WorldBank and Asian DevelopmentBank, Laos has borrowed mil-lions of dollars in the past

decade to develop its hydropower resourcesfor export to Thailand. In spite of the gov-ernment’s hopes that this will fuel nationaldevelopment, there are already signs that thestrategy is not working.

Many people are concerned that thedependence of the Lao people on their riversfor all aspects of their lives – including forfish, fresh water, irrigation and fertilizationof crops, transportation and recreation – ren-ders them highly vulnerable to the very sub-stantial changes to river systems that largedams would bring, and that these costs mayoutweigh any economic benefits.

Plans to dam Lao PDR’s rivers go back asfar as the mid-1950s when foreign engineersenvisaged a grand plan to build a cascade ofseven dams on the mainstream of theMekong River and identified numerous small-er projects on its tributaries. While theseplans never came to fruition, largely due toyears of war and political instability in theregion, they had a profound influence on thedevelopment path prescribed for the countryas it moved out of isolation in the mid-1980s.

The changes to Lao PDR brought on bythe fall of communism created a critical gapin the Lao government that was quicklyfilled by advisors from bilateral westerndonors and the multilateral developmentbanks. Faced with very little experience inthe ways of capitalism, a shortage of educat-ed personnel, and a dwindling level of finan-cial assistance from its allies in the EasternBloc, the Lao government has had littlechoice but to listen to its foreign advisors,primarily the IMF, World Bank, Asian Devel-opment Bank and United Nations Develop-

ment Program, as well as the dam-buildingconsultants and engineers which flocked tothe country in the late 1980s and early ‘90s.These advisors urged Lao PDR to develop itshydropower resources and sell the power toneighboring Thailand, whose power demandwas expected to grow by as much as 12 per-cent per year to 2010.

The quandary was how to raise the mas-sive capital required for large dams, whichinvolve high initial construction costs andlong capital payback periods. The ADB andWorld Bank encouraged the Lao governmentto allow private sector participation in thehydropower sector through a new mecha-nism called Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT).The private sector would build the projectwith its own financing; operate, maintainand manage the facility for up to 30 years;and then transfer ownership to the govern-ment. Thus the private sector would investthe capital and absorb the risks. Enormousaid resources were poured into exploringthese options.

Unfortunately, the risks to the Lao govern-ment were not made clear. In retrospect, pri-vately funded projects which have gone for-ward have invariably involved either baddeals for the Lao government or hidden agen-das on the part of the private developers.

In 1998, International Rivers Network vis-ited six dams at various stages of implemen-tation in Laos, including Nam Theun-Hin-boun, Nam Leuk, Nam Theun 2, Houay Ho,Xe Pian-Xe Namnoi, and Xe Kaman 1. Thesefield studies found very fundamental prob-lems common to all of the projects, includ-ing poor financial viability, inadequate reset-tlement practices, inadequate compensation,uncontrolled logging, problematic environ-mental impact assessments and lack ofappropriate regulation.

Repeating ProblemsWhile the Lao government has invested mil-lions of dollars in encouraging private-sectorinvestment in hydropower development,there are already signs that this strategy is notworking. Out of the five projects built in LaoPDR to date, four involved concessionaryfinancing from a public source, and one wasfinanced entirely from a company’s ownresources. No other private consortium hasmanaged to raise commercial financing, norsuccessfully negotiate a power purchase agree-ment with Thailand. Nor are they likely tountil at least 2006, when Thailand may nego-tiate additional power purchases from Laos.

Those projects that have proceeded arealready running into financial difficulties. Asa result of the economic crisis, revenues forthe first two public/private projects to bebuilt in Laos have been affected due to thelow tariff and the drop in the exchange rate.In 1998, in its first year of operation, Theun-Hinboun lost around $10 million in revenuedue to the devaluation of the Thai baht. The150 MW Houay Ho Hydropower Project wasfunded entirely from Korean conglomerateDaewoo’s balance sheet, and was completedat the end of 1998. The financial viability ofHouay Ho is so poor that Daewoo has beenlooking to sell its stake for the past year buthas had trouble finding a buyer. The 60 MWNam Leuk hydropower project, ownedentirely by the Lao government and due tobe completed in 1999, is expected to incur a$15-20 million cost overrun which willaffect the economic viability of the project.The government may be forced to sell a partof the project to a private power company.

Hydropower is increasingly being used asa pretext to resettle ethnic minorities fromupland areas to lowland areas as part of agovernment resettlement plan. Anticipatory

resettlement is occurring in some proposedinundation zones long before it is certainthat a dam will actually be built. At HouayHo, Xe Pian-Xe Namnoi, and Xe Kaman 1,resettlement is taking place under very poorconditions, causing hardship and sufferingfor the ethnic minority groups who havebeen forced to move. A lack of arable landand fresh water supplies, coupled with anunfamiliarity with wet rice cultivation andseparation from ancestral lands, has resultedin food shortages and increased rates of dis-ease and mortality for those resettled.

Hydropower projects in Lao PDR are pro-ceeding without adequate efforts to docu-ment the livelihoods of people living down-stream and upstream from the dam siteprior to construction. Plans to provide forcompensation for livelihood losses occur-ring as a result of the dam are also insuffi-cient. These impacts have been best docu-mented in the Nam Theun-Hinboun case

study, where villagers in three differentareas reported substantial declines in fishcatches, flooding of vegetable gardens,transportation difficulties and fresh watershortages. As with resettlement costs, pri-vate developers must be held responsible forpaying their fair share of the compensationcosts of a project. It is also important to rec-ognize that compensation will never substi-tute for an unobstructed riverine ecosystem.

Preemptive DegradationHydropower projects’ reservoir areas arebeing logged long before a decision tobuild a dam has actually been made. Roadconstruction has opened up more land forlogging and has led to increased environ-mental degradation. In the case of NamTheun 2, the military-run logging companyhas logged more than one million cubicmeters of timber on the Nakai Plateau toclear the reservoir area even though thedam may never be built. Dam proponentsnow justify building the project on thebasis that the Nakai Plateau is so degradedfrom logging that it is not worth saving. AtXe Kaman 1, all indications are that thedam may never be built, and that the proj-ect is in fact an elaborate logging schemein disguise. In this case, the Lao govern-ment is foregoing lucrative logging rev-enues in anticipation of future proceedsfrom electricity sales that may never berealized. Meanwhile, some of mainlandSoutheast Asia’s last remaining tropicalrainforest, together with an array of rareand endangered species, may be sacrificed.

Dams are also being pushed throughbefore all of the social and environmentalcosts of a project are known and accountedfor, and in many cases the environmentalimpact assessment (EIA) process is beingmanipulated to protect hydro and logginginterests. EIAs in Lao PDR are carried out byhydropower consultancy companies withvested interests in ensuring that projects pro-ceed. EIAs for Theun-Hinboun, Nam Leuk,and Xe Pian-Xe Namnoi were heavily criti-cized for omitting crucial information andignoring or downplaying concerns about thepotential negative impacts of the projects.

Time to Rethink the FutureThe Asian economic crisis, now expected tobe more severe and protracted than originallyanticipated, is having a significant impact on

Thailand’s demands for power. In November1998 it was reported in the Bangkok newspa-per The Nation that the Thai utility EGAT hasdecided to delay power purchases from Laosuntil at least 2006. Lao PDR also faces com-petition from other neighbors, most particu-larly Yunnan Province of China and Burma.

The economic uncertainty of proposedhydropower development, coupled with thesignificant impacts that such schemes arehaving on the economy, environment andpeople of Lao PDR, point to the need for afundamental rethinking of the government’seconomic development strategy. There isclearly a need for a reassessment of the bestuse of the scarce financial and humanresources of the country, including the bene-fits from possible investments in areas suchas tourism, agriculture and non-timber forestproducts as alternatives to hydropower. Thefact that such an assessment has never beendone points to the one-sided advice of thedevelopment agencies.

Far-reaching reforms are needed in orderto ensure that future hydropower develop-ment in the Lao PDR is in the best interestsof the country as a whole. Initiating such aprocess of reform will require substantialpolitical will on the part of Lao decision-makers and the inclusion of people withinthe country who until now have beenunable to participate in the hydropowerdebate. In the meantime, it is irresponsibleof the Asian Development Bank, the WorldBank, and other donors to be pushing aheadwith the funding of individual hydropowerprojects as “aid” in the Lao PDR.

Rather than being an obstacle, the slow-down in the development of hydropower inLao PDR, brought about by the Asian eco-nomic crisis, should be seen as an opportu-nity for the Lao government and the donorcommunity to reconsider the problems withthe current path of hydropower develop-ment and to initiate changes. Addressing theabove problems through a process of funda-mental reform will be needed to ensure amore sustainable and just path to futuredevelopment for the people of Lao PDR. ■

Power Struggle is available for $15 plus shipping from IRN. To order a copy of the fullreport in English or Lao, please contact IRN: Email: irn@irn.org,Tel: 510.848.1155, Fax: 510.848.1008. The report can also beordered on our secure web site: www.irn.org.

d Riversor Trade-off for Laoso-Development in Laos,d environmental impacts interviews conducted ower projects at various

nd findings.

These villagers were resettled for Houay Hay Dam.

World Rivers Review April 1999 Page 9

Page 10 World Rivers Review April 1999

Alternatives

“D riven by a rising globalstandard of living andincreasing food production,water demand is increasing

at twice the population growth rate,” saysHans van Ginkel, Director of the UnitedNations University. And Klaus Toepfer, theexecutive director of the United NationsEnvironment Programme, recently statedthat a future war over water is a likely possi-bility. These two are just the latest in a grow-ing chorus of researchers, scientists and poli-cymakers who warn that water demand isgrowing at an unsustainable pace.

Finding solutions to avoid such conflictswill require a new mind-set for many gov-ernments and water planners, as makingeach drop of water go as far as possiblebecomes the most critical effort, replacingthe age-old water manager’s quest to findenough new supply to meet all demands.Water managers around the world arealready beginning to change, and good ideasfrom all corners of the globe are beginningto see wider practice.

A new book of water-conservation successstories from California offers some universal-ly useful ideas. California is something of amicrocosm of the world’s coming waterwoes. It has been home to water fights thathave inspired movies and novels, so richwere they in intrigue. It has seen the some-times underhanded creation of a “waterempire” to support a city in a desert – LosAngeles. The state’s water managers havecome up with big water-transfer schemes socontroversial that they made water manage-ment a topic of dinner conversation aroundthe state. More recently, California has seenits growing demand come under fire, andsome of its sources of water begin to dry upor be cut off as belated efforts to protect theenvironment are adopted.

Water has been a perennial source of fric-tion between various groups of Californians– between farmers and environmentalists,industrialists and urban dwellers, water man-agers and resource agencies. The recrimina-tions and distrust this has engendered hasseriously interfered with initiatives to devel-op long-term solutions to some of the state’smost pressing water issues.

Sustainable Use of Water – California Suc-cess Stories (Pacific Institute, 1999) describessome of the lessons learned in the GoldenState as it has begun to take the difficultsteps toward more sustainable water prac-tices. Most of these success stories hinge on

collaborative efforts involving a wide rangeof interested stakeholders, such as watermanagers and users, policymakers and mem-bers of the general public at the local level.The report is the culmination of a two-yearstudy of water practices in the state, anddetails 40 “success stories” that could beinstructive for other dry parts of the world.Five themes which emerged from the casestudies are summarized below.

Cooperative partnerships are critical.Groups often at loggerheads – includingenvironmentalists, farmers and water agen-cies – have been able to find commonground on water issues when they cometogether with the intent of solving difficultwater problems together. The collaborationbetween the Mono Lake Committee, a groupformed to protect and restore the MonoBasin ecosystem in eastern California, andthe Los Angeles Department of Water andPower (LADWP) exemplifies this.

After a successful lawsuit by the MonoLake Committee substantially reduced theamount of water that LADWP was permittedto divert from the Mono Lake tributary, theMono Lake Committee worked with LADWPto secure “replacement water” that wouldnot threaten the viability of other ecosys-tems in the state. The Mono Lake Commit-tee successfully secured state and federalfunding that LADWP supplemented withsome of its own resources to develop a seriesof water recycling and conservation projectsthat ultimately will replace all of the waterLADWP used to divert from Mono Lake,more than 88,000 acre feet per year (enoughto support 176,000 typical households inthe region).

Perhaps the biggest lesson to learn fromthis case study is that litigation, even whennecessary, may not be sufficient. The MonoLake Committee could have simply declared“victory” and not sought to work withLADWP to find replacement water sourcesthat wouldn’t threaten the environment. Byencouraging conservation initiatives, theCommittee ensured that impacts were notre-directed to other sensitive ecosystems –and that it would not have to fight the samebattle with LADWP in the future.

Existing technologies have enormous untapped potential.There are numerous projects in the statewhich demonstrate that large savings inwater consumption can be accomplished

without costly investments in new tech-nologies or infrastructure. For example, theNaval Aviation Depot in San Diego createda Zero-Discharge Team that looked for waysto minimize water waste in all aspects of itsoperations. Through simple fixes in equip-ment and changes in processes, it reducedwater use by over 90 percent between 1987and 1997, resulting in savings of more thana million dollars annually. The efforts ofthe Navy in San Diego, as well as manyother initiatives outlined in the report,demonstrate how programs that get morefrom present water systems may eliminatethe need for large dams and other largeinfrastructure projects.

Economic innovation leads to cost-effective changes.The recent movement to measure the eco-nomic costs and benefits of water-policydecisions is encouraging technological inno-vation and helping to change water use pat-terns. For example, the city of San Joseimplemented discounted rates to encouragethe use of recycled water. Using recycledwater can greatly reduce pressures on agen-cies to develop expensive new supplies. TheIrvine Ranch Water District’s replacement ofits flat-rate-per-unit charge for water with anascending-block-rate structure has encour-aged more efficient use of water, as has aninnovative rate program in Marin County innorthern California. Water managers andpolicy makers throughout the world need toexplore the role that economic incentivescan play in fostering water use efficiency andencouraging water recycling. This approachrequires a concerted commitment to educateusers about the benefits of such programs, aswell as protections to ensure that the poorare not penalized.

Regulatory incentives and motivations are effective tools.While there is now a tendency in some cir-cles to demonize government regulations,the reality in water is that federal,state/provincial and local regulatory over-sight, management and standards are someof the most effective tools for achieving sus-tainable water policy objectives. For example,farmers in the Sacramento and San JoaquinValleys, as well as urban water agencies inSouthern California, recognized that listingthe depleted spring-run Chinook salmonunder the Endangered Species Act might

Water Conservation: Success Stories from Californiaby William C.G. Burns

continued opposite

In 1997, as a result of demonstrations inBangkok coordinated by the Thai non-governmental organization Assembly of thePoor, the former government agreed to pro-vide 15 rai of land per family in compensa-tion for lost fisheries income. However, thenew government, which came to power in1998, has renounced all compensation com-mitments of the former government, andthe communities are back to square one.

The World Bank has consistently refusedto take any responsibility for the project’sproblems, despite the fact that the Bank wasrepeatedly warned by local communities andNGOs prior to approval that the impactswould be severe. A June 1998 World BankOperations Evaluations Department (OED)report, “Recent Experience with InvoluntaryResettlement,” goes so far as to claim thatPak Mun was “among the best experienceswith resettlement among Bank-assisted proj-ects.” The OED states that resettlement offamilies at Pak Mun was “highly satisfacto-ry,” that families received “exceedingly gen-erous compensation,” and that “there is noconclusive evidence of any impact … on thefish population.”

A March 15 letter from 27 Thai groups tothe World Bank states that the dam“destroyed the Mun River, fisheries, and theway of life of people at Pak Mun … TheWorld Bank is responsible for the destruc-tion, cares only about itself and not aboutpeople, and that the Pak Mun dam is devel-opment only for the World Bank.”

Villagers are demanding that the WorldBank take responsibility for its past mistakes.They say they are prepared to fight untiltheir rights to just compensation are recog-nized, or until the dam is taken down. ■

lenge the court decision. “The people's move-ment in the Narmada valley has reached tothe critical stage, the outcome of which willbe decisive for millions of people fightingagainst displacement, unjust and unsustain-able policies and projects in the name ofdevelopment,” said an NBA action alert.

The dam wall had remained at 63 meters(207 ft.) above the river bed for the past fouryears. No water can be diverted from thereservoir into the project’s main canal untilthe dam reaches the height of 97m. Thestate of Madhya Pradesh has urged that con-struction halt a couple of meters above thisheight. Gujarat, however, is determined tocomplete the dam to a height of 122m.Reducing the final height of the dam bysome meters would spare much of the dense-ly populated and highly fertile agriculturalplain at the top end of the proposed reser-voir in Madhya Pradesh, but would still sub-merge a large amount of adivasi land in therugged hill areas nearer the dam.

If the Sardar Sarovar Project is completedas the Gujarat government intends, aroundone million people would be directly nega-tively affected. Over 200,000 people wouldlose land to the reservoir. Many more wouldbe affected by other aspects of the project,including its canals, the town built for theconstruction workers, the reduced flow ofwater downstream, afforestation projects toslow reservoir sedimentation, and a wildlifesanctuary created as mitigation for submergedforest. No detailed resettlement and rehabili-tation master plan has yet been produced.

Opponents of Sardar Sarovar say that theproject will cost far more and produce farfewer benefits than claimed by dam support-ers, and that more equitable, less destructiveand cheaper alternatives exist. ■

(because the power is sold to Uganda in dol-lars, and is sold to Ugandans in shillings).

Although all parties involved say theywill re-assess the Power Purchase Agree-ments, AES faces yet another hurdle. Theproject’s environmental impact statement(EIS), released in February 1999, still must beapproved by Uganda’s National Environmen-tal Management Authority (NEMA).

In mid-March, the locally based NationalAssociation of Professional Environmental-ists went to court to postpone negotiationson the project’s power purchase agreementuntil NEMA has acted. According to theUgandan newspaper New Vision, the grouphas requested a temporary injunctionagainst AES from executing an agreementuntil NEMA has approved the EIS. Thegroup’s lawyers said the approval of the proj-ect by Parliament before the approval byNEMA is illegal. The lawyers argued thatmembers of the public need to knowwhether AES has addressed all environmen-tal issues before the government commitsitself to buy the project’s electricity.

Meanwhile, a February 11 article in theLondon-based Financial Times reports thatthe project’s future is even “further cloudedby another project” which is more economi-cal, more flexible and with fewer environ-mental impacts. The Norwegian-proposedKaruma Falls hydro facility would use under-ground sluices rather than a dam, and wouldproduce 200 megawatts at less than 5.5 centsper kilowatt/hour. The Uganda Parliamentwas recently presented with a full projectproposal, according to a March 18 article inNew Vision. The project development teamtold the newspaper their sources of financingwere only waiting for a go-ahead from theUganda government. ■

Pak Mun continued from 5Narmada continued from 3 Bujagali continued from 7

World Rivers Review April 1999 Page 11

have severe repercussions for their opera-tions. Thus, they worked closely with stateand local agencies to remove dams and to create a siphon that substantiallyimproved conditions for salmon without seri-ously disrupting water supplies. In this andmany other cases, regulatory frameworks pro-vide the impetus for innovative solutionsthat eliminate the need for more intrusivegovernmental measures in the future.

The value of information is high.Several of the case studies in the reportdemonstrate that collection and dissemina-tion of proper data and information canspur successful changes in water manage-ment and use. For example, a program devel-

oped by the University of California and theCalifornia Department of Water Resources toprovide weather information to farmers ishelping many of them to irrigate in a moreaccurate manner which is highly efficient.The California Irrigation Management Infor-mation System has helped participatinggrowers reduce applied water use by an aver-age of 13 percent while increasing yields by8 percent. Again, the emphasis is on“smarter” use of existing sources of waterrather than development of new supply.

The Pacific Institute does not harbor anyillusions that all of the conflicts betweenstakeholders in California, or any other partof the world, will disappear through theadoption of the kind of initiatives described

in its report. However, the stories itrecounts demonstrate that a commitmentto cooperation by stakeholders and anemphasis on fostering efficiencies play anintegral role in the quest for water solutionsthat meet society’s needs while also protect-ing ecosystems. ■

The author is the director of communications forthe Pacific Institute for Studies in Development,Environment, and Security in Oakland, Califor-nia. The Executive Summary of the above reportmay be found at www.pacinst.org. The fullreport may be ordered from the Institute for$20.00 per copy, shipping included. Contact Lorelei Muenster, 510.251.1600;pistaff@pacinst.org.

Water Conservation continued

Page 12 World Rivers Review April 1999

SHORTSRebels in the Congo Republic tookover the 74-megawatt MoukoukoulouDam in December and have beendepriving the country’s business capi-tal Pointe-Noire of much of its power.Reuters reported that the besiegedcity is also facing a shortage of basicfoods and drinking water caused byinsecurity in farming areas where themilitia is active.The power cuts haveclosed many small businesses. Lastyear, rebel forces seized the muchlarger Inga Dam and disrupted powerto the capital city for two weeks.

Government officials are struggling tocontain a massive acid leak at a pro-tected marshland site in northeastEngland. Officials describe the leak,which went undetected for nearly twomonths, as one of the worst incidentsthey have seen, according to the Envi-ronment News Service.The leakingacid has affected half of the 70,000-square-meter Greenabella Marsh,which attracts many species of birdsand was recently designated a “site ofspecial scientific interest.” The remainsof invertebrates killed as hydrochloricacid poured into the marsh are stillfloating to the surface.The company,which manufactures titanium dioxidefor industrial use, has been flushingthe affected areas with sea water.Friends of the Earth-UK is demandingthat the company be prosecuted.

Singapore’s first wind turbine wasrecently installed by a team of engi-neering students from Singapore Poly-technic.The one-kilowatt turbine, com-bined with existing solar panels, willlight a five-story building at the school.“Imagine wind turbines on the rooftopsof high buildings … to generate energyfor up to 10 percent of Singapore’sneeds,” a press release stated.The 10-meter-tall turbine can generate powerat speeds as low as 13 miles per hour.

Three large dams in South Africa’sNorthern Province overflowed inearly February due to heavy rainfall,according to Sapa news service. Mud-slides and floods in the Ga-Sekorororegion killed at least six people andinjured four others. Eleven homeswere destroyed and rescue operationswere mounted throughout the week.The dams affected were the Tzaneen,Ebenezer and Magoebaskloof Dams.

R I V E R P R O T E C T O R S CHILE: Mapu Domuche Newen (Womenwith the Strength of the Earth), a group ofeight Pehuenche women at the center of theresistance to construct Ralco Dam on the Bio-bio River, organized a non-violent sit-in toprotest illegal construction works at the damsite in January. “We are not willing to aban-don our lands for all the gold of the world;we demand respect for our legitimate right tolive on our lands,” said a representative fromthe group. According to the nation’s Indige-nous Law, construction can only proceed ifall land exchanges are approved. There arestill ten Pehuenche families who refuse tonegotiate with project authorities Endesa.The reservoir will flood 3,200 hectares, 638 ofwhich are indigenous lands.

After the group paralyzed constructionworks, a special police force arrived, threwtear gas, and evacuated people by force. Thepolice used a helicopter and vans from Boschand Besalco, two project contractors. 28 peo-ple were detained, among them 10 Mapuche,including Nicolasa Quintraman, whoreceived the 1999 EcoNobel Swedish prize.All but two foreigners were later released.Patricia Ballesteros from Spain and Lee Popefrom the United States faced deportation forintervening in the affairs of the nation.Recently, the Supreme Court reversed theorder of deportation. Meanwhile, asphaltingof the road continues, which will facilitatethe construction of the dam. Besalco, theconstruction company in charge of civilworks for the project, says it expects to finishconstruction in June. Construction of apower line is also underway.

US: The Santa Clara River, one of the lastfree-flowing rivers in Los Angeles County, iscurrently threatened by a massive 21,000-unit housing and commercial developmentproject proposed by Newhall Land andFarming, California’s third-largest landown-er. The 12,000-acre Newhall Ranch Projectwould destroy habitat for many species ofrare birds, plants and animals, such as theendangered Least Bell’s vireo and the unar-

mored three-spined stickleback. Althoughsupervisors approved the project in March,groups like the Santa Clarita Organizationfor Planning the Environment are going tocourt to try to reverse the decision.

Environmentalists are concerned thatwildlife and water quality will be negativelyimpacted by the project, which will put vir-tually all of the river’s tributaries into con-crete-lined culverts and may also lead toincreased groundwater extraction. Environ-mental groups have called for an environ-mental impact statement so that these prob-lems can be more accurately investigated.“In Southern California, three-quarters ofour threatened and endangered speciesdepend on creeks and rivers,” says BrianTroutwein of the Urban Creeks Council.“This project represents the single largestthreat to this area’s remaining waterways. Itshould not go through.”

The process for approving the project hasbeen riddled with corruption. Preliminaryapproval was given although no water supplyhas been identified for the development anddespite concerns that the area was zoned foronly 10 percent of the units proposed.According to one project opponent, “As youlook at the campaign [finance] statements ofthe [Los Angeles] county supervisors, about75 percent of all campaign contributionscome from developers or development-relat-ed interests.”

F I S H S T O R I E SUS: For 80 years, water flow in western Michi-gan’s Manistee River fluctuated dramaticallyeach day – ranging from 10-year floods todrought conditions. The variation was causedby a hydropower dam operating practiceknown as peak flow management, which per-mits the periodic release of large amounts ofwater. Such flows can cause aquatic creaturesto alternately become stranded or sweptdownstream, negatively impacting the fishthat rely on them for food. On the Manistee,a major Lake Michigan tributary, relief camein 1989. Peak flow management was aban-doned. Water was allowed to flow naturally

World Rivers Review April 1999 Page 13

through the Tippy and Hodenpyl dams as aresult of terms specified in new hydropowerlicenses. Today, a decade later researchers atthe University of Michigan and MichiganState University have found that survival ofyoung Chinook salmon in the Manistee hasincreased since the late 1980s in response to astable water flow.

“Natural reproduction is incredible now,”says University of Michigan fisheries biolo-gist Ed Rutherford. “It’s gone from virtuallynothing to approximately 700,000 smoltsannually.” But researchers found thatalthough steelhead reproduction has alsoincreased, these fish had a lower survival ratethan young chinook. Rutherford suspectswarm water temperatures may be the reason.Steelhead spawn and rear in the tailwater ofdams, he explains, where summer watertemperatures may be too warm. Environmental News Service

US: The Washington-based Avista Corp.agreed in January to pay the Nez Perce tribe$39.2 million over the next 45 years to settlehistoric claims made for damage to fish runson the Clearwater River, reports the Wash-ington-based Spokesman-Review. The originallawsuit was filed in the US District Court forIdaho and alleged that the now-removeddams at Grangeville and Lewiston, whichwere bought by Avista in 1937, depleted fishstocks on the river’s main and south forks.Earlier this year, the Nez Perce Tribe formallyendorsed the idea of breaching four dams onthe Snake River as a way to save endangeredruns of salmon and steelhead which thetribe has relied on for generations. Tribalofficials have stated that breaching the damsis the best hope for the fish, which oncereturned from the Pacific by the millionseach year. Last year, about 10,000 steelheadand chinook salmon returned to the Snake,along with two sockeye.

M I N I N GINDONESIA: People living in South Sumatrahave suffered serious health and livelihoodimpacts from a December 1998 toxic spill ata commercial gold mine, according to theIndonesian nongovernmental organizationWALHI. Pollution from the mine has causedproblems for over 15,000 local farmers andtheir families in seven villages along theriver. Farmers can no longer traditionallypan for gold since people have contractedskin irritations and sores from immersion inthe contaminated water.

Since 1996, PT Barisan Tropical Mining,the company which operates the mine, hasbeen exploring for gold and silver over a 46-

square-mile area close to Kerinci Seblatnational park and ancestral lands of theKubu indigenous people. Many farmers havelost jobs since land for the mine was pur-chased; others were forced by army intimida-tion to sell their land to the company. Min-ing operations have led to decreased produc-tion on remaining plantations and have alsocaused river bank erosion.

KURIL: The livelihoods of over 5,000 peopleliving on Kunishir Island in the RussianKuril archipelago are now threatened by ille-gal mining development, according to theCalifornia-based NGO Project Underground.The Russian mining company Kuril’skoyehas begun the first stages of mining withinthe Kuril’skiy nature reserve in the valley ofthe Severyanka, one of the island’s largestsalmon spawning rivers. The first stages ofdevelopment have already impacted twotributaries of the Severyanka and will resultin the destruction of protected forests andsalmon breeding areas.

The company is currently planning ondynamiting a 72-meter-wide hole at themouth of the Udachny (or “Lucky”) River onthe shores of the Okhotsk Sea in order toprocess the gold ore with sodium cyanide.Experts from the Institute of InorganicChemistry at the Russian Academy of Sci-ences in Novosibirsk say that this processmay result in cyanide eventually being trans-ferred into the food chain together withheavy metals like antimony, arsenic andselenium. The Kunashir Bay is currently animportant migratory route and breedingground for all six Pacific salmon species, pol-lock, Pacific flounder, northern fur seal, andSteller’s sea lion.

“The decision to approve this mine wasnot objective, and deliberately decreased thevalue of the unique island ecosystems pro-tected in this area,” says E.M. Grigoriev,Director of the Kuril’skyi nature reserve.Grigoriev claims that Kuril’skoye began min-ing operations before obtaining the requiredpermission from the reserve and failed to gothrough an adequate environmental impactstatement required for any kind of land usewithin the buffer zone. “The governmentdid not present the real picture of the envi-ronmental consequences associated with thismining activity,” said Grigoriev.

BRAZIL: Maszumi Harada, a scientist fromKumamoto University in Japan, says thatfishing communities along the Tapajos Riverin the Amazon are suffering from a debilitat-ing disease of the nervous system caused bymercury poisoning. The illness, caused by atoxic form of mercury called methyl mer-

cury, has been detected in at least 50 peoplein 10 villages and includes symptoms suchas involuntary trembling, partial blindness,loss of muscle strength and deformities innew-born children. This is the first timeMinamata disease has been diagnosed out-side of Japan, according to New Scientist mag-azine. The disease was first identified in the1950s, after more than 1,500 people livingin or near Minimata, Japan suffered damageto their nervous systems from eating mer-cury-contaminated fish. Methyl mercuryattacks the cerebellum, which coordinatesvoluntary movements, and destroys the per-sonality, says Hiroshi Takahasi, a Japaneseepidemiologist. Experts speculate that themercury may originate from some 250 tonsof mercury used annually by small-scale goldminers or from the leaching of natural mer-cury from soils due to deforestation. Taka-hasi warned that cleaning up the mercurycould be nearly impossible.

US: In February, chemical giant DuPont Co.bowed to environmental pressure and agreedto halt plans to mine titanium along theedge of the Okefenokee Swamp, one of theworld’s largest freshwater wetlands. Theagreement would end efforts by US-basedDuPont to mine 39,000 acres on the refuge’seastern boundary in southeast Georgia.

Criticism from environmentalists forcedDuPont to stop construction of the stripmine in 1997 pending further study. Underthe agreement, about 10,000 acres of theproposed mining area would be added to the396,000-acre refuge and mining would beprohibited on another 29,000 acres ownedby DuPont and another landowner. The pactis contingent on efforts to raise an undeter-mined amount of money to purchase land,retire mineral rights and compensateDuPont, two timber companies and localgovernments for loss of revenue.

Jim Waltman of The Wilderness Societytold Reuters that mining next to the Oke-fenokee “would have been like drilling foroil under the Statue of Liberty.” Environ-mentalists criticized plans to dredge 50-foot-deep, 3-mile-wide pits along a 30-mile ridgethat serves as a natural dam. DuPontplanned to obtain titanium for white pig-ments used in products ranging from officepaper to powdered doughnuts.

The Okefenokee, described by NativeAmericans as “the land that trembles whenyou walk,” is one of the last strongholds ofthe Florida black bear and has one of thelargest alligator populations in the country.The unique wetland is home to more than a thousand species of plants, birds andaquatic life. ■

Three Gorges continued from page 1

Page 14 World Rivers Review April 1999

are too few to make a dent. “Since 1995,Yunyang county has basically been unable torelocate any more people into factories,” thearticle says. Instead, many displaced towns-people have been given a “living allowance”of $8.50 a month, which is “unable to satisfythe elementary living needs.”

The article warns that the plight of theseuprooted people “may become an explosivesocial problem, and the dam region willbecome a hotbed of sustained upheaval.”

In addition to the journal article, indica-tions that all is not well at the project werereported in two articles in the February 24issue of People’s Daily. This is especially signifi-cant since the People’s Daily is known as “thetongue of the Party” and had never beforecriticized the project. An internal US StateDepartment memo says the recent articles“depart sharply in tone from the 134 otherThree Gorges articles which have appeared inthe newspaper since August 1998.”

Petitions from ResettlersThe critical articles come on the heels of anunprecedented show of resistance by affect-ed people who have received poor treatmentin the resettlement program. Last year,10,000 resettlers affected by the ThreeGorges Dam filed petitions with the Chinesecentral government, detailing extensiveproblems with the project’s resettlement pro-gram. The petitions reveal not only rampantcorruption, extortion, falsification of dataand inadequate compensation, but also theunwillingness of government project man-agers to address the situation.

The petitions urge the central govern-ment to intervene, or face serious conse-quences: “In the future, when desperate relo-catees rush to government compounds beg-ging the government for food, what then?Once conflict breaks out it will be too latefor the central government to send downofficials to handle the matter.”

In an act of desperation borne of havinglimited land available for resettlers, the gov-ernment has offered bonuses to resettlers whowill move to undesirable areas such as InnerMongolia. A February 14 South China MorningPost article said the response to such schemesis “defiant and angry.” One villager said, “Noone wants to go. You have to leave everythingbehind. It is too far away and too cold.”

So far, the government claims 160,000people have been resettled, but sourcesinside China say the figure is less than halfthat. It is the largest dam under constructionin the world today, and the scale of theresettlement situation seems destined toinvolve extensive human rights abuses.

Rampant CorruptionThe petitions describe how project officialshave been extorting illegal fees from resettlersand accepting bribes from people outside theinundation area so that they could be regis-tered as relocatees entitled to compensation.According to the Strategy and Management arti-cle, towns also commonly added fake namesto their resettlement list to get more funds,creating “a piggy bank from which power-holders can extract private gain.”

“You can see where the money is going.Officials not able to draw their wages a fewyears ago are now living high on the hog,driving fast cars and smoking expensive ciga-rettes,” said one inspector, a retired professorbased in Fengdu, one of the cities to be sub-merged. “Corruption is now the greatestproblem. We receive letters from peopleprotesting all the time.”

According to China’s Economic Daily, the National Audit Office found that localofficials on the project had already embez-zled US$28 million. The auditors discoveredinflated claims and kickbacks from construc-tion companies, which have subsequentlybuilt defective bridges, roads and buildings.

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who formal-ly took charge of the project last year, autho-rized the hiring of 200 extra inspectors tomount a crackdown on the corruption, aswell as on shoddy construction standards onthe dam and associated building projects.

Shoddy building practices on the projecthave caught the attention of the country’s topleaders. In his first visit to the dam site in lateDecember, Premier Zhu warned Three Gorgesconstruction workers to do only top-qualitywork on the project. “The responsibility onyour shoulders is heavier than a mountain,”he said. “Any carelessness or negligence willbring disaster to our future generations, andcause irretrievable losses.” Zhu warned that“slight neglect” or “loose screws” could cause“endless troubles for future generations.”

Funding WoesOn top of everything else, costs have spiralledout of control and the project is desperatelyshort of funds. Yuan Guollin, vice generalmanager of the Three Gorges DevelopmentCompany, recently told People’s Daily he“wants the people to watch the Three Gorgesproject closely, since every day R30 million(US$3.7 million) is spent on the project.”

On March 16, the official New ChinaNews Agency quoted officials overseeing thedam project as saying it faces a $3 billionshortfall of the $9.7 billion needed for thesecond phase of construction, which isplanned to be completed in 2003. A specialtax has been added to electricity bills to payfor the project. In addition, Chinese state-owned companies are being forced to buyconstruction bonds, and state-owned banksare being pressured to issue loans to pay forit, a Chinese source told the Washington Post.It said officials also hope to raise $600 mil-lion through stock offerings.

Lu Youmei, general manager of the ThreeGorges project, said officials also are consid-ering a plan to obtain capital from Westernsources – perhaps by listing part of the ThreeGorges operation on an Asian or Westernstock exchange. “We still need to buy a lotof machinery from outside China so we willneed a large amount of foreign exchange,”Lu said. “We are still exploring our options.”

Some Western analysts believe China willcome up empty handed because the projectis so controversial and has no obvious sourceof revenue. Already one private institution,BankAmerica Securities, has adopted a policyto not support the Three Gorges Dam direct-ly. Western economists said that Chinaappears to have funneled $300 million raisedin a bond offering in December into theproject; that offering was registered in HongKong and Luxembourg, where there are nostrict reporting requirements about howmoney raised will be used.

At press time, a battle was looming toprevent Morgan Stanley Dean Witter(MSDW), a global financial services firm,from investing in the project. MSDW is a 35percent shareholder in China InternationalCapital Corporation, which had been work-ing with the Three Gorges Project Develop-ment Corporation on plans for a share list-ing on the Hong Kong and New York stockexchanges. The corporation is the state-owned company building the dam.

Franklin Research and Development Cor-poration, a socially responsible investmentfirm which manages client shares of MSDW,filed a shareholder resolution calling on the

China

continued opposite

What IRN Is DoingIRN led the effort to publicize the vil-lagers' petitions, which helped focusinternational attention on the proj-ect's resettlement problems. IRN isalso spearheading the effort to haltthe flow of US and European financ-ing for the project. Finally, IRN isincreasing the size of the internationalcoalition to stop future financing ofthe project. For more information,please write us: threegorges@irn.org

World Rivers Review April 1999 Page 15

Pakistani Dam Workers BadlyMisused by Italian Company by Francesco Martone

O n a project the World Bankhopes to hold up as a model onsocial issues, labor relations havedeteriorated to the point of

becoming a human rights issue.In February, the International Confedera-

tion of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) wroteWorld Bank President James Wolfensohnurging him to help remedy the plight of Pak-istani workers on the Bank-funded GhaziBarotha Dam project. The letter caps a seriesof activities by Italian and Pakistani unionsto support the rights of local workers on themassive project, which is headed up by theItalian company Impregilo.

In 1996 and 1997 Impregilo signed a seriesof agreements with workers’ unions whichdefined their wage rights and other workingconditions. The company has yet to fulfill itspromises on wages, using the justificationthat it was experiencing financial problemsbecause the Pakistani dam authority WAPDA,which was to finance the project, was inarrears for US$110 million. Currently Pak-istani workers working in Ghazi Barotha arepaid around $110 a month, while technicalexperts are paid around $220. As of now thecompany states that some increase in salarieswas selectively given, but labor activists saythese increases were negotiated only with“puppet” trade unions, which according tointernational labor rules cannot be consideredas legitimate representatives of the workers.

Labor rights on the project have been reg-ularly squashed. In August 1997, the Pak-istani police attacked a demonstration by theGhazi Barotha unions in Islamabad toprotest Impregilo’s anti-union activities.Police arrested 200 protesters. Two monthslater, the company fired 600 workers whohad been part of an effort calling for ade-quate salaries. In mid-1998, the GhaziBarotha Awami Labour Union presentedImpregilo with a set of demands, followingthe promises made in 1997 by the companyfor a re-negotiation for better terms. Thiswas met with serious intimidation and

harassment of workers and union leaders,with the support of local police.

The police have been called many timesto intimidate workers: according to a letterfrom the Pakistani labor organization APFOL(All Pakistan Federation of Labour) to theICFTU dated October, 23, 1998, 5,000 work-ers were at that moment locked out, some ofthem thrown out of medical facilities in thecamp. Some 800 workers in another con-struction camp were held captive and manywere prevented access to the mess, so thatthey could not eat or drink.

Union leaders have suffered much policeintimidation and arrests. The offices of theunions in Ghazi were shut down the samedays, and 50 union workers fired. These fir-ings added to another 850 workers laid offthat month. A few days later the companyoffered some their jobs back, but the firedworkers demanded that union leaders bereleased and all workers be reinstated. InNovember the National Industrial RelationsCommission ordered Impregilo to reinstateall workers, and the police to leave the campand reopen the union’s offices.

The union leader came before the laborcommission a few days later, and was promisedthat no arrests or police harassment wouldoccur. But shortly thereafter, Impregilo request-ed the authorities to implement the EssentialServices Act, a law dating back to British colo-nial times which suspends for all union rights,forbids strikes and restricts or bans collectivebargaining for services and activities that aredeclared to be of public interest.

The October letter from APFOL said: “Asa result of this law, workers of Ghazi Barothaproject their service has been reduced to thatof slaves and forced laborers.” The act alsoviolates the right of collective bargainingand strike.

In the meantime, Italian unions continuetheir campaign in support of their Pakistaniunion brothers. The international bureau ofone of the major Italian unions, CISL,entered in negotiation with Impregilo calling

for an immediate solution and to provide anadequate salary to workers. Construction-worker unions of Lombardy, where Impregi-lo’s headquarters are located, are raisingfunds to support the arrested unionists andtheir families. According to an article in Pak-istani newspaper The News, the latest devel-opment is that in January, Pakistan’s Nation-al Industrial Relations Commission declaredthe Ghazi Barotha union illegal, in responseto a petition from the construction compa-nies. Consequently, the company refused tomeet with local unions.

The responsibilities of project authoritiesWAPDA and of the Pakistani government inthe anti-labor behavior were made clear inthe international union’s letter to Wolfen-sohn. The letter notes that the Pakistani gov-ernment implemented privatization andderegulation policies for national public util-ities at the urging of the World Bank. OnDecember 22, 1998, the letter states, “thegovernment issued a Presidential Ordinancethat removed trade union rights of the130,000 workers at WAPDA for two years.”WAPDA was brought under the control ofthe military, with “30,000-35,000 juniorarmy officers and around 250 officers draftedin.” At the time, the union was campaigningagainst privatization.

The violations of workers’ rights add tothe already worrying situation of compensa-tion for dam-affected communities. Projectauthorities said they would guarantee theinvolvement of local communities in reset-tlement programs, land compensation andin mitigating the socio-environmentalimpacts of the project. Around 20,000 peo-ple are likely to lose some land. As of May1998, WAPDA had been able to purchaseonly half the land it needs for displaced fam-ilies. Local communities also have sufferedthe impacts of construction activities. ■

The author is the Coordinator for the Reform theWorld Bank Campaign in Italy.

company to review the transaction’s impacton the environment and human rights inChina. A five percent vote for the resolutionis required for MSDW to consider it.

The MSDW Board of Directors officiallyopposes this resolution because it says that it

would “limit its flexibility” and “interferewith its business.” The proposal, however,only asks the company to more carefullyconsider the risks of its transactions.

The ultimate cost of the Three GorgesDam – the most critical figure needed to

assess its economic viability – remains amajor unknown. The original cost estimate($8 billion in 1992) were doubled withinone year. Official estimates are now as highas $30 billion, and unofficial estimates aremuch higher. ■

Three Gorges continued from page 14

International Rivers Network1847 Berkeley WayBerkeley, CA 94703U.S.A.

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PAIDBerkeley,CA 94703

Permit No.126

B razil’s new environment minis-ter, José Sarney Filho, suspendedso-called maintenance dredgingon the upper stretches of the

Paraguay River in February. The dredginghad been taking place at four points justbelow Cáceres, Mato Grosso as part of the“Paraguay-Paraná Hidrovia,” which is achannelization project that is intended toopen the river channel to huge barge trains.

The action was taken after environmen-talists presented videotape evidence fromthe national television news which showedbarges careening down the river, breakingholes in the banks and opening up newchannels in the delicate ecosystem of thePantanal, the largest tropical wetlands inthe world. The groups told the minister thatthe ecological impacts caused by the bargeswas incalculable.

The dredging had been authorized by theBrazilian environmental protection service,IBAMA, in response to a petition by theTransport Ministry, which had submitted arudimentary environmental study to sup-port its petition. According to technical

reports furnished by the Rios Vivos Coali-tion, the lack of data regarding the relation-ship of water flows between the ParaguayRiver and the vast surrounding floodplain ofthe Pantanal made it impossible to assessthe changes in the wetlands that dredgingmight cause.

Sarney Filho has shown a remarkableopenness to dialogue with environmentalistssince taking office in January. In announcinghis decision, Sarney Filho said that the statesin the region have two choices: they can con-tinue to make economic decisions withoutpaying attention to the environment, or theycan choose the path of environmental preser-vation. He advised them to do the latter.

In a related development, two commit-ments to try to minimize environmentalimpacts along the upper Paraguay weresigned at a meeting held January 21 at thefederal prosecutor’s office. The first wouldrequire barge trains to carry a navy observerto monitor the impact of the barges’ collid-ing against the riverbanks. Representatives ofthe Transport Ministry and Navy, as well asnavigation companies operating on the Rio

Paraguay, also agreed to carry out studies todefine the best vessel and convoy size fornavigation between Cáceres and Lagoa Gaíva(north of Corumbá).

Soy growers, who stand to benefit mostfrom the hidrovia project, denounced thedecision, saying that it will make shippingon the Paraguay unfeasible, causing heavyeconomic losses. The project will enable nav-igation by huge multi-barge convoys all yearround. Each barge convoy carries up to6,000 tons of soy, destined principally foruse as livestock feed in Europe.

It is expected that the hidrovia projectwould seriously alter the Pantanal by chang-ing the hydrology of the region and dewater-ing the wetlands. The hundreds of thou-sands of people who depend on Pantanalwaters for drinking water could also beaffected. The project has been increasinglyunder fire, from officials as well as the envi-ronmental community. A year ago, IBAMAindicated it would not support the project ifit would harm the Pantanal. The project is ajoint venture by Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay,Paraguay and Argentina. ■

Dredging Suspended for Channelization Project on Paraguay River by Glenn Switkes