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Indigenous
People Sidelined in Plans for Dam
By Daniel Zueras
(IPS) The Diquís dam, the largest
hydroelectric project in Central America, is
worrying indigenous communities because
Costa Rica’s state power company has
excluded them from the decision-making
process, in spite of international treaties
that stipulate that they must be consulted.
Indigenous people in Térraba in the southern
district of Buenos Aires, which has the
highest population density for five of the
country’s eight Indian tribes, complain that
the national utility, ICE, has never
consulted them about the project, as it is
required to do under International Labour
Organisation (ILO) Convention 169 concerning
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent
Countries.
The United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues, which held a session in
mid-May, reminded governments of the need to
cooperate with native communities as the
owners of natural resources in their
territories.
This is not the first project of its kind
that the state electricity monopoly has
tried to push through in the southern part
of the country.
The first, the Boruca hydroelectric complex,
began to be discussed in the 1970s but was
brought to a halt by strong opposition from
local communities, and by doubts about its
location in an area of seismic activity.
The plan was for a dam that would have
flooded an area of 25,000 hectares to
generate 1,500 megawatts of electricity. In
the 1990s, the Veragua project met with a
similar fate. Both projects were located on
the Río Grande river in Térraba.
The projected Diquís dam on the El General
river would have a planned capacity of 622
megawatts that would supply the energy needs
of one million people. The projected cost is
1.85 billion dollars, making it the largest
public investment in infrastructure ever
undertaken in Costa Rica. If everything goes
ahead as planned, ICE expects the plant to
come onstream in 2016.
The dam would flood 6,000 hectares,
displacing 1,100 people. Within the affected
area, 800 hectares is indigenous territory
belonging to the Térraba people, which is
why the tribes are requesting consultation
on the project.
The huge plant was declared to be of
national interest in February 2008 by the
government of President Óscar Arias. It is
part of ICE's strategy for expanding the
country's energy capacity, now estimated at
2,100 megawatts, which it wants to double in
the next 10 years.
This month the constitutional court turned
down an appeal for protection, presented in
February by community leaders who claimed
the right to be consulted. The final text of
the ruling has not yet been released.
Genaro Gutiérrez, leader of the Térraba
indigenous Integrated Development
Association (ADI), told IPS he was
disappointed at the position taken by the
constitutional court and said that if there
was no change in 15 days' time, "we won't
let the ICE workers into the site."
In his view, ICE is breaking the law in
going ahead with the work. He said the ADI
of the Térraba Indigenous Reserve in Buenos
Aires is, by law, "a separate government,
and consultation is necessary."
ADIs were set up on every indigenous
reservation by the state National Commission
for Indigenous Affairs (CONAI), and act as
local governments, but they have been
criticised as not being representative or
participative enough, of imposing ways of
organising different to indigenous people's
own ways, and of being vulnerable to
political manipulation.
The ADI headed by Gutiérrez presented a
proposal to ICE requesting 10 percent – a
"negotiable" proportion - of the profits of
the hydroelectric plant, for development in
the reserve. "We don't want to let them do
good business and leave indigenous people
out in a discriminatory way," Gutiérrez
said.
The Térraba are divided over the project.
Gutiérrez said they are not opposed to the
dam being built. "What we want are reliable
benefits for the development of the district
and the indigenous community," he said.
"It's the government's project, not ours,
and if they don't give us anything we won't
let it happen on our territory," he added.
A different position is taken by Ditsö, a
non-governmental organisation supporting
indigenous peoples that helped lodge another
appeal for protection, this time with
respect to the environmental impact of ICE
operations in the community of Térraba,
which is still being processed.
Ditsö's communications officer, Marvin
Amador, told IPS there are two opinions
about the dam among the Térraba indigenous
community. On the one hand are those who
"have informed themselves" and are against
the project, and on the other hand those who
are for it, who "either are not informed, or
are hoping to get something from it."
There is no consensus on the issue. Amador
maintains that Gutiérrez cannot make the
decision to negotiate with ICE "unless he
consults the community; that involves the
state, and Genaro is no longer a legitimate
representative, he only still holds his
position because of a series of flawed
procedures."
He said both the ADI and its leader were
discredited within the community.
The Ditsö spokesman was extremely critical
of the constitutional court, and said that
its dismissal of the first appeal for
protection had "a very simple" explanation.
"Ever since the government started to exert
an influence, the court has systematically
made decisions that openly run counter to"
the country’s laws, in line with "vested
interests," he said.
Ditsö is against the building of the dam,
but Amador said the group’s goal was for
consultation to take place and for the
indigenous community to decide. Its
opposition is due to the indigenous people
being, once again, sidelined and forgotten.
"It is said that 80 percent of the energy
generated will be exported," although ICE
denies this. But even if the power is used
for domestic consumption, "the indigenous
people are being asked to give us their
resources and heritage, in exchange for
so-called development that will not reach
the poorest of the poor," he said.
Ditsö says the Diquís project will have an
enormous impact, socially and culturally, on
the Térraba way of life. According to
Amador, the dam will flood 50 archaeological
sites, among them "ancient burial sites with
a major spiritual significance."
ICE did not respond to IPS requests for
comment on the matter.
The mayor of the district of Buenos Aires,
Feliciano Álvarez, told IPS that he supports
the construction of the Diquís plant.
Álvarez said it would have a great impact on
the area, and that the municipality is
advocating "for the labour to be drawn from
the local area." He also said he was
confident that the project would increase
local trade and lead to improved
infrastructure.
Amador, however, was critical of that
stance. "Agreeing with this kind of project
depends on one's vision of what constitutes
development," he said. |
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