Empower Indigenous Brazilians to Save their Amazon

We're proud to present to you our newest report, Behind the Dams: BNDES Investments in Belo Monte and Hidroituango.

In it, we analyze the application of existing international standards for hydroelectric plants through the lens of two of the most important investments in the history of the Brazilian National Development Bank: Hidroituango (in Colombia) and Belo Monte (in Brazil).

The analysis reveals evidence and offers conclusions and recommendations to the Bank, as well as to the organizations and communities involved. They are concrete elements to help improve the future performance of the financial institution. 

We hope that these contributions strengthen the dialogue with the BNDES, and facilitate the identification of options toward greater compliance with the values the bank has adopted, particularly those of transparency and social and environmental responsibility.

The investigation concludes that the BNDES has initiated important efforts to improve its performance policies and avoid major risks and negative impacts on human rights and the environment. However, the changes made thus far are insufficient.

As such, it is recommended that the Bank: increase clarity about the existence and application of socio-environmental policies; adopt new policies regarding the analysis of socio-environmental impacts of hydroelectric plants and standards for projects in conflict zones; properly apply banking secrecy, in alignment with international human rights standards; and demonstrate openness to dialogue and an effective grievance mechanism.

If changes are not made in time and as part of the evaluation and implementation of investments, risks and losses could continue and even increase. The risks are not so distant, as was evidenced with the Hidroituango Dam in 2018. The Belo Monte Dam, without having entered into full operation, has caused significant damages that could have been avoided. These lessons can help the Bank and the people affected by the projects ensure that the investments have greater benefits.

It’s worth mentioning that, although this research in focused on large dams, the analysis, conclusions and recommendations can be applied to various sectors, thereby increasing the reach of the suggested improvements. They are important calls for the incorporation of real improvements into the ways banks operate through project support.

Links:

• Read the Report

By next year, the management plan for the flow of the Xingu River could be implemented.

But that plan—endorsed when Belo Monte was authorized—would leave the indigenous and riverine communities of the area without the water they need to survive, and places the fish and the forests at risk of extinction.

That’s why we sent a report to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights detailing the plan’s serious socio-environmental risks. In it, we requested that the Commission urge Brazil to stop the plan’s implementation and create an alternative plan that guarantees biodiversity and protects the communities’ ways of life.

Called a Consensual Hydrogram, the plan establishes the volume of water that will pass through a specific part of the river, called the Vuelta Grande, and the part that will be diverted for energy production. It is intended to artificially reproduce the natural flow of the river in times of flood and drought.

The report sent to the Commission details scientific and social evidence that demonstrates that the water levels proposed in the plan are significantly lower than the historical river flow and do not guarantee that fish and alluvial forests can survive in the short- and medium-term.

The evidence—which includes information from both the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources and community monitoring—also shows that some aquatic species, such as chelonians, can only feed and reproduce with minimum flows of 13,000 cubic meters per second in times of flooding, and that the volume proposed for the dry season could make the river unnavigable.

In 2016, with water levels higher than those proposed, the Juruna people were already reporting the mass die-off of fish.

We sent the report to the Commission as part of our formal complaint against the Brazilian State for the human rights violations caused by the dam’s construction.

In May, together with partner organizations, we presented our final arguments in the case, evidencing damages already caused, including the forced displacement of indigenous and riverine communities, the massive death of fish, differentiated damages to men and women, and threats to the survival of the communities.