Ineke Steinhauer
Technical secretary
The NCEA issued an advisory review of a feasibility study and EIA for development of a waterway across several South American countries. It concluded that important points are lacking in the studies. The NCEA also provided an opinion on the added value of an expert panel review of these studies, and on an additional environmental study that was prepared for this panel review.
Significant details
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has carried out a feasibility study and an EIA. These studies have been reviewed by a panel of experts convened by the Environmental Defence Fund (US) and CEBRAC (a Brazilian environmental NGO). The DGIS financed a study performed by 3 environmental NGOs from Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, the aim of which was to provide background information that can be used as reference material in the review of the IDB funded studies.
The Commission was requested by DGIS to (i) carry out an advisory review of the IDB funded studies, (ii) to give an opinion on the added value of the panel of experts’ report and the NGOs’ study. The findings of the review of the IDB funded studies can be summarized as follows:
- the justification for the project is provided from an economic perspective and is not convincing; environmental considerations did not play an explicit role;
- potential impacts on the hydrological regime of the Pantanal (the world’s largest freshwater wetland) have been identified as insignificant, but no substantiated evidence for this statement could be found in the studies;
- a socio-economic survey is lacking, which makes it impossible to judge whether there are any negative impacts on the local population;
- induced impacts were not addressed, such as land encroachment and speculation along large parts of the Hidrovía;
- mitigating measures for environmental impacts were limited to monitoring only, and no mitigating measures for socio-economic impacts have been prepared at all.
The review by the panel of experts pointed out that the IDB studies are seriously flawed, as mentioned above, and points out the evident lack of a regional development plan. However, the Commission is of the opinion that their remarks dealing with the strategic level (overall development goals) may be considered beyond the scope of the Hidrovía project.
The NGOs’ study contains a lot of useful information on past and present developments in the region, present day economic activities, proposed projects in the region with possible environmental and social impacts, and indigenous communities and their territories. According to the Commission, this wealth of information has, unfortunately, not been subjected to professional analysis. The presentation of the information would have benefited from a summary reflecting the contents of the underlying studies.
At the moment no decision has yet been taken by the five participating governments on the overall project, although parts of the project are being implemented already (dredging of the Tamengo canal to Bolivia). Meanwhile, project preparation continues (see also the secretariat memorandum of DGIS-9808: Need for ports along the Hidrovía).