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Xingu River

The Xingu River flows from the tropical savanna of central Mato Grosso, Brazil northward to the Amazon for 1,979 km (1,230 miles). Some 25,000 indigenous people from 18 distinct ethnic groups live along the Xingu. In 1989, an international mobilization led by the Kayapó Indians stopped state-owned electric company Eletronorte´s plans to construct a six-dam complex on the Xingu and its tributary, the Iriri. Map of the Rivers of the Amazon Wikipedia Commons In 2016, Brazil completed construction of a huge dam on the Xingu River, called Belo Monte. Belo Monte will be the third-largest hydroel

Mexico

Reservoir of Malpaso Dam in Chiapas
Twenty large dams have already been built on Mexico’s rivers. Mexico boasts the highest dam in the Americas and the sixth largest dam in the world: the Chicoasén Dam in Chiapas State. Mexico’s dams have forcibly displaced more than 167,000 people. The Temascal Dam in Oaxaca displaced close to 25,000 Mazatec indigenous peoples, a nation that spoke 56 languages. Most were not compensated for their land and losses, and when they protested their homes were set on fire. Promises of electricity and irrigation were not met, and close to 200 displaced people died.

Madeira River

Madeira River vista
The Madeira River is the Amazon's largest and most important tributary. Spanning about a quarter of the Brazilian Amazon, the Madeira Basin is a treasure trove of biodiversity, providing home to the spotted jaguar, giant otter, pink dolphin, and countless other endangered mammal species. The river teems with life – an estimated 750 fish species migrate some 4,500 km each year to spawn and feed in the nutrient-rich, muddy waters of the upper Madeira. But all this is under threat. The Brazilian government is building two massive hydroelectric dams on the Madeira. Construction of these project

La Parota Dam

In 2003, the Mexican Federal Electricity Commission proposed the construction of La Parota Dam in the State of Guerrero. The 900 MW dam on the Papagayo River would have flooded close to 17,000 hectares of land and displace more than 25,000 people. The project was officially cancelled on August 16, 2012.

Third Meso-American Forum Against Dams

Saturday, July 17, 2004
Carolina, San Miguel, El Salvador 2004 THE CAROLINA DECLARATION In the municipality of Carolina, department of San Miguel, El Salvador, 536 people affected by and at risk of displacement due to the construction of dams and projects to privatize water as promoted by governments, transnational companies and financial institutions, from the Meso-American region and other international communities, we have come together at the Third Meso-American Forum Against Dams to share our struggles and problems and to build strategies to defend our lives. For three days, we, women and men from Panama, Cost

Declaration of the Second Mesoamerican Forum Against Dams

Thursday, July 24, 2003
DECLARATION OF THE SECOND MESOAMERICAN FORUM AGAINST DAMS: "FOR THE WATER AND LIFE OF OUR COMMUNITIES La Esperanza, Intibuca, Honduras July 18th to the 24th, 2003 Preoccupied by the rising invasion of repressive construction projects that huge transnational corporations and multilateral organisms in alliance with the corrupt governments of the Mesoamerican region impose, approximately 150 of us come together: displaced, widowed, orphaned, we are survivors of the repression. Download document

Declaration from the Mesoamerican Forum for Life

Saturday, March 23, 2002
Declaration from the Mesoamerican Forum for Life "WATER, LIGHT, AND LAND FOR ALL!" Cooperativa Unión Maya Itzá, Petén Guatemala Unión Maya Itzá, Petén, Guatemala, 23 de marzo de 2002 Between March 21st 23rd, men and women representing 98 organizations and communities from 21 countries met faced with the general preoccupation caused by the plans for the construction of dams with different ends in different regions. The Mesoamerican Movement Against Dams and for Rivers was formed at this meeting. Download document

Statement of Fortaleza

Friday, December 9, 2005
Read the Latin American Declaration for a New Water Culture. 

Paraguay-Paraná Hidrovia

Pantanal wetlands site planned for barge port, Mato Grosso
The hidrovia is a plan by the five countries of the La Plata Basin to convert the Paraguay and Paraná rivers into an industrial shipping channel. The original studies for this project were resoundingly rejected as a result of independent technical critiques, organized by the Rios Vivos Coalition, which not only disseminated technical objections to the project, but also helped organize a broad–based coalition of environmental, social, and indigenous organizations to discuss alternatives to the hidrovia with local communities throughout the region.

The Chixoy Declaration

Friday, October 21, 2005
The Latin American Network against Dams and for Rivers, their Communities, and Water Colonia El Naranjo, Cubulco, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala From the lands of Chixoy, the river whose waters carry the blood of 444 Guatemalan farmers - indigenous people, women, youth, children, and elders who resisted the construction of the dam and for this reason were massacred in 1982 by the repressive Guatemalan military. 418 representatives of Indigenous and Black populations, women, farmers, and representatives of social organizations, environmental groups, religious institutions, human rights groups, organiz

Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams

Thursday, October 4, 2001
“A truly dazzling book” – Arundhati Roy This ground-breaking book explains the history and politics of dam building worldwide and shows why large dams have become the most controversial of technologies. It describes the many technical, safety and economic problems which afflict the technology, the structure of the international dam–building industry, and the role played by international banks and aid agencies in promoting the technology in the South. Silenced Rivers also tells the story of the rapid growth of the international anti–dam movement. It stresses how replacing large dam

Call to Action 2009

International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life MARCH 14th, 2009"A river, like a sunset, does not discriminate between gender, ethnicity or class." Rivers provide freshwater and support life. A dam, however, does discriminate, and creates winners and losers in the process. When dams go up and a river's water is turned into a commodity, the losers include those whose communities and farmlands are flooded, and the even greater number impacted by the loss of their natural resources downstream. Because dams are so costly and, in this changing climate, unrelia

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