Once again large public works schemes are a cause for concern
for Brazilian Indians. Now it is the turn of the Guarani Mbya people
who live near the State capital of Sao Paulo. The Government pretend
to build three dams on the Capivari river, which it alleges to be
necessary to ensure water supply for the city. Even though the
territory of the Guarani will not actually be flooded should the dams
be built, the Indians will nonetheless be affected as the water level
in the Rio Branco, a river upon which the survival of the Guarani
virtually depends and which receives much of its water from the
Capivari, will be greatly reduced. The work-sites that the dam builders
propose to erect will be located near to one of the Indian villages,
and there are fears that the game upon which the Indians depend for
their nourishment and cultural survival will be greatly diminished.
The building of the three dams will flood an area of 12 square
kilometers of a region covered with some of the last remnants of great
Atlantic Forest which formerly extended over the whole of the Brazilian
coastal region. Guarani Indians living in the Indigenous Areas of Rio
Branco, Barragem, and Krukutu will be affected. The cost of the project
has been estimated at US$ 130 million, of which the World Bank is
expected to put up half and the Government of the State of Sao Paulo to
come up with the other half.
The reduced volume of water in the Rio Branco will imply the loss
of an important source of livelihood for the Guarani, while the
erection of construction sites close to their villages will bring about
radical changes in their way of life, and most certainly lead to
indiscriminate contact with construction workers. Such contacts have
in the past invariably led to prostitution, alcohol abuse, a rise in
the incidence of diseases and especially of VD in Indian communities.
The Indians are aware of the threat and have carried out
demonstrations to protest against the construction projects. Nhemboaty
Guassu Guarani, Guarani Indigenous Action, the Tembiguai Indigenous
Association, and the Guarani Indiagenous Association of the Village
of Pico do Jaragua are among those who have raised their voices to
denounce the effects that they will suffer should the dam
projects be allowed to proceed.
Environmental groups have presented alternatives to the building
of the dams. Currently 30% of the treated water in Sao Paulo is lost
through faulty distribution, a figure which represents a greater
volume of water than the Capivari could ever supply. Industries in
Sao Paulo waste large volumes of treated water washing products, and
the elimination of such waste could render the dams unnecessary.
As current projections show that the dams would only provide a solution
for the city's water supply problem until the year 2000, it seems that
great construction companies the are only ones likely to benefit from
the project.
The Office of the Attorney General has proposed to take civil
public proceedings against the project and to embargo the start of
constrution. According to a writ, Republic,"the idea of this
enterprise is unacceptable", in view of the irreparable damages it
would cause.
Brasilia, 10 December 1992
CIMI - Indianist Missionary Council