Despite a formal proposal for public participation in an environmental assessment process that could determine the future of the Paraguay River system, the governments proposing the project under consideration, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) have to date barred the door to input from citizens who will be impacted by the massive channelization project known as Hidrovia.
Plans for Hidrovia call for the transformation of the Paraguay-Parana-La Plata river system into a 3,400-kilometer long shipping canal.
Carrying out the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) will be a consortium of companies, including Golder Associates of Calgary, Canada; Taylor Engineering of Jacksonville, Florida; Consultores Aregentinos Asociados and Consultora Nacional SRL, Bolivia. The Brazilian firm, Hidroservice, is completing the definition of the engineering works which will constitute the project.
In December, more than 70 NGO representatives from Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Canada Holland and the United States agreed to work together to ensure ongoing monitoring of the project plans and participation in the EIS process. Among the groups involved are Ecologia e Acao (ECOA) and the Institute Centro de Vida of Brazil, Fundacion Kattan of Argentina, Redes-Amigos de la Tierra of Uruguay, Sobrevivencia from Paraguay, the Asociacion Ecologica del Oriente (ASEO) and the Central de Pueblos Indigenas del Oriente (CIDOB) or Bolivia and the International Rivers Network.
Sources close to the studies have indicated that only some of the river alterations that will be necessary for the Hidrovia project will be surveyed as part of the environmental impact study. Other aspects of the project, including river diversions and a multi-purpose dam proposed by the Paraguayan government may not be included. Sources that the EIS is being intentionally limited to sidestep controversy.
Meanwhile, discussion of the Hidrovia proposal has heated up in the region affected by the project. At the annual regional meeting of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science, held in April in Cuiaba, the society's president, geomorphologist Aziz ab'Saber came out against the Hidrovia, saying that the Brazilian scientific community will work to halt the project.
Biologist Carolina Joana da Silva, who is from the Brazilian Pantanal wetlands, attacked the terms of reference for the EIS, saying that they did not address the true area of influence of the project, focusing only on the Pantanal and the areas adjacent to the Paraguay River. Da Silva also argued that the EIS should consider alternative transport options, and should assess norms for determining responsibility for repair of environmental damages.
Da Silva echoed the conclusions of a groups of 20 scientists who met in Brasilia in November to discuss concerns relating to the Hidrovia. Among the problems discussed were the drying out of the Pantanal, loss of fish, decreased cattle ranching productivity, destruction of thousands of archaeological sites, and the proliferation of land conflicts in the region resulting in the expulsion and marginalization of riverine and indigenous populations.
At official levels, doubt about the project is growing. Once an advocate of building the Hidrovia at any cost, the Mato Gross state government could be softening its position. In an address to the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science meeting, acting governor of Mato Grosso, Marcio Lacerda, downplayed the government's support for the Hidrovia, referring to the plan originally put forth as "madness." That plan, devised by the Brazilian engineering firm, Internave, called for straightening the river and cutting off tributaries. Lacerda insisted that the plan he has seen involves only the posting of navigation signals and minor dredging.
This article is reprinted with permission from the May 1995 issue of World Rivers Review published by the International Rivers Network, which has a prepared dossier of documents, available for $2. You can contact Switkes at IRN, 1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94703; Phone: 510-848-1155; Email: glenirn@igc.apc.org
Update: Paraguay Dam - IRN (09/95)
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