Quick Reads
- Construction impacts of mini hydroelectric plants in Amazon on the river system are not evaluated
- Many times they threaten biodiversity and livelihoods of indigenous and traditional communities
- This type of dam has a waterfall effect on the environment that is generally not taken into account.
Expansion projects Energy hydroelectric plant in the Amazon should take into account regional and large – scale impacts of these initiatives and develop integrated environmental assessments using scientific evidence and technological tools to mitigate them .
However, the construction of hydroelectric mini-power plants in that region is based on poor planning policies and instruments, which cannot assess the cumulative impacts of this type of infrastructure project on the Amazon river system. Moreover, they threaten the provision of ecosystem services, the conservation of biodiversity and the livelihoods of indigenous and traditional communities .
These are the main conclusions of a team of researchers that analyzed the impacts of the construction of mini dams in the Amazon basin, the largest and most complex river system on Earth.
When analyzing the reports of the environmental licenses granted to projects for the construction of mini hydroelectric dams on the Cupari River – a tributary of the Tapajós River connected to indigenous lands, archeological sites and protected areas of Brazil – the specialists concluded that the country It does not have policies or instruments capable of adequately assessing the possible environmental and social impacts related to the expansion of these types of dams in the Amazon.
These shortcomings make it difficult to support the decision-making process, which requires compliance with policies that protect human and environmental rights , warn the researchers of the study published in Energy Policy .
Despite this situation, incentives and political regulations have helped to increase the number of mini hydroelectric plants five times in the last 20 years in Brazil: there are currently 87 in operation and 256 inventories in the Amazon basin.
The Tapajós basin is at a point of biodiversity little known yet. It is considered one of the most important areas of the Amazon in terms of diversity and endemism of species of fish and birds.
The Cupari complex includes eight hydroelectric projects: four mini hydroelectric dams on the east arm and three others on the west arm, plus a large dam on the west arm of the river. These complexes are expected to flood an area of 20 square kilometers and generate 157.5 megawatts in three municipalities. The construction has no start date, as the project is pending approval by the environmental authorities.
“We do not know exactly what the impacts of all these initiatives will be in the Amazon basin, and still important decisions are still being made.
María Elena López – Institute of Biological Sciences of the Federal University of Pará, Brazil.
It’s scary. ”
According to the researchers, although during the project licensing process two Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) were produced, these reports set aside the cascading effects related to the construction of mini hydroelectric plants in that region.
EIAs are preventive instruments used to ensure that the possible impacts of a project that can cause environmental damage are analyzed, and that such impacts are taken into account in the approval process.
“The EIAs have not evaluated the possible impacts on the Tapajós National Forest, a federal protected area of 549,257 hectares, occupied by traditional riverside communities and that hosts a rich diversity of fish, mammals and birds,” says Simone Athayde, a biologist at the Center of Latin American Studies from the University of Florida, United States, and lead author of the study.
In addition, “while EIAs estimate the impacts of mini dams on fish stocks, they do not report the social consequences of these impacts on fish stocks in nearby indigenous and traditional communities,” he adds.
“In that sense, the licensing process of the Cupari complex contradicts Brazilian national policies, as well as international treaties for the defense of human rights,” said Athayde.
María Elena López, biochemist at the Institute of Biological Sciences of the Federal University de Pará, stresses that the impacts in Cupari will not be limited to this region. “They can have repercussions along the Amazon rivers,” SciDev.Net says .
López indicates that some studies show that dams can increase the concentration of Toxic metals such as mercury and contaminate fish, which migrate several kilometers affect the populations that consume them.
“We do not know exactly what the impacts of all these initiatives will be in the Amazon basin, and still important decisions are still being made. It’s scary, ”he says. “If decision makers want these studies to become really useful tools, they should seek an integrated view of the cumulative effects of these infrastructure projects throughout the Amazon River system,” concludes López.
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