Discontinuation of dam project in Ecuador

The struggle of the past five years to stop the construction of the Baba dam project –located in the basin of the Baba river, province of Ríos, Ecuador– has finally had an impact on the government of Ecuador.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, the economist Alberto Acosta, ordered the withdrawal of the allowance enabling the realization of the Baba project. He took this decision after visiting the village of Patricia Pilar, centre of resistance against the construction of the Baba dam. In his visit he could confirm technical, legal, environmental and economic irregularities, apart from the human rights violations deriving from this project. The Minister described this project not as “a multipurpose, but as a multiabuse project”. However, the local economic groups and the Brazilian company Odebrecht, beneficiaries of the project, continue constructing the dam.

Throughout the past five years, the Coordination for the Defence of Life and Nature in the Guayas River Basin (COORDENAGUA) has been denouncing the irreparable damage that the construction of the Baba project would entail in the whole ecosystem of the Baba river. The objective of this project is to transfer 78% of the waters from the Baba and Toachi Grande rivers to the dam Daule Peripa, in order to repair the technical mistakes and its subsequent environmental damages that currently affect this dam. The wrong management of CEDEGE, the government body in charge of the construction of the entire infrastructure in that region and the construction of Daule Peripa, has led to a higher sedimentation rate in the Daule–Babahoyo basin, due to the erosion increase of the deforested soils and their misuse. The huge social and environmental cost of the Daule-Peripa dam has not been justified by the scarce benefits that it has generated. Due to the lack of a serious study of the Baba project considering the environmental and social effects in the entire Baba basin, the construction of the Baba dam is expected to have the same effects as the Daule Peripa dam. It is important to recall that fishery is a vital component of the food habits of the families living in the shores of the Baba river. Since the construction of the Baba project would diminish or eliminate the fishery, it would thus put at stake the right to food of these families. The lower water volume would have negative consequences also in the agriculture, since the soil would dry out and the food production would diminish, due to the lack of sufficient water for all the cultures. Moreover, the autodepuration capacity of the river would diminish and the river would thus turn into a huge sewer. The subsequent river pollution will also pollute the wells. Besides, the dam would cause the diminution of the water table of the river Baba – Quevedo-Vinces, thus provoking the drying out of the river and of the wells, which are the sole source of water for human consumption that these coastal populations have.

The reaction of the Minister of Environment to the project shows that the big national and international pressure exerted especially in the last six months has given its fruit. Moreover, President Correa ordered to carry out a comprehensive audit of the project Daule Peripa and to remedy the damages caused. The intervention of FIAN International – which has accompanied the struggle of the peasants and the peasant, human rights and church organizations grouped under COORDENGUA during the last three years – has been very important for the lobby activity at national and international level, as well as for the networking with other organizations. FIAN has used spaces to put its claims forward, such as the Latin-American Water Court, and has been providing the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, with information. FIAN is also performing lobby work together with the International River Network before the Inter-American Development Bank, so as to demand this institution the fulfilment of its own policies and its extraterritorial obligations to the affected population. Among its last actions, FIAN carried out a protest letter campaign during May 2007, to ask the President Rafael Correa the withdrawal of the project until a technical, environmental and social evaluation of the project effects has been carried out.