A monthly report Eco on development and the environment in AE méricas Latin America Final plans filed for dredging of Magdalena River his month a construction consortium deliv- of earth sciences at Medellín’s EAFIT University. ered the Colombian government final plans The government touts the six-year, US$1.3 September 2015 T for the most ambitious engineering project billion effort to rehabilitate over half of the ever undertaken on the Magdalena, Colombia’s 1,000-mile (1,600-km) Magdalena for cargo Vol. 17 - No. 11 longest river. The blueprints call for dredges to transport as a catalyst for economic growth. begin clawing rocks and silt from long stretches Officials say it will cut transport costs for criti- of the murky-green Magdalena early next year as cal exports including coal, oil and minerals by engineers design canals and levees to funnel the 30 to 40%. They also say it will shave green- river’s flow through a narrow channel. house emissions by 20 million metric tons of Inside Environmentalists warn of immense dam- CO2 annually, as cargo shifts from clogged age to the Magdalena’s hydrological and biologi- highways to the river. cal processes and to those of its vast associated “This will revolutionize the economy and Around the region 2 ecosystems. “When you channel a river and lives of Colombians,” President Juan Manuel sever its connections with its drainage basin, its Santos told the press when the government tributaries, floodplains, lagoons and swamps, signed a contract for the work last year with U.S. warns Mexico you kill it,” says Juan Darío Restrepo, a professor continued on page 94 on weak loggerhead sea-turtle protection 3 Drone and satellite policing tested for Cocos Park San José, Costa Rica Ecuadorians can use oachers in Costa Rica’s Cocos Island encompasses 9-square-mile (23-sq-km) Cocos Canadian courts to National Park can run from park rangers; Island, located off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, seek Chevron assets 4 P but thanks to two new electronic surveil- and some 4,492 square miles (11,634 sq kms) lance initiatives, they might soon find it far more of protected ocean waters around it. One has difficult to hide. centered on public scrutiny of satellite images, As solar power gains Conservation groups in recent months the other on monitoring done by drones. in Brazil, solar-panel have been piloting two programs to help gov- Due to the abundance in its waters of plants now in works 5 ernment officials monitor the park, which pelagic species such as dolphins, rays, sharks and tuna as well as much other sea life, Cocos Island CENTERPIECE: is a highly prized marine ecosystem, winning Unesco Chinese investment World Heritage Site status in in region poses new 1997. Yet its marine riches challenges to NGOs attract hundreds of vessels wary of its effects 6 to its waters every year to engage in illegal fishing. Though park rangers Q&A: patrol by boat, they struggle to catch illegal fishermen Kevin Gallagher of in the act. That’s why con- Boston University servation groups this year discusses China’s began testing aerial drones impacts on region 12 and satellite surveillance in hopes of using the new technologies to police the park. The programs’ results have raised the hopes of the Drone being readied for testing at Cocos Island. (Photo by Turtle Island Restoration Network) continued on page 104 EcoAméricas nd ou the r A R

e

Eco g “there was no pollution.” On large Barrick Gold mine that

i Sept. 17, Barrick reported that has been under development.

AE méricas o n 224,000 liters of the cyanide Work on Pascua Lama, solution had been spilled, and which straddles the Argentine- Coverage of Latin American environ- on Sept. 23 it boosted the fig- Chilean border, is currently mental developments and trends for ure to 1,072,000 liters, never- suspended in the wake of liti- academic institutions, businesses, Cyanide-solution spill rekindles theless insisting that “human gation in Chile over potential NGOs and public agencies. debate over mining in Argentina health was not affected.” environmental impacts and The warnings of mining As soon as the spill was concern by the company about Editor & Publisher critics in Argentina proved confirmed, a provincial judge declining world gold prices. George Hatch prescient this month when a ordered that bottled water be Follow-up: Felipe Nelson Saavedra, San valve failure at Barrick Gold’s distributed to downstream Juan Province Minister of Mining, San Design Veladero open-pit gold mine residents and that use of Juan, Argentina, +(54 264) 430-6962, Marina Tubio in San Juan province caused cyanide in the mine be sus- [email protected]; Miguel a cyanide spill on Sept. 13 in pended indefinitely. The judge, Giménez Zapiola, Director of Corporate Subscriptions Manager the Jáchal River watershed. Pablo Oritja, later called on Affairs, Barrick Gold Argentina, +(54 11) Maria Belesis Ensuing criticism of Bar- nine Barrick employees to 5776-6600, comunicacionesargentina@ rick Gold is reverberating in appear before him on Oct. 6. barrick.com. Editorial/Subscriptions Office Argentina not only because For its part, the company Fourth Street Press the spill has drawn a strong announced that 15 employees ◊◊◊ 3 Ellis Square reaction from open-pit mining deemed responsible for the Beverly, MA 01915 opponents, but also because accident had been dismissed, Green groups prevail in fight the country is just weeks away and that they were replaced over Mexican aqueduct plan Tel: (978) 232-9251 from a presidential election. with employees brought in A US$3 billion project in Fax: (978) 232-9351 Making a campaign swing from abroad. Meanwhile, Mexico to build an aque- E-mail: [email protected] through San Juan on Sept. 24, members of the duct serving the northern Web site: www.ecoamericas.com Daniel Scioli, the front-runner Office for Project Services city of Monterrey is being to become president and a (Unops) arrived to assess the canceled, a victory for the member of the party of current spill’s water-quality impacts. many conservation and citi-

th President Cristina Kirchner, The Unops team issued a state- zen groups that opposed it. Press ur Street said that despite the incident, ment saying that “dispersal of Jaime Rodríguez Calderón, Fo Argentina should “continue pollutants from an environmen- who takes office as governor forward” with mining. tal incident is not an instanta- of the state of Nuevo León Ecoméricas is published monthly But another of the six candi- neous phenomenon,” and add- on Oct. 4, has said he will by Fourth Street Press, Inc. It is dates, Margarita Stolbizer, vis- ing that the study will there- not extend the contract his available in print and electronic ver- ited San Juan the next day with fore take considerable time. predecessor signed with a sions. One-year charter subscription a very different message. “Min- In the meantime, the outrage private consortium when rate is $225, with discounts available ing companies have no right to of Jáchal residents has shown it expires this month. for organizations needing multiple ruin our territory,” she said. no signs of dissipating. On Environmental groups subscriptions. Back issues are $20 The first news of the acci- Sept. 25, some 1,000 protes- argued the 372-kilometer (231- Copyright © 2015 by Fourth Street dent spill came in a warning tors made the 150-kilometer mile) aqueduct was simply Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Repro- that a worker at the mine sent (93-mile) trip to the city not necessary and said there duction in whole or part prohibited to his family at their home in of San Juan, the provincial were many other ways to except by permission. the city of Jáchal, 120 kilome- capital, in over 100 cars, assure the long-term water ters (75 miles) downstream of vans and buses and staged a supply to Monterrey, the ISSN 1532-835X Veladero, using the Whatsapp demonstration in which they country’s third largest city. messaging service. It read in called for Veladero’s closure. The incoming governor recyc on led d p e a t p

n e part: “Don’t drink the water.” Veladero, which produces agreed. “We have other alterna-

i

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P Public concern spread imme- some 650,000 ounces of gold tives which would turn out to diately among Jáchal’s 22,000 a year, is situated in the Andes be much cheaper,” he said in a residents, some 400 of whom at an altitude of 4,000 meters Sept. 16 television interview. gathered that evening outside (13,000 feet). Barrick has The Monterrey VI aque- the city’s municipal-govern- said that the US$540 million duct drew fierce opposition ment building to protest the it spent to put the mine into because of its cost and the par- lack of official information. operation in 2005 marks the ticipation of a scandal-tainted Not until the next morning biggest private investment in company in the consortium, Printed on 100% PCW, certified did Barrick Gold acknowledge Argentina since the country’s which was still only in the EcolLogo paper processed chlorine-free that a “cyanide solution” had 2001 economic crisis. Veladero planning stages. Environmental and manufactured using biogas energy. been spilled. At the same time, is less than 10 kilometers (6 groups, among them the U.S.- the company asserted that miles) from Pascua Lama, a continued on page 114

2 September 2015 EcoAméricas

U.S. warns Mexico on bycatch of loggerheads Mexico City, Mexico he United States has sent a blunt message uum. The agency in 2011 introduced a certifica- to Mexican environmental authorities: tion process under the Moratorium Protection T stop your fishing industry from killing Act in an effort to strengthen safeguards against Contacts loggerhead sea turtles or face sanctions. The unregulated fishing and bycatch of endangered National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- marine species. NOAA put Mexico on notice Agustín Bravo Gaxiola tration (NOAA) last month issued a “negative in 2013 for inadequate loggerhead-protection Director certification” to Mexico under a law requiring measures, which meant Mexico had two years Northwestern Office nations that share endangered species with the to align its rules in this area with those of the Mexican Environmental U.S. to ensure their fishing regulations meet U.S. and avoid negative certification. Law Center (Cemda) standards applied in the U.S. Conapesca in April issued rules to boost La Paz, Mexico NOAA argued that Mexico had done turtle protection in the Gulf of Ulloa. They Tel: +(521 612) 165-5109 too little to prevent loggerheads from getting create a so-called Temporary Partial Fishery [email protected] caught in fishing nets in the Gulf of Ulloa, off Reserve of nearly 9,000 square kilometers the coast of Baja California Sur. The negative (3,500 sq miles), and set an annual loggerhead Alejandro Olivera certification has been sent to the White House, turtle mortality limit of 90 turtles. Once that Mexico Representative which determines the penalty. NOAA officials threshold is reached, gillnets and longlines will Center for Biological Diversity declined to forecast possible sanctions, but the be suspended in the reserve from May through La Paz, Mexico pertinent regulations allow for steps including a August, the turtles’ heaviest feeding period. Tel: +(521 612) 104-0604 halt on imports of fish whose capture can result Conapesca also earmarked 2,000 square kilo- [email protected] in bycatch. “It’s unfortunate that it had to get to meters (770 sq miles) of the reserve as a Specif- this kind of sanctions,” says Alejandro Olivera ic Restricted Fishing Area in which large-mesh Sarah Uhlemann of the Center for Biological Diversity in La Paz, gillnets would be banned all year and smaller- Senior Attorney Baja California Sur. Referring to recent—albeit mesh gillnets from May through August. A Center for Biological Diversity apparently insufficient—Mexican measures to third of boats using the reserve must carry Seattle, Washington prevent bycatch, he adds: “The Mexican gov- scientific observers and the rest video surveil- Tel: +(206) 327-2344 ernment has known about this problem for ten lance in conjunction with satellite monitoring. [email protected] years, and until the United States government applied pressure it did nothing.” Protections found wanting Some experts say the plan fails to cover a Documents & Push-back from Mexico big enough area, and complain it will expire in Resources: Mexico’s lead fisheries agency, - two years. The restrictions on fishing gear take al Commission of Aquaculture and Fishing effect in October of this year, though the May- NOAA declares loggerhead tur- (Conapesca), said in a statement that it “regret- through-August foraging season—when the tle populations as endangered: ted” the NOAA decision and suggested the U.S. turtles face the greatest risk—is now over. “So http://bit.ly/LOGGERHEAD government “could have made an informed they let another year go by,” Bravo says. decision about the measures adopted by Mex- NOAA says Mexico’s new rules mark “sig- NOAA Feb. 2015 report to ico to protect the yellow [loggerhead] turtle nificant progress,” but fall short of U.S. turtle- Congress on countries improv- before it identified our country as causing protection standards used in Hawaii and Cali- ing international fisheries the bycatch of these turtles.” The government fornia. For one, the agency says, Mexico’s rules management: would continue working with the U.S. govern- address the size of the net mesh but not how http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/iuu/ ment to reach a solution, Conapesca said. long nets can be left in the water. Also, Mexico msra_page/2015noaareptcongress. Loggerhead turtles swim thousands of failed to impose protections outside the May- pdf miles during their lifetimes from Japan to feed- through-August period and to say how it would ing grounds off the Pacific coast of Mexico, monitor turtle deaths. Experts note the mortal- NOAA decision to give Mexico one of the turtle kingdom’s longest migra- ity cap of 90 turtles far exceeds that applied by a negative certification over tions. NOAA declared the loggerhead (Caretta NOAA in the Hawaii shallow-set longline fish- bycatch of loggerhead turtles: caretta) endangered in 2011, citing population ery. There, the “interaction” of only 34 logger- http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/ declines due to bycatch, poaching and forti- heads with nets triggers closure of the fishery iuu/msra_page/addendum_ fication of beaches to prevent erosion. The for the rest of the year. to_2015report_to_congress.pdf Pacific coast of Baja California Sur is a foraging Sarah Uhlemann, senior attorney and “hotspot” for migrating loggerheads, but also a international director at the U.S. nonprofit Cen- National Commission of rich fishing ground. Estimates vary, but some ter for Biological Diversity, notes Mexico is the Aquaculture and Fisheries studies conclude that as many as 3,000 logger- first country to receive a negative certification (Conapesca) plan to protect heads annually die in gillnets and on longlines. under the Moratorium Protection Act. What turtles off Baja California Sur: “We are very close to a threshold at which the White House does now and how Mexico http://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php? the population could decline very dramatical- reacts, Uhlemann argues, will reveal a lot about codigo=5388487&fecha=10/04/2015 ly,” says Agustín Bravo, director of the north- the power of the certification process. “It sets a western office of the Mexican Center for Envi- really important precedent,” she says. ronmental Law, a leading green group here. The NOAA action does not come in a vac- —Victoria Barnett

September 2015 3 EcoAméricas

Ecuadorians can seek Chevron Canada assets Ottawa, Canada n a 7-0 ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada corporate parents. It also pointed out Chevron this month dismissed an appeal by oil giant “has 100% ownership of every company in the I Chevron that would have stopped - chain between itself and Chevron Canada.” ian Amazon villagers from using Ontario courts Since 1993, plaintiff attorneys have sought to collect US$9.5 billion in damages for envi- redress for oilfield pollution that harmed soils, ronmental contamination in Ecuador. water sources and human health in the Ecua- Chevron had appealed to Canada’s high- dorian Amazon provinces of Sucumbíos and est tribunal last year, challenging a Dec. 2013 Orellana. Chevron never produced oil in Ecua- decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal allow- dor, but became the defendant in the suit in ing the Ecuadorian plaintiffs to launch proceed- 2001 after acquiring . A Texaco subsid- ings aimed at seizing Chevron Canada assets. iary, Texpet, was accused of causing the pollu- The 47 plaintiffs, representing some 30,000 vil- tion as managing partner of oil operations in lagers, say they must do so to collect the $9.5 the area from 1963 to 1972. In 2011, an Ecua- billion that an Ecuadorian court ordered Chev- dorian court issued a US$18.3 billion judgment ron to pay them to remedy years of oilfield pol- against Chevron in the case, but the award was lution in their country’s Amazon region. reduced to $9.5 billion on appeal. With Chev- The Canadian proceeding pitted the prin- ron having sold its assets in Ecuador in 1992, ciples of limited liability between parent cor- plaintiffs are trying to collect on the judgment porations and their subsidiaries against access by seizing company assets in other countries. to justice and the right to effective remedy. Contacts The Sept. 4 ruling states Chevron has suffi- Chevron reacts cient presence in Ontario to warrant jurisdic- On its website, Chevron expressed confi- Steven Donziger tion. “Chevron Canada has a physical office in dence that the $9.5 billion Ecuadorian judgment Attorney for plaintiffs Ontario, where it was served,” Justice Clément against it will prove unenforceable. “Today’s New York, New York Gascon wrote for the court. “Its business activi- decision has no bearing on the legitimacy or Tel: (212) 570-4499 ties at this office are sustained; it has represen- enforceability of the fraudulent Ecuadorian sdonziger@donzigerand tatives who provide services to customers in judgment,” the company said. “Instead, the associates.com the province. Canadian courts have found that Supreme Court of Canada has simply decided jurisdiction exists in such circumstances.” that the Ontario trial court has jurisdiction to entertain further proceedings in the action...” Documents Connection established Steven Donziger, a U.S. attorney who has & Resources Noting that court decisions in other juris- represented the Ecuadorians, said that while dictions, when legitimate, should be respected enforcement of foreign judgments is routine in For the Supreme Court of and enforced, Gascon wrote: “Canadian courts, Canada and around the world, the impact of Canada decision: http://bit.ly/ like many others, have adopted a generous and the Canadian decision will be important. SUPREMEDECISION liberal approach to the recognition and enforce- “The implications of this particular deci- ment of foreign judgments. To recognize and sion are enormous for human rights victims For Chevron comment on the enforce such a judgment, the only prerequisite everywhere, given Chevron’s unprecedented case: www.theamazonpost.com. is that the foreign court had a real and substan- efforts to spend hundreds of millions of dollars tial connection with the litigants or with the to block the courthouse door to these vulner- subject matter of the dispute, or that the tradi- able and long-suffering indigenous and farmer tional bases of jurisdiction were satisfied.” communities,” he stated. Donziger added that Chevron had argued that it has no con- an amended claim has been filed before the nection to Ontario; that it is a legally separate Ontario Superior Court of Justice. company from Chevron Canada, and that it had Donziger is appealing a March 2014 rul- no assets there. Chevron Corp. has no assets in ing by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that the Ecuador for the respondents to pursue there. Ecuadorian judgment was the result of fraud The decision, though, was purely juris- committed by Donziger and others. Kaplan’s dictional. “The establishment of jurisdiction ruling, which blocked pursuit of Chevron does not mean that the plaintiffs will necessar- assets in the United States, decided a suit Chev- ily succeed in having the Ecuadorian judgment ron had filed against Donziger under the Rack- recognized and enforced,” it read. “A finding of eteer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations jurisdiction does nothing more than afford the Act (RICO). “We expect a favorable decision plaintiffs the opportunity to seek recognition on appeal [of the Kaplan ruling], but ultimately and enforcement of the Ecuadorian judgment.” what U.S. courts have to say about the case will While the court noted shares in a subsid- have little or no impact in Canada, given that iary belong to the shareholder, not to the subsid- only Canadian courts have actual jurisdiction iary itself, it did not address the view, advanced for purposes of enforcement,” Donziger says. by Chevron, that subsidiaries are distinct enti- ties and should not be liable for actions by their —Celeste Mackenzie

4 September 2015 EcoAméricas

Brazilian solar policies attract panel makers Rio de Janeiro, Brazil our foreign manufacturers of solar equip- on panel assembly, is erecting a R$40 million ment are planning to set up panel-assem- (US$10.6 million) plant in northeastern Alagoas F bly plants in Brazil, thanks in large part state, with production slated to start in Decem- to efforts by the Brazilian government to spur ber. The other firm set to produce equipment solar power generation through renewable without installing its own solar farms, BYD, energy auctions for project developers and says it is building a R$150 million (US$40 mil- panel makers. lion) plant slated to begin operations in January Such projects will give Brazil its first and to start panel deliveries in April 2016. industrial-scale solar-panel-supply capacity, The birth of a local solar-equipment mar- relieving developers of the need to import vir- ket in Brazil stems in part from the success of tually all their solar panels and most other com- the country’s first solar auction, after which Contacts ponents—and to pay steep import taxes to do most of the investments were announced. (See so. “Assembling solar panels in Brazil will make “Brazil’s first solar-only energy auction finds tak- Gelson Cerutti them much cheaper than foreign-bought pan- ers”—EcoAméricas, Nov. ’14.) At such auctions, Co-owner els subject to import taxes, and this gives us regional distributors buy future solar power Pure Energy a competitive advantage in a market with too under government-set terms from solar-farm Alagoas state, Brazil much solar growth potential to ignore,” says developers. Prices are subject to a government- Tel: +(55 82) 3435-5362 Adalberto Maluf, marketing director of the Bra- set ceiling, and is sold in 20-year contracts. [email protected] zilian subsidiary of BYD, a Chinese company planning one of the plants here. “This is why Strong initial auction Rafael Kelman we expect to have three or more competitors At the first auction, held last October, Director in the next year or two.” distributors bought 889.6 megawatts of future PSR Two of the foreign firms—SunEdison and solar power at an average price of R$215.12 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Canadian Solar—will initially supply equip- (US$86.80) per megawatt hour (MWh). In the Tel: +(55 21) 3906-2129 ment to solar farms that they themselves are second auction, which took place last month, [email protected] installing here in partnership with local devel- distributors contracted for 833.9 megawatts at opers. They are doing so in order to meet pow- an average price of R$301.79 (US$84 per MWh). Audrey Lin er-supply commitments they sold at Brazil’s The Brazilian Photovoltaic Solar Energy Associ- Marketing Director first national solar auction, held in October ation (Absolar), Brazil’s main solar trade group, Canadian Solar U.S. office 2014 and last month. considered both auctions successful, given that San Ramon, California Meanwhile, two other foreign entities a total of 1,723.5 megawatts of power was sold. Tel: +(888) 998-7739 plan to produce panels here but thus far have The second auction was seen as more impres- [email protected] not sought to develop their own solar farms. sive than the first because the sales occurred These are BYD and a joint venture called Pure even though the economy was stagnant last Adalberto Maluf Energy, which comprises the Italian holding year, will have contracted this year by an esti- Marketing Director company BMS, the solar developer Regran, also mated 2% and is expected to continue shrink- Brazilian subsidiary Italian, and the Brazilian construction compa- ing next year, dampening energy demand. of BYD ny Cerutti Engenharia. In the second solar auction, the govern- São Paulo, Brazil ment responded to the demands of solar devel- Tel: +(55 11) 2308-8037 Supplying six farms opers by greatly increasing the ceiling price [email protected] U.S.-based SunEdison announced in of solar power in reais, the local currency, November 2014 it was investing US$30 mil- because the real had devalued by 43% against Rodrigo Lopes Sauaia lion here to assemble solar panels and trackers, the U.S. dollar since the first auction. Executive Director which move solar panels so they face directly The higher ceiling maintained a stable Brazilian Photovoltaic Solar into the sun throughout the day. The panel U.S.-dollar price for solar power for develop- Energy Association (Absolar), plant, to become operational next year at a ers because even with the beginning of a São Paulo, Brazil still-undecided location, will supply six solar nascent solar equipment market, they will still Tel: +(55 11) 3197-4560 farms the company plans to build in northeast- be importing some of their dollar-priced solar [email protected] ern Bahia state. The farms are a joint venture equipment and components. with Renova Energia, Brazil’s largest renewable A third solar auction is planned for Nov. energy company. 13, with the government-set ceiling price The other company slated to build an expected to be comparable in dollars to the equipment plant to supply its own solar farms, ceiling price of the last auction, according to Canadian Solar, confirmed such plans but Absolar. The trade group expects a total of over has declined to provide details. The plant is 1,500 megawatts of energy will have been sold expected to supply eight solar farms Canadian at this year’s two auctions, 40% more than last Solar is installing in a joint venture with local year. The government says it will hold at least developer Solatio Energia in east-central Minas one solar auction annually in the coming years. Gerais state. Pure Energy, the joint venture focusing —Michael Kepp

September 2015 5 EcoAméricas Centerpiece Chinese investors pose challenge for NGOs Quito, Ecuador hen the world’s largest hydroelectric dam builder, Chi- ence decisions by international investors. Those investors, how- na’s state-owned Sinohydro, withdrew from the Agua ever, have typically been multilateral financial institutions such as W Zara project in Honduras in 2013, opponents credited the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) a grassroots campaign by local activists. The campaign’s leader, as well as Western and Japanese companies keen to protect their Berta Cáceres, won the Goldman Prize (the “green Nobel”) this brand images and stock prices. Multilateral banks have created year largely as a result of that effort. formal mechanisms to incorporate NGO and community input But as Cáceres organized members of her indigenous Lenca about the projects they finance. And many Western companies people to block supply roads to the Agua Zarca construction site, have learned that public protests and legal challenges can prove representatives of the U.S.-based environmental group Interna- costly and time consuming. A 2012 report on mining sector trends tional Rivers (IR) were working behind the scenes in Beijing. They released by Deloitte, a global consulting firm, stressed the need to were meeting with Sinohydro executives, providing the kind of address the demands of what it called “restless stakeholders.” By information that a Western company’s community-relations team taking extra steps to be good corporate citizens, Western mining might normally gather on local sentiment and the positions of company executives believe they can insure themselves against civil society groups. nationalizations, additional regulation, higher taxes, lawsuits, and While no one can say which, if either, strategy prompted protests that could hamstring operations. the company’s about-face, the Agua Zarca campaign may prove But civil society groups have had to come to grips as well to be a landmark in the development of relations between Latin with the increasingly powerful presence of Chinese investment. American civil society and the increasingly prominent Chinese In 2010 Chinese loans to Latin America overtook the combined investors sponsoring megaprojects in the region. Some observers total for the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) believe that Latin American civil society leaders and Chinese busi- and U.S. Export-Import Bank, with US$119 billion of credits flow- ness executives might be starting to learn how to deal with each ing to the region during 2005-14, according to Inter-American other. But it could take time. Many Central and South American Dialogue, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. Chinese foreign activists are struggling for ways to understand the modus ope- direct investment in Latin America averaged $10 billion a year randi of these new investors and even how to make initial contact. during 2010-13, according to the Economic Commission for Latin “It is very important to find ways to exert influence,” says America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), a United Nations agency Esperanza Martínez, co-founder of the Quito-based NGO Acción based in Santiago, Chile. The agency does not have a specific esti- Ecológica, and perhaps Ecuador’s most prominent environmental- mate for last year, but says the figure was probably higher. ist. “But we don’t understand them well, and civil society there Funds in such deals have been channeled for the most part is weaker. We understand Europe and the United States better.” into large-scale infrastructure projects and extractive endeavors In recent decades civil society organizations around the such as the Coca Codo Sinclair dam and the Mirador copper mine world have developed a standard playbook of methods to influ- in Ecuador. As they have tried to engage with Chinese investors,

Ecuadorian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Esteban Albornoz, foreground, visits the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project. (Photo courtesy of Ecuadorian Energy Ministry)

6 September 2015 Latin American activists have found their ing in 2009 I began to notice the growing issue.) She says a Peruvian nonprofit called customary tools wanting. “In Ecuador and importance of new actors like the BNDES Law, Environment and Natural Resources around the region, we have figured out [Brazil’s national development bank] and (DAR) is “highly effective” at this. Says Ray: how transnationals from the United States, the Chinese banks,” she says. “It became “[DAR] holds regular public events to culti- Europe and [Latin America] do business,” important to figure out how to exert influ- vate a dialogue about the ongoing process says Mario Melo Cevallos, coordinator of ence on them.” of Chinese investment in Peru.” the Human Rights Center at the Law School The first question Garzón asked her- In that vein, DAR is tracking the activ- of the Catholic University of Ecuador in self was whether Chinese investors had ities of the New Development Bank, which Quito. Melo cites pressure that can be put social and environmental standards and, if is operated by the so-called BRICS coun- on publicly traded companies, a tactic that so, what they were. Civil society organiza- tries of Brazil, China, India, Russia and Ecuadorian activists used in the high-pro- tions spend much of their efforts trying to South Africa, says Martha Torres Marcos- file oilfields pollution case brought against persuade multilateral banks to adhere to Ibáñez, an Amazon specialist with DAR. Chevron. “When it comes to investors their own standards, so maybe the same Many initial efforts parallel the infor- strategy would work with the mation-gathering strategy. International Chinese. That exercise led to Rivers recently published a report rank- an 80-page booklet for local ing the social and environmental practices communities called “Legal at seven Chinese hydroelectric projects Manual on Chinese Environ- around the world, including two in Ecua- mental and Social Regula- dor. The U.S. green group Friends of the tions for Foreign Loans and Earth presented seven case studies address- Investments: A Guide for ing Chinese bank financing for overseas Local Communities.” investments. Two concern Ecuador: Mira- Used since December dor and the Pacific Refinery. Read one of

Protestors in Quito, Ecuador on Aug. 21 with sign read- ing “Chinese mines, get out!” (AP photo, Ana Maria Buitron) from places such as China, Indonesia or India, we don’t understand anything. We don’t understand their logic.” Nor does Salvador Quishpe Lozano, who is the prefect, or governor, of Ecuador’s Zamora Chinchipe province, home of the Mirador deposit. “The Canadians were here before, and I know activist groups put pres- sure on publicly traded companies in the United States, Europe and Canada,” he says. “But with the Chinese it is different because they have a different way of doing things.” That way of doing things typically means focusing tightly on carrying out the Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, right, with Chinese Technology Minister Wang Gang. (Photo by Eduaordo Santillán) project. Says Stephanie Jensen-Cormier, China program director of International 2014 in training workshops for affected the central conclusions: “The case studies Rivers: “They do not have that [communi- communities in Ecuador, the manual has indicate that Chinese banks lack transpar- ty relations] infrastructure built into their prompted campaigns of letter writing ency and sufficient methods of engaging companies.” to Chinese banks about Mirador and the with the public, practices which reduce With the expected slowdown in the Pacific Refinery, a petroleum refinery proj- their access to beneficial information and Chinese economy, experts have forecast ect. The manual also has been presented at input that could improve their [good cor- that the biggest effects for Latin America events in Colombia, Peru and Brazil. Mean- porate governance] compliance.” should be in commodity exports. It is less while, Garzón’s organization has been Another strategy is to make inroads clear to what extent China’s foreign direct publishing a newsletter in Spanish about on public opinion, and not only in Ecuador. investment will be affected. If new Chi- Chinese investment in Latin America. Garzón, Melo and their respective organi- nese initiatives were to dry up, there are Rebecca Ray, a research fellow with zations are working to gather information already enough megaprojects in the pipe- the Global Economic Governance Initia- about large Chinese investments in Ecuador line to keep everyone busy for a while. tive at Boston University’s Frederick S. and then engage with Chinese opinion lead- Paulina Garzón, director of the Chi- Pardee School of Global Studies, catego- ers. “Gather and spread information—that’s na-Latin America Sustainable Investments rizes Garzón’s workshops as one part of a the objective,” says Melo. “And to establish Initiative at in Wash- two-pronged strategy. The other, she says, communication with civil society, both in ington, D.C., was among the first to address involves informing the public about the Ecuador and in China. We want to forge bet- the shift in foreign investment, some of environmental and social impacts of Chi- ter contacts with Chinese universities that which also was driven by Brazil. “Start- nese investment projects. (See Q&A—this continued on page 84

September 2015 7 EcoAméricas

continued from page 7

might be interested in working together.” Back in Beijing, environmental organiza- For their part, Latin American student tions such as International Rivers do their best groups are trying to link up with their Chinese to convey the kind of input to Chinese compa- counterparts. During the COP 20 climate sum- nies that Western firms would gather through mit in Lima, Peru, last year, students from Ecua- their community-relations departments. dor’s indigenous Yasuní ethnic group reached They’ve been talking with executives at Sino- out to young people from China and elsewhere. hydro regularly for the last five or six years With abundant petroleum reserves, Yasuní and making contact with other Chinese com- lands have become a focal point for debates panies involved in financing and investment in about oil drilling, including by Chinese compa- Latin America. “When we bring information nies. The students set up an informal network [to the companies], they are interested,” says called the Climate Change Non-Adapters. “We Jensen-Cormier. Esperanza Martínez, co-founder of the have a lot in common with Chinese youth,” Quito-based group Acción Ecológica. says Elena Galvez, a Yasuní youth leader. Cultural gap Still, a wall of silence often prevails. Móni- After International Rivers released its ca López Baltodano, executive director of the above-mentioned report, a Chinese company Contacts Popol Na Foundation, a Nicaraguan nonprofit, that had received poor marks for its behavior describes her organization’s efforts to contact in Cambodia, partially because of its lack of Mario Melo Cevallos the Chinese company HKND Group, which transparency, contacted the group to clarify its Coordinator won the concession to build a canal across policies, she says. Jensen-Cormier and others Human Rights Center her country. (See “Canal project still a puzzle note that the corporate cultural gap between Department of Law after formal start”—EcoAméricas, Feb. ’15, and China and Latin America might be wider than Catholic University of Ecuador “Impact report on Nicaraguan canal issued, but some people think. That could engender unin- Quito, Ecuador not to public”—EcoAméricas, Aug. ’15.) tended communication breakdowns. “In Latin Tel: +(59 32) 2991-700, America people are aware and outspoken,” she ext. 1427 Hard to engage says. “It is a different way of doing things. With [email protected] Popol Na’s research revealed HKND not protests. That is not the norm in China.” to be a “real” company, but a consortium of 16 From the point of view of Chinese busi- Salvador Quishpe Lozano others. “It didn’t have an office in the country,” ness executives, “They build to satisfy their cli- Prefect (Governor) López Baltodano says, adding that its legal local ents, which are often governments,” says Jen- Zamora Chinchipe address was that of a Managua law firm. Popol sen-Cormier. “A lot of times they do not have Zamora, Ecuador Na says HKND appeared to be using office that infrastructure [for community relations] Tel: +(593) 2605-132, ext. 104 space at the headquarters of Enatrel, Nicara- built into their companies.” They don’t realize prefectura@zamora-chinchipe. gua’s state-owned electric power transmission that a project can fail “if a lot of stakeholders gob.ec company, but had trouble confirming even are against it.” that. “They don’t answer the phone,” she says. Latin American civil society leaders are Paulina Garzón “They don’t want to receive letters. We have to quick to say they are not opposed to the concept Director send messengers. It is impossible to communi- of Chinese investment. “It is neither necessary China-Latin America cate with the company.” nor helpful to demonize Chinese investors, to Sustainable Investments The wall extends to places where physi- convert Chinese investors into an enemy,” says Initiative cal proximity would seem to make silence Melo. “That would be wrong. Instead we need Washington, D.C. impossible. “I don’t have any contact with the to better understand their agenda and their Tel: (202) 885-1000 Chinese,” says Quishpe, the Ecuadorian provin- strategies; and to understand whether these cial governor. “We share the streets and trails agendas and strategies are compatible with the Stephanie Jensen-Cormier of our little city of Zamora with them, because long-term agendas and strategies of our coun- China Program Director there are a lot of Chinese citizens around. I try; and find points of agreement.” International Rivers don’t know what they do, but it seems to me Garzón argues that Chinese investors may Beijing, China that many of them are common laborers.” ultimately be driven to reach out to activists for Tel: +(86 186) 1833-1872 Quishpe believes that instead of trying to the same reason as their Western counterparts. [email protected] pressure the Chinese, local activists should get “It is in the interest of Chinese investors to their own national governments to uphold their begin to establish relationships with civil soci- Esperanza Martinez laws and standards. “There is no dialogue,” he ety where they operate in Latin America,” she Co-founder says. “I have not tried to talk to them myself. says. “The risk you run for not having a ‘social Acción Ecológica I don’t think I have anything to discuss with license’ is very high.” Quito, Ecuador them. We have a constitution, and our national Tel: +(593) 3211-103 government is responsible for upholding the —Bill Hinchberger [email protected] law. Our message has always been directed to our national government.” (Repeated efforts (A portion of the reporting for this article to contact officials at the Chinese Embassy in was supported by a grant from the Mongabay Quito were unsuccessful.) Foundation.)

8 September 2015 EcoAméricas

Magdalena dredging continued from page 1

Navelena, a consortium comprising the Brazil- southern Colombia to the nation’s Atlantic ian construction company Odebrecht and its ports in the north. Colombian partner, Valorcon. The engineering challenge for Navelena, Since the delivery of final plans for the the construction consortium, is to dredge and work on Sept. 11, however, environmentalists deepen the river from Puerto Salgar to Barran- have stepped up warnings that the hydrology of cabermeja and from Barrancabermeja to the the Magdalena, whose sediment load is among coast. The consortium also will build canals the world’s heaviest, makes such a project too and levees to send the Magdalena through a complex. “These engineers only see the river narrower course, increasing its force and abil- as a channel for laying cement,” says Restrepo. ity to flush out sediments. “They don’t see the river as an integrated drain- That, according to government officials, age basin.” should allow convoys of barges typically hauling The fight over the future of the Magdalena 7,200 tons of cargo—the equivalent of 240 trac- comes as Colombia confronts some of the highest tor-trailers—to ply the river year round. Travel cargo costs in Latin America, with its limited net- time from Bogotá to the coast will be cut in half, work of roads and its trucks backed up on moun- from 12 days to six. Total cargo transported on tain passes. It simultaneously raises hopes for the Magdalena is projected to rise from 1.5 mil- more efficient transport and fears that wetlands, lion tons in 2011 to 10 million tons in 2029. fishing resources and vulnerable fauna, already “The country will come to see the river as under pressure, could be further harmed. a strategic ally of its economy,” said Navelena President Jorge Barragán, in an April interview with the Colombian daily El Espectador. “This Contacts “The majority of ecosystem services project is completely viable.” The Magdalena’s environment, however, Juan Darío Restrepo are provided not from the river itself, already is in rough shape, experts say. Lead, Professor of Earth Sciences mercury, and other toxins from thousands of EAFIT University but from its floodplains and its wetlands. farms and factories along the river, as well as Medellín, Colombia untreated sewage from riverside communities, Tel: +(574) 261-9500, Interfering with that system could have pared the number of fish species recorded ext. 9329 in the mid-20th century from 130 to 20 today. [email protected] have a dramatic impact...” In addition, populations of iconic species such as the West Indian manatee (Trichechus Sandra Vilardy — Sandra Vilardy manatus), the American crocodile (Crocody- Professor of Ecology lus acutus), and the Magdalena River turtle Magdalena University (Podocnemis lewyana) have plummeted. Some Santa Marta, Colombia From colonial times to the mid-20th cen- species could face local extinctions even with- Tel: +(57 5) 430-1292 tury, the Magdalena was the principal artery of out the dredging project. [email protected] commerce in Colombia, linking Andean popu- The planned river work will only make lations and manufacturing centers in the inte- the situation worse, environmentalists say. rior of the country with the ports of Cartagena The dredging of the riverbed will particularly and Barranquilla on the Atlantic coast. Exports affect species of fish and reptiles that use the and imports travelled easily through its waters river bottom as their habitat. The channeling on flat-bottomed riverboats. River ports, tucked of the river with canals and levees, meanwhile, into the thick jungles on its banks, grew pros- will prevent water from reaching the wet- perous with trade. lands along the river’s edge, thereby drying But tectonic processes in the Andes com- those ecosystems during the parched summer bined with heavy rains, landslides and defor- months, starving them of nutrients and inter- estation carried out to accommodate farms, fering with their life cycle. mines, and ranches have spurred erosion. Sedi- “The majority of ecosystem services are mentation in the river has increased by around provided not from the river itself but from its a third in just the last 10 years, according to floodplains and its wetlands,” says Sandra Vilar- various studies. dy, a professor of ecology at the University of The Magdalena has become so shallow in Magdalena in Colombia’s Caribbean coast city parts that navigation is no longer possible on of Santa Marta. a critical stretch joining Puerto Salgar, a river Adds Vilardy: “Interfering with that sys- port close to the capital, Bogotá, to Barrancab- tem could have a dramatic impact, in part ermeja, another river port located 155 miles because this is where the fish reproduce, the (250 kms) to the north. That has meant sev- turtles lay their nests and the birds eat.” eral days of expensive extra hauling by truck of products such as the coal and oil sent from —Steven Ambrus

September 2015 9 EcoAméricas

Aerial-surveillance project continued from page 1

green groups and the country’s National Sys- wildlife with infrared cameras. Drones have tem of Conservation Areas (Sinac) alike. been used in Costa Rica before to detect illegal Since August, people from all over the shrimp trawling, but the team was unsure how world have participated in a satellite moni- they would perform in the marine environ- toring campaign organized by the U.S. green ment around Cocos Island, where rainfall can group Turtle Island Restoration Network using reach 20 feet a year. The pilot program proved the crowd-sourcing platform at Tomnod.com. successful, and surveillance drones are expect- The platform shows anyone with a computer, ed to launch in the park sometime next year. a fast Internet connection and a few hours of Able to fly for 40 continuous hours and time how they can patrol the park by looking travel more than 2,000 miles, the drones can through satellite photos. survey the park—and collect visual evidence It has been used in the past for search and for use in prosecutions—more efficiently than rescue missions and to help map flood damage, patrol boats can. but so far more than 11,500 people have moni- tored the waters of Cocos Park on Tomnod. Scrolling through images of the park waters, “We aren’t sure what is going to be the users are instructed to watch for the disruptive streaks of a vessel’s wake. Once a boat is spot- thing that works and finally shuts down ted, volunteers can tag it for later inspection by Contacts Turtle Island Restoration Network. illegal fishing, but we want to try any The beta program started with archived Randall Arauz images provided by satellite imaging company President DigitalGlobe, which owns Tomnod. The cam- and all available technologies. We think Pretoma paign quickly became one of Tomnod’s most San Jose, Costa Rica successful, spurring DigitalGlobe to task its sat- all of this new technology could have a Tel: +(506) 8344-3711 ellites with taking 10 new photos of the park [email protected] at the same time each day. The campaign ran big role in conservation in the future.” until Sept. 15. Geiner Golfín “We are just curious to see how it works. — Joana Nasar Administrator If nothing else, we are certainly getting a lot of Cocos Island National Park attention for Cocos Island,” says Joanna Nasar, Tel: +(506) 8910-9806 director of communications for Turtle Island “Illegal fishers can see approaching patrol [email protected] Restoration Network. “We want to get the final boats…and flee or cut their nets free,” says results and see what we can do with them.” Todd Steiner, the executive director of Turtle Joanna Nasar Not all of the results have been reviewed, Island Restoration Network. “When they cut Director of Communications but so far no poachers have been identified their nets free, it is impossible to prove they are Turtle Island in the satellite images. Still, several legal dive fishing and makes convictions in court improb- Restoration Network boats were tagged in the data reviewed so able. On the other hand, [the aerial drones] Boulder, Colorado far, indicating that users can easily recognize can sit in the air above without being seen and Tel: (415) 488-7711 boats in the images. Tomnod and Turtle Island record and document what is going on with- [email protected] Restoration Network are also exploring the out poachers knowing their illegal actions are combined use of radar and satellite images to being documented.” improve the odds of finding illegal boats. Coordinating with the Costa Rican Envi- The experimentation has shown that ronment Ministry, the groups say that any the satellite surveillance not only could help video evidence they gather as a result of their curb poaching, but also could serve the goal electronic monitoring could be brought to bear of marine conservation in the Cocos Island in legal proceedings against violators. reserve in other ways. While the specific legal details have not “We got reports that there was a whale been ironed out, conservationists believe such spotted in the images,” Nasar says. “So that is efforts could significantly improve protection another potential cool use of satellites; if we of Cocos Island Park. can actually see wildlife migrating, it could “We aren’t sure what is going to be the help with research.” thing that works and finally shuts down illegal Poachers that manage to go undetected fishing, but we want to try any and all avail- by the legions of Internet lookouts will have to able technologies,” says Nasar of Turtle Island watch the skies for fast-moving aerial drones. Restoration Network. “We think all of this new In May, Turtle Island Restoration Net- technology could have a big role in conserva- work, Sinac and the Costa Rican ocean-conser- tion in the future.” vation group Pretoma tested aerial drones as a means of tracking illegal fishing and migrating —Lindsay Fendt

10 September 2015 EcoAméricas

Around the Region continued from page 2 based Nature Conservancy, home and to protest Vilhalva’s Council (Cimi), Brazil’s most sugar plantations in harsh raised concerns over possible murder, a procession of some respected and influential indig- conditions and for little pay. impacts on the Pánuco River, 30 tribal members carried a enous-rights group. And 25 of Others work in low-paying which would have been the coffin and a banner reading those murdered were Guarani jobs in nearby towns. source for the aqueduct. “Enough Genocide” to the Kaiowá, says the report, which Pressures from the resulting Instead, reforestation can Supreme Court and the Presi- is entitled “Violence Against poverty have led to alcohol- help replenish the aquifer dential Palace in the national Indigenous Peoples” and was ism, enabled by bars that have and restore a degraded river capital of Brasília on Sept. 1. issued in June of this year. No sprung up in and outside basin to increase the supply Vilhalva was among 1,500 other region registered over the reservations. Evangelical of water to Monterrey, crit- Guarani Kaiowá living in an 15 tribal murders in 2014, but churches, meanwhile, have ics of the plan contend. encampment located on the Mato Grosso do Sul has aver- attracted many younger tribal “The state needs more new, much larger reservation aged 35 annually since 2003, members, who have increas- water—sufficient, and of that the government cre- and 65 a year since then. ingly come into conflict high quality,” says Cosijoo- ated for them in March 2005 The Cimi report says that of with elders over religious pii Montero, director of the but has yet to demarcate. the 18 regions where 135 Indi- and cultural questions. local environmental group The delay occurred because an suicides occurred in 2014, With depression all too Extreme Reforestation. in July 2005, the Chief Justice four dozen happened in Mato common among them, young Environmental groups expect of Brazil’s Supreme Court Grosso do Sul state, where the Guarani Kaiowá account for Rodríguez to appoint a new suspended the decree that Guarani Kaiowá are by far the the bulk of suicides. In 2014, director of the local utility, creates the reservation, and biggest tribe. In the 17 other 66% of the Guarani Kaiowá Monterrey Water and Drains the full court still hasn’t regions, all but one had single- who took their lives were (SADM), which had promoted ruled on the question. digit suicides. Mato Grosso do tribal members aged 15 to 29, the aqueduct, and they are The decade of inaction in Sul state has averaged 47 indig- according to the Cimi report. arguing for a role on the the case has allowed ranch- enous suicides a year since Experts see resolution of agency’s board. Says Montero: ers to stay on the land, which 2000, according to the report. the land disputes as essential “We won’t allow things to hap- they and the Indians claim “The high number of Gua- in addressing the pressures at pen the same way again.” as their own. Tension over rani Kaiowá suicides and work on the tribe, and they Follow up: Cosijoopii Montero, President, this state of affairs fueled murders has mainly been point their finger mainly at the Extreme Reforestation, Monterrey, the Aug. 30 clash between caused by their living in very government and the courts. Mexico, +(521 81) 1212-3347, rex@ encamped Indians and a group small, extremely overcrowded “The government is mainly to reforestacionextrema.org. of 100 ranchers accompanied reservations and by their blame for trying to create new by hired gunmen, result- clashes with armed ranchers Guarani Kaiowá reservations ◊◊◊ ing in Vilhalva’s murder. when attempting to reclaim without relocating displaced The 45,000-member Gua- land on which they once farmers and ranchers and fairly Killing of Brazilian tribal leader rani Kaiowá people are the lived,” says Cimi’s executive indemnifying them for capital puts spotlight on land conflicts second-largest indigenous secretary, Cleber Buzatto. improvements, such as build- The Aug. 30 murder of a group in Brazil, but occupy Says tribal leader Daniel ings on the land,” says Marco Brazilian tribal leader has just 0.06% of Mato Grosso do Vasques Kaiowá: “When our Antonio Delfino Almeida, a fed- rekindled concern about Sul state. Most of the tribe land is taken from us, our eral prosecutor in Mato Grosso land conflicts here, particu- lives on eight reservations lives are also taken away. do Sul state. “But legal foot- larly those that for decades covering a total of 300 square When we attempt to take dragging by the Supreme Court have contributed to the high kilometers (116 square miles) back our land, we are trying and federal court decisions in rate of assassinations and in villages so overcrowded that to reclaim the lives we lost.” favor of the ranchers and farm- suicides among the victim’s they resemble refugee camps. The Guarani Kaiowá had ers with land titles is partly to people, the Guarani Kaiowá. A small percentage of tribal been living on about 20% blame for the tribe still mainly The tribal leader, Semião Vil- members inhabit land they of what is now Mato Grosso being confined to the eight halva, was killed during a clash have reclaimed. Other groups do Sul state until the 1930s, small reservations where it with local cattle ranchers try- of Guarani Kaiowá live in when the government spurred was originally relocated.” ing to run a group of Guarani roadside encampments next western settlement by hand- Follow-up: Cleber Buzatto, Executive Kaiowá off land earmarked as a to areas they once inhabited ing out land titles to migrat- Secretary, Indigenous Missionary Council new reservation for them. The and are trying to reclaim, ing farmers and ranchers. All (Cimi), Brasília, Brazil, +(55 61) 2106- Guarani Kaiowá, who inhabit an effort that sometimes 10,000-15,000 Guarani Kaiowá 1650, [email protected]; Daniel the western state of Mato costs them their lives. were forcefully relocated to the Vasques Kaiowá, Guarani-Kaiowá, leader, Grosso do Sul, have for decades Forty-one of the 138 assas- eight small reservations where Aral Moreira, Mato Grosso do Sul state, accused Brazil’s government sinations of Brazilian Indians 45,000 of them now live. +(55 67) 9917-1934, daniellemesvasque and courts of deliberately caus- last year occurred in Mato On these reservations, the [email protected]; Marco Antônio Delfino ing genocide by failing to pro- Grosso do Sul state, one of tribe lacks land to do subsis- Almeida, Federal Prosecutor in Mato vide their long-suffering tribe 20 areas where such violence tence farming, let alone hunt- Grosso do Sul state, Campo Grande, Mato with ample land to inhabit. occurred, according to a report ing and fishing. Young male Grosso do Sul state, +(55 67) 3411-1700, To drive that accusation by the Indigenous Missionary members work on nearby [email protected].

September 2015 11 EcoAméricas Q&A: Multi-university group assesses Chinese impact in region Kevin Gallagher, a professor of global develop- by the enforcement of regulations and-or the ment policy at Boston University, is cofounder of a environmental sector, we find evidence that research network called the Working Group on De- they can perform better. That’s why we lay the velopment and Environment in the Americas. Draw- responsibility at the feet of Latin American gov- ing on university investigators across the Western ernments. After all, these are Latin American Hemisphere, the network is coordinated by re- resources, ecosystems and peoples that are in search centers at the University of Buenos Aires in jeopardy. When governments and civil society Argentina, the University of the Pacific in Peru, and enforce their own rules and hold firms account- Boston University and Tufts University in the United able, better social and environmental outcomes States. Recently, the network produced a report prevail. That is what we found. For example in titled “China in Latin America: Lessons for South- Peru, the [Chinese] firm Chinalco has rapidly South Cooperation and Sustainable Development.” responded to environmental challenges around The report examined two questions: to what extent its [copper] mine and had numerous consulta- has China independently influenced environmental tions and engagements with local civil society. and social change in Latin America, and to what Chinese firms like Chinalco typically take a lon- degree does the social and environmental perfor- ger view of their assets, as opposed to a western mance of Chinese companies investing in the region firm that is more likely to sell its assets during differ from that of their counterparts. Gallagher a downturn. Because of this the Chinese firms, discussed the findings recently with EcoAméricas at their best, are more apt to work to build lon- editor and publisher George Hatch. Kevin Gallagher ger-term relationships with communities and governments. But in the Chinese case, they are Has Chinese demand for commodities caused environmental degra- globalizing into countries with higher standards. This is new dation in Latin America? to them. Pressure has to be applied from governments and also We confirm this. China has been a significant and indepen- from civil society. dent driver of environmental degradation in the region since the turn of the century. It has driven economic growth, but growth Even if governments in the region were to hold foreign investors to that has been based on the region selling China primary com- higher standards, how would they address the intense pressure that modities such as soybeans and metals. Such production and global demand generally, and Chinese demand in particular, are put- export are highly land intensive, often involving land conver- ting on the region’s natural resources? sion in highly forested areas and thus accentuating pressure on Latin America, especially South America, faces a blessing everything from local livelihoods to global climate change. We and a curse. It has a comparative advantage in primary com- find Latin American exports to China are two times more CO2 modities. But when prices and demand for commodities are intensive and ten times more water intensive than the region’s high, the region grows and [the countries] play economic catch- economies as a whole. And Chinese demand for commodities can up so much that they neglect the environment. And when pric- ignite more of this type of extractive activity by U.S. and Cana- es and demand go down, they don’t want to place a burden on dian firms by driving up commodity prices. We confirm China the engines of growth. So it’s a built-in conundrum. They live as an independent driver of environmental degradation not only on commodity boom-and-bust cycles, [which means] the con- because its demand increases pressure to get minerals out of the stituency for a low carbon economy is not there. We document mountain; but also because to get minerals out of the mountain, that the commodity boom emboldened many of these interest you need chemicals and water. The report documents case after groups, like ruralists in Brazil to put downward pressure on the case of that. Forest Code [Brazil’s main forest-protection law]. In Peru, now that demand for commodities has gone down because Chinese A common criticism is that Chinese firms active in Latin America demand for commodities is going down, the government is so are less sensitive to environmental and social concerns than their concerned that they’re streamlining environmental regulations. international counterparts working in the region. Is that the case? This is happening across the region. As growth slows there is a We were surprised to find that Chinese companies are desperate attempt to get any kind of investment possible, even not always the most egregious in their social and environmen- if that means turning a blind eye to social and environmental tal behavior. It is important to make a distinction between the regulations. Moving forward, China can be part of the conversa- growth in exports to China as a driver of environmental degra- tion; but Latin America needs to prioritize environmental sus- dation and whether Chinese firms operating in Latin America is tainability and social inclusion on economic, environmental, the problem. These are two different questions. Some actors in and social grounds. To their credit, the Chinese are committing the region and globally tend to paint China as a straw man, but to tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure in the region. If to a certain extent that’s not fair. It’s not always the case that Latin America had a plan for integrating low-carbon and social- Chinese companies are any better or worse than other compa- ly inclusive infrastructure programs, the Chinese might invest nies in terms of their social and environmental performance. even more. Indeed, in a new joint fund with the Inter-American As an example, in Peru there’s a large metals smelting and refin- Development Bank the Chinese are financing wind farms in ing operation formerly owned by the U.S. mining company Doe Uruguay, but that’s what Uruguay has asked for. More broadly, Run and for years the source of widespread pollution in the Latin America must build from its strength in primary commodi- Andean community of La Oroya. Compared to that firm, the ties and diversify to manufacturing and services in order to tran- Chinese companies are exemplary. When they are pressured sition to a low-carbon economy in a socially inclusive manner.

12 September 2015