In 2018 Johnathan Elwell wrote an article for ‘Bolivian Thoughts in an Emerging World’. In this paper, he examines core issues, delving into deep detail about the range of Madidi National Park affected, as well as the indigenous communities and how they will be affected, and the lack of care given by the Bolivian Government under Morales.
On July 25, 2018, several indigeneous communities who will be impacted by the planned mega-dams issued a proclamation regarding the megadam collapses in Laos and Colombia. You can read a copy of the proclamation here.
According to the Spanish-language blog post by the Fundacion Solon that describes the proclamation, “The collapse of the Xepian-Xe Namnoy mega hydroelectric plant in Laos has left more than a hundred dead and missing and thousands of people displaced. This tragedy, the product of the Laos government's ambition to export electricity at all costs, occurs a few months after the Hidroituango hydroelectric disaster in Colombia where tens of thousands of people have been displaced and the 5,000 million dollar project has been paralyzed to avoid a major tragedy…in light of these tragic events, the communities affected by the Rositas, El Bala and Chepete hydroelectric projects are asking the Government of Evo Morales and ENDE not to play with the destiny of the Bolivians and make public the final design studies including geological, hydrological, economic and social and environmental impact assessments of the Rositas, El Bala, Chepete, Ivirizu and Cachuela Esperanza hydroelectric plants so that independent and comprehensive audits and reviews can be conducted by specialists at universities, professional colleges and other institutions…companies that conducted the Environmental Impact Assessment Studies of the Rositas, El Bala, Chepete and Ivirizu hydroelectric plants are not independent and are linked to ENDE (Rositas case) or are the same companies that prepared the final designs of the dams (El Bala and Chepete case)… communities affected by these mega hydroelectric plants in Bolivia demand that those who carry out the Environmental Impact Assessment Studies of these hydroelectric plants…should be…independent..and have no interest in construction from the same… more economic alternatives are available that would provide much less social and environmental impact such as wind, solar and small hydroelectric projects…. all Bolivians will have to pay the large external debt that is contracted to build them, and will suffer the impacts of catastrophes such as those currently being suffered in Laos and Colombia.”
In Bolivia the government wants to build several mega hydroelectric plants. Among them, the projects of Chepete, El Bala and Rositas stand out. This short video (2 minutes 23 seconds) by Fundacion Solon highlights some of its impacts and problems with the planned megadams. Photos and videos with accompanying text in Spanish.
In response to the collapse of the Hidroituango megadam in Colombia, this Spanish-language blog post by Fundacion Solon lays out 8 lessons for Bolivia. Below are English translations of excerpts from this blog post:
1) Megadams should not be built without broader studies that have been been verified by independent entities with no economic interest in the project.
2) All documentation must be made public and easily accessible
3) The environmental impact assessment study should be carried out with objectivity and in depth by independent entities that have no (financial) interests in the work.
4) .The entity that does the environmental impact assessment study for Rositas or Chepete can not be part of ENDE or be the same company that makes the final design of the work as is the case of Geodata with Chepete and El Bala.
5) Mega projects have to be absolutely independent, not subject to political or economic pressures. In the case of Bolivia, the Ministry of Environment and Water… does not have the necessary autonomy to present substantive observations and reject these projects.
6) The studies and design of these mega-dams…must be extremely detailed and consider serious natural disasters that will be aggravated by climate change.
7) Free and informed prior consultation with indigenous populations and local populations must be carried out—not to just communicate the decision to do a mega-dam, but to listen more closely to the observations of communities that know the area much better than the technicians themselves.
8) Signing a contract with a company for the construction of a mega hydroelectric without first having the environmental impact assessment studies is a crime.
Miriam Telma J in her 2018 article for Mongabay, quoted the speech Ruth Alipaz wrote for the 17th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Her statement not only outlined the extensive damage and loss over 51 indigenous and peasant communities would face from the construction of El Bala and El Chepete, but also other dams such as the Rositas dam. Alipaz maintains that the indigenous communities in Bolivia are facing threats without being consulted on these projects.
This Spanish-language infographic by the Fundacion Solon includes diagrams and key numbers regarding the planned El Bala and Chepete mega-dams.
The Beni River flows through the Bolivian Amazon, a bloodline for indigenous communities, rare species, and old-growth forests. Madid National Park, one of the most biodiverse places on earth, is sustained by the Beni. In this unique ecological zone of savannahs and cloud forests that make up the convergence of the Amazon basin and the Andes live indigenous groups in voluntary isolation, over 1,000 species of birds and butterflies and around 300 endangered jaguars. More than a dozen indigenous communities rely on the Beni for their livelihoods, but the river, and many others in Bolivia, are now at risk as the country is planning 35 hydroelectric plants by 2025.
According to this Spanish-language post by Fundacion Solon: “In the Terms of Reference (TDR) of the Environmental Impact Assessment Studies (EEIA) of the El Bala-Chepete (Beni) and Rositas (Santa Cruz) mega hydroelectric plants, a “public consultation” is established that does not relate to free, prior and informed consultation established in Article 30 and Article 352 of the Political Constitution of the State, nor with ILO Convention No. 169 or with the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples and affected populations have not been asked, nor have they defined and agreed with the authorities what the timing of the consultation will be, what will be the procedures to be applied, the documentation to be distributed, the languages to be used, the specialized advice they require , nor the necessary budget for the realization of it. The "public consultation" for these mega hydroelectric plants is only to: a) give very limited information, b) listen to some concerns and c) clarify some doubts. In no case is the search for free, prior, informed and good faith consent of indigenous peoples mentioned….”
“In the case of El Bala-Chepete, the Italian consulting firm Geodata has a combo contract for 11.8 million dollars to carry out: a) the final design of the two mega hydroelectric plants, b) the EEIA, c) the “public consultation” and d) the Terms of Reference of the international tender for the construction of mega hydroelectric plants.
For the works of El Bala-Chepete there will be three rounds of “public consultation and dissemination”. In the first round Geodata will present a summary of the project and explain the terms of reference of the EEIA. In the second round, it will explain “in a preliminary way the potential environmental and social impacts identified and the proposed mitigation measures”, and in the third round, “the results of the EEIA report” will be presented and the opinions / recommendations of the interested parties will be heard in the project and answers will be given to clarify their doubts and / or concerns of the participants ”.
Geodata will carry out the printed and digital dissemination (CD) of a “disclosure document” of the EEIA of the mega hydroelectric plants 30 days before the third round. The TDRs of the contract with Geodata indicate that “in each of the dissemination sites,” a book of minutes with pens will be incorporated, so that the actors involved and / or groups interested in the project can include their comments, concerns and / or recommendation.”
In this Spanish-language blog post from the Fundacion Solon, 14 reasons to say no to mega-dams are listed:
1. Mega-dam reservoirs are one of the main causes of deforestation and destruction of the habitat of villages, animals and plants. Bala and Chepete will deforest more than 80,000 hectares of Amazonian forest.
2. Mega-dams cause great flooding. Chepete will create the fourth lake and Rositas the fifth largest lake in Bolivia.
3. Mega-dams displace thousands of families and flood territory of indigenous nations and peoples.
4. Mega-dams are not guaranteed by consulting the prior, free, informed and good faith consent of indigenous peoples and affected populations.
5. Mega-dams impede the free movement of vessels, fish and cause loss of water volume downstream, reduce the number of native fish and have negative effects on the fertility of soils and wetlands.
6. Mega-dams increase the concentration of toxic chemical components such as mercury in rivers and reservoirs.
7. Mitigation measures for the serious social and environmental impacts of mega-dams generally fail.
8. Mega-dams are not renewable energy and contribute to climate change with large emissions of methane gas that are produced by the decomposition of underwater vegetation.
9. Mega-dams end up generating much less energy than initially estimated, and end up costing much more than budgeted.
10. Mega-dams constitute a great source of external indebtedness. If the Chepete, El Bala and Rositas dams are made, Bolivia's external debt will be multiplied by two.
11. The construction of mega-dams has been a source of great corruption in many parts of the world.
12. Currently there are less harmful and more profitable alternative sources of electricity generation such as solar, wind and small hydroelectric power.
13. Debt to build mega-dams without having an insured export market is killing the future of Bolivia.
14. Mega-dams are an obsolete development model of the last century. The future is not the export of electricity over thousands of kilometers but the local production, storage and consumption of renewable energy.“The estimated cost is $7 billion, and it is the first time in Bolivian history that so much money is being spent on a single project, whose only beneficiaries are the government and multinational corporations, not the people who inhabit these lands. Before commencing any study on our territory, the government should have obeyed the law and organized a prior consultation, which, however, did not happen.”
