Just Water Allocation in the Dulcepamba Watershed
Links to articles, videos, and papers on the water conflict in the Dulcepamba Watershed
Check out the NACLA 'Report on the Americas' Article: How ‘Green’ Water Concessions Are Failing Ecuador
And the article's sidebar: Interview with Anti-Extractivist Mayor Ramiro Trujillo
Both the article and the sidebar by Rachel Conrad
Click on the image to Watch the UMD Team's video!
University of Maryland Technical Team: Assessing Water Needs for Social Justice
A team comprised of Dr. John Lea-Cox, Extension and Research Specialist for the University of Maryland Plant Sciences Department, his phD student, Bruk Belanyeh, and 5 undergraduates specializing in a diversity of fields, traveled to Ecuador in the winter term of 2014 to assess water needs of the Dulcepamba watershed within the Bolivar province of Ecuador. Four internet-enabled weather stations were installed to determine daily water needs of the major crops based on real-time weather. The team has integrated GIS crop maps with crop water use models to estimate crop water demand of the entire watershed. They have also completed surveys of the residents and farmers to determine the average agricultural income of Dulcepamba. This provides both social and economic data for future analysis of the impact of the hydroelectric project on crop production. The team's website is built to disseminate weekly crop water use, precipitation and irrigation needs to residents of the watershed. With a better understanding of irrigation water needs and water availability information, farmers will have the concrete data necessary to collectively apply for water rights in the face of the hydroelectric project’s concession.
Informe de la Comisión de Paz y Verificación, Caso San Pablo de Amalí
La visita a la comunidad efectuada el 21 de Agosto de 2012 tuvo como objetivo evaluar la situación de los derechos humanos y de la naturaleza a través de testimonios de personas afectadas por la incidencia del proyecto y la documentación obtenida de varias fuentes. No se logró acceder a opiniones de funcionarios públicos encargados del proyecto y de autoridades de la compañía Hidrotambo S.A.; sin embargo, levantamos información a partir de fuentes documentales y testimoniales que demuestran las graves afectaciones a pobladores de San Pablo de Amalí. Además, se recorrieron los sitios que serán impactados por la construcción de canales y tendido de tubería contemplados en el proyecto (fuentes de agua, cultivos y viviendas).
Mientras este Informe estaba siendo elaborado ocurrieron varios hechos que dan cuenta de las vulneraciones de derechos que provoca el proyecto San José del Tambo y las implicaciones para la comunidad, su organización y sus líderes. Los acontecimientos referidos son, por un lado, las órdenes de detención emitidas el 12 de Noviembre de 2012 por el Juzgado Quinto de lo Penal del Cantón Chillanes, contra dos dirigentes de San Pablo de Amalí -Manuel Trujillo y Manuela Pacheco-, quienes debieron pasar a la clandestinidad, y por otro, el logro de que dichas órdenes sean revocadas el día 5 de Diciembre de ese mismo año, por la movilización de la comunidad y la presión de diversos actores sociales.
Threats to Ecuadorian Constitutional Rights
The Ecuadorian Constitution gives a human right to water above all other uses, prioritizes water for Food Sovereignty, and explicitly prohibits the privatization of water. Hidrotambo S.A. and the Ecuadorian government have violated these rights by supporting and implementing the San José del Tambo hydroelectric project. Click the link below to browse the Ecuadorian Constitution in English.
Clean Energy, at What Cost? A Thesis
Hydroelectric energy production is contributing to the ‘neo-extractive' development model in Ecuador, and its implementation has often violated Constitutional rights. This thesis is an analysis of natural resource extraction in Ecuador and its social repercussions, with a focus on hydroelectric energy production. It is shown that the hydroelectric industry in Ecuador is not as “clean,” sustainable, or non-extractive as it is purported to be, through a case study of the San José del Tambo hydroelectric project. The thesis also explores international support for hydroelectric extractivism through the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism, which has misleadingly framed many extractive projects, including this one, as “sustainable development.”
There has been very little media in Ecuador or elsewhere about this issue. Below are links to the few articles that have been published (in Spanish) by the Ecuadorian newspapers El Universo and el Comercio.
http://www.eluniverso.com/2006/11/17/0001/12/A0466C1B695E40AE88B7BAC38BC1A1A0.html
http://www.eluniverso.com/2012/11/14/1/1447/orden-prision-dos-opositores-proyecto.html
http://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2013/05/01/nota/891931/hidrotambo-proyecto-que-genera-enfrentamientos
http://www.elcomercio.com/gda/agua-proyecto-hidroelectrico-Tambo-Ecuador_0_913108776.html
Represados
Year of production: 2012
Running Time: 0:33 min
Color / Sound / Subtitled
This documentary tells the human story of the grave threat that a hydroelectric project and accompanying water privatization has posed to the vitality of a farming region in central Ecuador. It includes footage taken by farmers in the Dulcepamba watershed over the past 8 years of their struggle to protect their water, land, and livelihoods. (In Spanish with English Subtitles)
No Nos Quitarán el Río (Spanish)
Year of production: 2012
Running Time: 19:00 min
Producers: Acción Ecologica
La defensa de los ríos es vital en comunidades campesinas del Ecuador. Les presentamos dos casos emblemáticos en defensa del agua y sus tierras: Río Grande y San Pablo de Amalí.
Teleamazonas Channel Report (Spanish)
Year of production: 2012
Running Time: 2:00 min
Producers: Teleamazonas
EN LA PROVINCIA DE BOLÍVAR COMUNEROS DE SAN PABLO DE AMALI SE TOMARON POR VARIAS HORAS EL PROYECTO HIDROELÉCTRICO TAMBO ADUCIENDO QUE SE QUEDARAN SIN EL AGUA PARA LAS COMUNIDADES POR LO QUE LA POLICÍA PROCEDIÓ AL RESGUARDO Y PROTECCIÓN DE LA MAQUINARIA Y DESALOJO MIENTRAS LA EMPRESA CONCESIONARIA ADUCE TENER TODOS LOS PERMISOS.