Rare image of Rio Sonoyta in flood, April 2004, Mexico © Pete Lavigne

Mesoamerican Anti-Dams Forum

(Mesoamerican Anti-Dams Forum summary needed here)

Each year for the past three years, an NGO in a different Central American country has hosted an anti-dam forum: first, in the Peten of Guatemala, then in Honduras, and this year in El Salvador. The facilitating organization this year was CESTA (Centro El Salvadoreño para Tecnología Apropiada,) the oldest environmental NGO in El Salvador, which is affiliated with Friends of the Earth. They handled the logistics of bringing hundreds of activists from around the region to Carolina, a small town on the Torola river, where planning is underway for construction of the "El Chaparral" dam. I had the opportunity of attending this forum.

The event had the stated objective of "strengthening the efforts at resistance to the construction of hydroelectric dams in Mesoamerica." Many people from all across Central America who are attempting to save their homes and agricultural lands from being flooded by the reservoirs to be created by the construction of dams gathered together to share their experiences. Their presentations inspired and informed their fellow activists.

There were delegations of rural farmers and members of small communities in attendance from all of the seven countries that fall under the scope of the "Plan Puebla-Panama," (a mega-development plan among the governments of North and Central America,) which is the primary instigating factor behind the recent surge in the planning of hydroelectric projects in this region. A common theme that was expressed was, "We can live without enough electricity, but we can't live without enough water." However, they want to be clear that it is not development and modernization that they are opposed to. What they are opposed to is deceit, environmental destruction, corruption, and profit-making at the expense of rural residents.

By the end of the forum, the following objectives had been agreed upon:

1. build the "Mesoamerican Movement Against Dams;"
2. submit the declarations of this forum to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Interamerican Development Bank on October 4th in Washington DC, and to carry out direct actions in all of the Central American countries on or around that date;
3. submit the declarations of this forum to national, state, and local governments of the Central American countries in August;
4. carry out national mobilizations on March 14th, 2005, International Anti-Dam Day
5. consolidate a communication network, using MAPDER
6. establish alliances with the movements against mega-development projects and neoliberalism in general;
7. form a Mesoamerican Commission to support these agreements and to plan the Fourth Annual Forum;
8. strengthen the campaign against the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Interamerican Development Bank;
9. distribute the notes from this forum to all the organizations involved;
10. identify possibilities for dismantling one or more dams in the Mesoamerican region;
11. facilitate the possibility of conducting a tour of the different countries with the objective of strengthening local leadership.

I believe that the 150-plus who attended came away encouraged, energized, and more informed. However, the regional networking that will follow the forum will have to take place, for the most part among the NGO's which support the efforts of these rural people, because most of the people themselves do not have access to email, cannot afford to call fellow activists from a neighboring country on the phone, and are not accustomed to writing letters back and forth. All seemed determined to bring even more of their fellow activists to next July’s Fourth Annual Mesoamerican Forum, in Rey Curre, Costa Rica.

Outside of Mesoamerica, there have also been several similar forums in the last several years, including: the First International Meeting of People Affected by Dams and Their Allies, in Brazil in March of 1997; three meetings of the Latin American Network Against Dams and for Rivers, Their Communities, and Water, (culminating in the July 2002 meeting in Posadas, Argentina and, most recently, the Second International Meeting of People Affected by Dams and Their Allies, in Thailand in December of 2003.

In sum, the Third Annual Mesoamerican Anti-Dams Forum has continued a process facilitating cooperation and creating a unified voice against unsustainable and inequitable development in Central America. Such efforts must be supported and expanded upon to ensure rural communities have a voice in their development.

For a discussion of The International Anti-Dam Movement, excerpted from the 1996 book, Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams by Patrick McCully.