Photo: Flooding caused by Yacyretá Dam, Argentina and Paraguay. (Glenn Switkes/International Rivers)

On November 2, 2009, AIDA gave testimony about the impacts of large dams in Latin America to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The presentation was based on AIDA’s new report, “Large Dams in the Americas: Is the Cure Worse than the Disease?” which exposes the dangers of using large hydroelectric dams to meet increasing energy demands in Latin America.  The IACHR agreed to hold a hearing on the issue at the urging of AIDA and more than forty other organizations.

Large dams consistently cause severe, and often irreversible, environmental and social damage. Their construction is also often associated with violations of international human rights and environmental laws. When citizens protest destructive dams, they are often met with repression and brutality.  This report explores these grave impacts and explains the existing international standards that should be applied to protect the environment and human rights.

In preparing this report, AIDA examined five large hydroelectric dams in violation of a range of environmental and human rights laws: Yacyretá in Argentina and Paraguay, Río Madeira in Bolivia and Brazil, Baba in Ecuador, Chan-75 in Panama, and La Parota in Mexico. Through these case studies, AIDA illustrates how governments generally disregard important international obligations and standards, such as the need to conduct proper environmental and social impact assessments. We also show how local families suffer when they are displaced or forcefully evicted by dams and lose valuable farmland, water sources, or traditional fishing areas. We further document how the people most harmed by large dams are those from vulnerable populations, including indigenous, afro-descendent and poor farming communities.

“Large Dams in the Americas” also dispels the myth that dams are a source of “green energy.” Large dams typically harm the environment by flooding valuable ecosystems, dramatically altering natural flows of water, disrupting wildlife habitat, and obstructing the migratory paths of diverse species, among other impacts. Moreover, because of rotting vegetation in tropical reservoirs, large dams can actually contribute to climate change and global warming by generating significant methane and carbon dioxide emissions. In some cases, large dams and reservoirs may produce as much as two to three times the greenhouse gas emissions generated by a plant that burns fossil fuels.

Given the negative impacts of large dams, AIDA’s report recommends that policymakers seriously consider alternatives that protect human rights and our natural ecosystems, save energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Suggested alternatives include: improving energy efficiency, reducing demand, making better use of sustainable energy sources, investing in energy-efficient technologies and infrastructure, and removing barriers that hinder technology exchange between nations.

AIDA wrote this report in collaboration with our participating organizations, CEMDA, CEDHA, ECOLEX and Earthjustice, as well as International Rivers, Sobrevivencia, and the Association for Conservation and Development (ACD). We will use this report to educate the IACHR, governments, international financial institutions, and policy-makers throughout the Americas.

By advising international authorities regarding the acute and lasting damages caused by large hydroelectric dams, we hope to encourage policymakers to investigate the matter and act according to our recommendations on how to implement dam projects in compliance with international law.  Your continued support enables AIDA to educate policymakers about the impacts of large dams.