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The Madeira River Complex The enormous Madeira River Complex, in the tri-border region of Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil is one of the Integrated Regional Infrastructure for South America's (IIRSA) anchor projects. It would transform the Madre de Dios-Beni-Mamoré-Itenez-Madeira river system into a major corridor for energy production and raw material export. The proposal includes the construction of four hydroelectric dams, most importantly the Santo Antônio and Jirau dams in Rondônia, Brazil. Together, these two dams would produce a projected 6,450 megawatts of hydroelectricity, totaling eight percent of the Brazilian energy matrix. By comparison, this is equal to half of the electricity produced by Itaipu dam in the Brazilian state of Paraná, the world’s largest hydroelectric power plant.
The Madeira project would also increase the capacity for transporting soybean, timber, and minerals to Pacific ports through the installation of navigation locks and dredging to open the river channel, and to connect with highways being built in the Peruvian and Bolivian Amazon. The project would result in a potential 500 percent growth of soybean transport from the current annual seven million tons to 35 million tons exported.1 Brazilian agribusiness companies such as Grupo André Maggi, the largest soybean producer in the world, have already helped build the Itacoatiara port downstream from Manaus, which is a major distribution center for soy export. The company received a loan from the International Finance Corporation, of the World Bank, in 2004 of US$30 million to expand soybean production, which is arguably the leading cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
The Madeira Complex may also turn into an investor's nightmare, due to the enormous cost and technical challenges. Potential environmental and social impacts – including displacement, threats to food security, increased exposure to disease, pressure on already weak social services, risks to biodiversity, and deforestation leading to greenhouse gas emissions – make the Madeira Complex a "development" disaster in the making.
© 2007 IIRSA.
IIRSA map of the hydroelectric dam, port, and industrial wateryway plans for the tri-border region. |
1 Molina Carpio, Jorge, “Analisis de los Estudios de Impacto Ambiental del Complejo Hidroeléctrico del Rio Madera,” La Paz, Bolivia, April, 2006.
2 BothEnds, “Bank loans and credits to Grupo André Maggi. A research paper prepared for Fundação CEBRAC.” www.bothends.org/strategic/soy34.pdf
Environmental and Social Impacts The Madeira is the principal tributary of the Amazon, representing 23 percent of all hydrological resources in the Amazon basin, and contributing 15 percent of the water volume and half of the sediments and nutrients that flow into the Amazon River and out into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is considered to be "mega-biodiverse," home to an estimated 750 fish and 800 bird species.3
The Santo Antônio and Jirau dams would seriously harm the region's local populations and ecosystems. Possible impacts created from the construction of the dams include the displacement of families and communities, the potential extinction of migratory fish species, the increased spread of malaria, increased erosion of river banks, threats of deforestation from agribusiness expansion, and stronger pressure on already lacking social services due to the migration of families in search of jobs.
The Santo Antônio and Jirau dams would directly affect four indigenous groups of the Upper Madeira basin: the Karitiana, Karipuna, Uru-eu-Wau-Wau, and Katawixi. According to the Conselho Indigenista Missionário (CIMI), the Jacareúba indigenous lands of the Katawixi in Amazonas State are at risk of flooding due to the Santo Antônio dam. The Igarapé Karipuninha protected lands contain indigenous groups in voluntary isolation whose survival would also be threatened due to their location just southwest of the Jirau dam. Downriver in the Middle Madeira basin, 17 protected indigenous peoples' lands, of the Parintintin, Tenharim, Pirahã, Jiahui, Torá, Apurinã, and Mura indigenous groups, are located on the sides of the Madeira and depend on the igarapés, rivers, and lakes that feed into the Madeira, at risk of erosion if the dams are built.4
© Huwitz/Amazon Watch.
A proposed dam here at Cachoeira Santo Antônio is one of two dams that would displace an estimated 3000 families in the Upper Madeira basin. |
Artificial lakes would be created behind the Santo Antônio and Jirau dams along the upper Madeira and River. The towns of Jaci:-Paraná and Mutum-Paraná would be completely washed out, while Lago Cuniã extractive reserve would be impacted by erosion.5 Portions of Beni and Pando departments in the Bolivian Amazon would also be affected, which prompted Bolivian president Evo Morales in January 2007 to state that any flooding of Bolivian territory would be an affront to Bolivia's sovereignty.
3 International Rivers Network, www.irn.org
4 Conselho Indigenista Missionário (CIMI), map of demarcated and isolated indigenous peoples’ lands in Rondônia, 2007.
5 Amazon Watch communication with citizens of Jací-Paraná and Mutúm-Paraná during visit to the area, January 2007.
Project Finance In January 2007, Brazilian President Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva announced the Program to Accelerate Development (PAC), the largest investment package to spur economic growth in Brazil in the past 40 years. The package would fund US$50.9 billion in infrastructure and energy projects in the Amazon. Included among the PAC projects, the Madeira Complex represents the largest and likely the most harmful “development” project planned by the Brazilian government.
The price tag of the Madeira Complex was estimated at more than US$21.6 billion by May 2007, and has received a commitment from the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES). BNDES in 2007 received a US$3 billion loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to support small and medium-sized businesses, and the lack of transparency at the Brazilian bank makes it unclear how that money has been applied. BNDES, the IDB, and the World Bank have not formally committed to directly financing the Madeira Complex, but are reportedly eager to do so.7 No direct finance can be emitted until a provisional environmental license is approved by Brazilian environmental agency IBAMA.
The District Attorney’s Office of the State of Rondônia met with Robert Montgomery, environmental specialist for the IDB’s Private Sector Department (PRI) in 2006 on an official tour of the region. Montgomery expressed the IDB’s interest in financing the Madeira Complex to the District Attorney’s Office, but stated that such financing would only be forthcoming if the project met certain environmental standards for the “sustainable development” of Rondônia.8
6 Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento, Governo do Brasil. www.brasil.gov.br/pac
7 Amazon Watch communication with Glenn Switkes, International Rivers Network, May 2007.
8 “MP e BID discutem a hidrovia do Madeira,” Viva o Rio Madeira Vivo, June 20, 2006. http://www.riomadeiravivo.org/noticias/not378.htm
EIA Controversies IBAMA decided in March 2007 that they had insufficient data from Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) prepared by Brazilian public utility company Furnas Eletricas Centrais and private construction company Odebrecht to be able to issue an environmental license. Critics of the Furnas EIA state that it presented a superficial assessment of the impacts of the dams, failing to take into account regional and indirect impacts beyond the immediate Upper Madeira region. IBAMA demanded detailed responses from the project proponents regarding what the agency considered the most critical issues. More than 1,500 miles of electric transmission lines would have to be built to connect the Madeira dams to the national power grid. 9
© 2007 Conservation Strategy Fund.
Conservation Strategy Fund projections in yellow of potential industrial soy expansion in the tri-border region as a result of the construction of the Madeira Complex, and current areas of industrial soy production, in green. |
Observations made to the Furnas EIA from scientists show that the area to be flooded by the Jirau dam would be much larger than suggested, leading to a decrease in biodiversity and an increase in methane gas released from the flooded forest. Methane gas produced by forests flooded by hydroelectric dams accounts for one fifth of Brazil’s greenhouse gas contribution to global warming, and methane production from dams across the world accounts for four percent of global warming as a whole.
The Furnas EIA also underestimates changes to the velocity of the river and tributaries, suggesting an underestimation of the amount of sedimentation built up by the Santo Antônio and Jirau dams. Higher sedimentation would extend the area flooded by the dams, and could shorten their effective life. The dams would block the migration routes of important fish species, affecting the food security of indigenous peoples, farmers, and urban citizens who depend on the consumption of the Dourada and the Piramutaba, two of the staple fish species of the region.
The Lula administration stated its “concern” in Spring 2007 that what it termed the inefficient process of environmental licensing of large infrastructure mega-projects would not allow the government to meet the economic goals of the PAC. The government has since suggested that if the Madeira Complex were not implemented, the country would have to rely on nuclear energy to meet its growing energy needs.
After months of deliberation, IBAMA approved the Furnas/Odebrecht EIA for the Santo Antônio and Jirau dams on July 9th, 2007. The environmental license was granted on the condition that 33 demands are met in relation to the construction and functioning of the two dams. Included in the demands are proposals for the construction of channels to allow for fish migration on the lateral sides of the dams; permanent monitoring of mercury levels and accumulation of sediments behind the dam propellers; and social support programs for riparian communities along the river.11
9 Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento, Governo do Brasil. www.brasil.gov.br/pac
10 “Estudo defende a reutilização do metano gerado em hidrelétricas,” Friends of the Earth Amazônia, May 11, 2007. http://www.amazonia.org.br/noticias/noticia.cfm?id=243222
11 “Monitoramento de peixes e apoio a ribeirinhos integram as 33 condições para obra em Rondônia,” Agência Brasil, July 9, 2007. http://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2007/07/09/materia.2007-07-09.9493073237/view
Ministry of Energy and Mines Investigated for Fraud in Construction Bids In what had the potential to turn into a major political fiasco for the Lula administration, the Federal Police in May, 2007 arrested politicians and government functionaries suspected of fraud by peddling influence towards the Gautama construction company in order to support its chances at winning construction bids for large infrastructure projects in the Amazon basin and throughout the country.
On May 22, 2007, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Silas Rondeau, stepped down after being implicated in the Gautama fraud investigations. The Federal Police, through Operação Navalho, had filmed an assistant of the Minister receiving $50,000 in kickbacks in order to sway the licensing process of major infrastructure projects towards Gautama. Gautama reportedly had an interest in constructing the Santo Antônio and Jirau dams.12
The Ministry of Energy and Mines also received financing for technical viability studies for “a possible hydroelectric complex on the Madeira River” from the World Bank. A transnational network of civil society groups sent the World Bank a letter demanding that they divulge information about the bank’s support of Brazilian energy infrastructure through a World Bank project in assistance of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, called the Project of Technical Assistance in the Energy Sector (ESTAL).13
© 2007 Iremar Ferreira/Amazon Watch
Cargill docks near Porto Velho. |
12 “Silas Rondeau precisava deixar cargo para não ficar “sangrando a vida inteira”, diz Lula,” Agência Brasil, May 28, 2006. http://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2007/05/28/materia.2007-05-28.6834545765/view
13 “Banco Mundial e MME sonegam informações à sociedade civil sobre o complexo do rio Madeira,” Friends of the Earth Amazônia, May 18, 2007. http://www.amazonia.org.br/noticias/noticia.cfm?id=244182
Civil Society Response Civil society organizations, environmental groups, and indigenous federations in Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru have stated their opposition to the Madeira Complex, expressing their concern over the dams/ potential impacts.
In 2006, a number of public meetings were held in which indigenous representatives, university professors, scientists, and fisher associations gathered to denounce the possible construction of the dams in front of representatives of Furnas and Odebrecht. In the meetings, riverside communities and indigenous people who subsist off of the river’s natural resources denounced the EIA’s lack of consideration of regional impacts and accumulation of sediments and mercury, and expressed a feeling of to being sidelined from decisions over the future of their own lands.14
Participants also expressed frustration at the unwillingness of Furnas and Odebrecht to discuss the technical details of the proposed dams at the public meetings. Instead, participants reported propaganda from the companies promoting the dams’ construction. Following these meetings, the Forum Independente do Rio Madeira was created to expand the participation of citizens, specialists, academics, and scientists in the public discussion centered around the dams.15 Furnas and Odebrecht responded by mobilizing a caravan of dam supporters through Rondônia in May 2007. 16
© 2007 Iremar Ferreira/Amazon Watch
Grupo André Maggi is the largest soy producer in the world. Expansion of soy plantations is a leading factor of deforestation in the Amazon. |
Civil society’s reaction to the approval of the EIA for the Santo Antônio and Jirau dams in July 2007 was that the 33 conditions included in the approved EIA were insufficient to contain the regional and indirect impacts of the two dams. The Instituto Rio Madeira Vivo signaled that the approved Furnas/Odebrecht EIA continued to include only analyses of impacts between Porto Velho and Abuña.
In late September 2007, an international group of civil society organizations sent a letter to the Brazilian foreign minister, expressing their support for the process initiated in August to form a bi-national working group (between Brazil and Bolivia) to assess the potential impacts on Bolivia of the Santo Antônio and Jirau dams. The letter highlighted official project studies and independent expert opinions which indicate that there is a distinct probability that Bolivia could suffer flooding of territories in Pando province, possibly including the Bruno Racua Wildlife Reserve; loss of fish species and serious impacts on some of the most important fish currently populating the upper Madeira; and health impacts, including proliferation of vectors of malaria and methylation of toxic mercury in the reservoirs.
14 “Hidrelétricas do rio Madeira - Construção de usina burla estudo de impacto ambiental e menospreza os interesses das populações locais,” Rede Brasil, 2006. http://www.rbrasil.org.br/content,0,0,1570,0,0.html
15 “Rio Madeira - Militantes criam fórum popular para debater hidrelétricas,” Friends of the Earth Amazônia, November 17, 2006. http://ef.amazonia.org.br/index.cfm?fuseaction=noticia&id=226708
16 “Manifestação em Porto Velho pede a construção de usinas hidrelétricas no Rio Madeira,” Agência Brasil, May 28, 2007. http://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2007/05/28/materia.2007-05-28.5335809199/view
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