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10/06/2008
In São Paulo, Via Campesina and Popular Assembly denounce the environmental impacts of dams
Around 600 farmers-members of Via Campesina and Popular Assembly occupied a building belonging to Votorantim, in a move seeking to denounce the environmental impacts from the construction of the Tijuco Alto Dam on Rio Ribeira de Iguape, which crosses the States of São Paulo and Paraná.
The Military Police has just entered the building and attacked the protesters with teargas.
Ibama has rejected twice the Environmental Impact Study (EIA/Rima) presented by the company. Votorantim sent a new report in 2005 but has not received a conclusive reply from Ibama. There are still two issues to be clarified; the first has to do with the legal conditions for the possible inundation of caves (there are two in the area to be inundated) and the other refers to the right to use the water resources of Rio Ribeira, with the later issue dealt by the National Water Agency (ANA).
The Environmental Impact Report (Rima) of the project, claims that 51.8 km2 will be inundated, with 46% of this area being farmland and 35% area for cattle raising. The Rima affirms that 689 families will be affected by the dam, while all the energy produced by the plant will be forwarded to CBA (Brazilian Aluminium Company), which belongs to the Votorantim group.
The campaign of Via Campesina and Popular Assembly denounce the current neoliberal economic model and the actions of transnational corporations operating in the energy and agriculture sectors.
The basin of Rio Ribeira posses exceptional biodiversity due to the fact that its more than 2,1 million hectares of forests, represent approximately 21% of the remaining Atlantic Forest, making it the biggest continuous extension of this extremely important ecosystem for the country. All this biodiversity is threatened by the four projected dams for the region: Tijuco Alto, Funil, Itaoca and Batatal.
The projected investment has been causing significant unrest and resistance among the people living in the Valley of Rio Ribeira. For more than 20 years, the company has been trying to construct the Tijuco Alto Dam on Rio Ribeira de Iguape, without success so far.
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