Tag Archive for 'hydro dams'Page 3 of 5

10
Mar

Indigenous Groups Opposed to El Diquis Hydro Project

Indigenous groups in Costa Rica have reaffirmed their opposition to El Diquis, a hydro-electric project the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) plans to build in the southern province of Puntarenas. The government of Costa Rica recently declared the project a “National interest”.

Ivannia Villalobos explains on her blog that, while El Diquís “was presented publicly by the ICE about two years ago, it’s in fact another version of the so-called ‘Boruca Hydroelectric Project’ which was first proposed in the early 70’s.”

As it’s currently proposed, El Diquis would flood the Traditional Lands of the Terraba and Chinakicha Nations. Forcing their displacement, the project would also compromise and infringe upon both Peoples’ beliefs and cultures. Over 200 historical sites; including Burial Grounds, Sacred Sites, and Ancient Ruins—would all be destroyed by the flood.

The dam would have a further, indirect effect on the …

Published on
March 10, 2008
  0 Comments 1,010 views

20
Feb

Chile Government Endorses the HidroAysen Project

Late last week, the highly contested HidroAysen dam project received a major endorsement by a member of Michelle Bachelet’s Chilean Government.

According to the Santiago Times

[on Thursday] Energy Minister Marcelo Tokman joined Interior Minister Edmundo Perez-Yoma to announce a series of measures aimed at alleviating Chile’s current energy crisis… while the announcements themselves came as no surprise, Perez-Yoma’s response when questioned about the HidroAysen project certainly did. “Do you support pushing forward with the Aysen dams?” a reporter asked him. “Yes, I’m for it… Of course I am. I think so. With all due respect to the environmental issue,” the interior minister answered.

Leaving little room for interpretation, Perez-Yoma on Friday reiterated his support for the project. “What we have is water and we need to take advantage of it… We ought, with as much energy possible, to push forward with …

Published on
February 20, 2008
  0 Comments 952 views

27
Jan

Dams in Burma to displace thousands

4-dams-in-burma.jpg

The Shan Herald reports that the first construction phase of the Tasang Dam is nearing completion. According to a source from the Thai/Burma border, Chinese dam builders have been at the site since last November, and have so far installed about 90% of the dams pillars.

The Tasang is the largest of 4 dams currently planned for the Salween River, in Shan State, Burma. Once the Tasang is operational, thousands of Karen, Karenni, Mon, Shan, Wa, Pa-O, Lahu, Padaung, Akha, Lisu and Palaung - face displacement at the hands of the Burmese Military. Salween Watch informs us, that, “already over 300,000 people have been forcibly relocated from the areas since dam studies commenced in 1996.” An increased military presence has also “led to an increase of reports of torture, extrajudicial killing, and other human …

Published on
January 27, 2008
  1 Comment 1,153 views

11
Jan

Protests escalating against dams in Panama

Earlier this week, there were confrontations between police officers and indigenous People in Panama who are opposed to the development of a hydroelectric dam on the Cobre River. On Saturday, about 250 demonstrators closed the Pan-American highway, but were suppressed half an hour later and attacked with tear gas by the National Police.

This was to-be-expected, but as Larrissa Duarte, a spokesperson from the Movement in Defense of the Cobre River, said to La Prensa, they have been carrying out peaceful protests for the past five years, and a lack of response has now prompted them to take “more extreme measures”. Duarte also said the people will continue to defend Cobre River and will not allow the dam to be built in their waters.

This dam is far from the only one that is opposed. As the biodiversity activist …

Published on
January 11, 2008
  1 Comment 1,160 views

12
Dec

Enawene Nawe blockade dam construction site

Continuing their struggle against a large hydroelectric dam project in the Brazilian Amazon, the Enawene Nawe set up a blockade at one of the dam construction sites late last week. According to Survival, about 100 members of the 420-strong tribe occupied the building site, demanding an independent study into the impact they will have.

The Enawene Nawe maintain the dams will have a devastating effect on the breeding cycle of the fish they depend on to survive. They say the fish might not even be able to make it to their breeding grounds. The grounds themselves are of great cultural and spiritual significance to the Enawene Nawe. If the 11 dams go ahead as planned, the area may be destroyed.

The grounds are already heavily burdened by cattle ranchers, and the Soya Industry–who is behind the …

Published on
December 12, 2007
  0 Comments 1,062 views

02
Nov

Titanium or Water? Trouble brews in Southern India

Cartoon by Khalil Bendib

More than 5,000 people converged last month in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu to protest a deal made by the state government to appropriate nearly 10,000 acres of land and hand it over to the India-based Tata Steel Corporation.

Upon doing so, the giant transnational company would then gain the right to mine ilmenite (which yields titanium metal and titanium dioxide when processed–both extremely valuable materials.) in Sathankulam, an agrarian pocket of India’s coastal countryside.

The locals however - farmers, the indigenous, and business people are opposed to this deal out of a fear that the mining operation and significant loss of land will destroy their traditional way of life and despoil the environment for generations to come.

The Familiar Cost of Business

According …

Published on
November 2, 2007
  0 Comments 1,057 views

30
Oct

For the Resistance and Mobilization Against Looting

This past weekend, 80 Representatives of communities effected by environmental conflicts met in Cobquecura, Chile, for the first of four meetings (noted on the map) to take place by the end of this year.

Summoned by the Action Network for Environmental and Social Justice (RAJAS), the meetings are being held “For the Resistance and Mobilization Against Looting;” all of which are aimed at discussing and organizing a consolidated strategy against the problems they commonly face–namely, those presented by socio-territorial mining projects, hydroelectric, urban and forest plantations and the cellulose industry.

According to a recent communique (posted on Mapuexpress) during the most recent gathering, all the communities shared in the dramatic consequences of, for example, the current forestry model in Chile which is causing a decrease in surface and subterranean water; as well as the effect of the cellulose industry …

Published on
October 30, 2007
  0 Comments 865 views

Video activism and the Chiapas Media Project

In the following presentation, Claudia Magallanes-Blanco from the University of Western Sydney talks about the role of video activism as a world-wide tool for empowerment and the Chiapas Media Project, a collaborative effort based in Mexico that provides indigenous Zapatistas in Chiapas and peasants in Guerrero with training and equipment to produce their own videos.

Since forming in 1998, CMP has distributed over 6000 videos, including: Zapata’s Garden, a film that looks at the society the Zapatista’s are building; …


I Am A Defender of the Rainforest

Known as ‘Soy defensor de la selva’ in Spanish, I am a Defender of the Rainforest is an award-winning documentary that was filmed, edited, and directed by members of the Sarayaku community in southern Ecuador.

The film shows how the …


Underreported Struggles #19, October 2008

In this month’s Underreported Struggles: 400,000 Guatemalans Reject Development Model, Philippines Indigenous People Unite for the Land, Riot Police Target Algonquin Blockade, Chagos Islanders Denied the Right of Return, and 17 other stories …


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