El Quimbo Hydroelectric Dam and Its Human Rights Impacts
Featured Guest Speaker:
Miller Dussán Calderón
University of Southern Colombia, Professor and Human Rights Defender
(PhD, Sociology and Education)
In 2008 the Colombian government, through the National Economic and Social Policy Council (CONPES), authorized the construction of several hydroelectric dams in various regions of the country and simultaneously arranged financing for the system. One such dam is planned for the Quimbo region, a territory that is home to more than 300,000 inhabitants who for many years have organized themselves in community cooperatives that produce an estimated $18.5 million USD annually. Furthermore, the region boasts 842 hectares of riparian forest, many fish species essential to the inhabitants’ food sovereignty, over 100 species of birds, and numerous species of reptiles and mammals in danger of extinction.
The construction of the Quimbo Dam would cover over 8,500 hectares, more than half of which is productive farmland, and would flood six municipalities, mostly located in a protected Forest Reserve in the Amazon and the Colombian Massif. At the same time, it would displace more than half of the population of the Quimbo region. Thus, the con-struction of the hydroelectric dam poses a grave humanitarian crisis for the region and a major environmental disaster.
Confronted by what seems an overwhelming catastrophe for their communities, El Quimbo inhabitants established the Association of People Affected by the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project (ASOQUIMBO), a grassroots organization that defends the civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental interests of the territory.
During his US tour, Professor Dussán Calderón will describe the actions that the local com-munity and ASOQUIMBO have taken to prevent the disaster that the construction of the hydroelectric dam poses to the region, and offer ideas about what we in the US can do to help. You can also hear Prof. Calderón at these venues in the Boston area:
Sun, 9/22, 12:00-1:00 pm, Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury Street, Boston
Tues, 9/24, 10:00 am, WUNR-1600 AM, Radio Internat’l, “Magacin,” w/ William Pena Lopera
Tuesday, 9/24, 7:00-9:00 pm, MIT, Main Building, 77 Mass Ave, Rm 1-246
Wednesday, 9/24, 10:00 am, WUNR-1600 AM, Radio Internat’l, “Magacin,” w/ William Pena Lopera
Thurs, 9/26, 2:00 pm, “Human Rights in Latin America”, UMass/Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd
Fri, 9/27, 9:30-10:50 am, Salem State Univ., Sullivan Bldg 209 (corner of Lafayette & Loring)
Fri, 9/27, 6:00 pm, Encuentro 5, 9 Hamilton Place, Suite 2A, Boston
Sat, 9/28, 1:00-4:00, Casa El Salvador, 46 Bennington St, East Boston
In 2008 the Colombian government, through the National Economic and Social Policy Council (CONPES), authorized the construction of several hydroelectric dams in various regions of the country and simultaneously arranged financing for the system. One such dam is planned for the Quimbo region, a territory that is home to more than 300,000 inhabitants who for many years have organized themselves in community cooperatives that produce an estimated $18.5 million USD annually. Furthermore, the region boasts 842 hectares of riparian forest, many fish species essential to the inhabitants’ food sovereignty, over 100 species of birds, and numerous species of reptiles and mammals in danger of extinction.
The construction of the Quimbo Dam would cover over 8,500 hectares, more than half of which is productive farmland, and would flood six municipalities, mostly located in a protected Forest Reserve in the Amazon and the Colombian Massif. At the same time, it would displace more than half of the population of the Quimbo region. Thus, the con-struction of the hydroelectric dam poses a grave humanitarian crisis for the region and a major environmental disaster.
Confronted by what seems an overwhelming catastrophe for their communities, El Quimbo inhabitants established the Association of People Affected by the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project (ASOQUIMBO), a grassroots organization that defends the civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental interests of the territory.
During his US tour, Professor Dussán Calderón will describe the actions that the local com-munity and ASOQUIMBO have taken to prevent the disaster that the construction of the hydroelectric dam poses to the region, and offer ideas about what we in the US can do to help. You can also hear Prof. Calderón at these venues in the Boston area:
Sun, 9/22, 12:00-1:00 pm, Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury Street, Boston
Tues, 9/24, 10:00 am, WUNR-1600 AM, Radio Internat’l, “Magacin,” w/ William Pena Lopera
Tuesday, 9/24, 7:00-9:00 pm, MIT, Main Building, 77 Mass Ave, Rm 1-246
Wednesday, 9/24, 10:00 am, WUNR-1600 AM, Radio Internat’l, “Magacin,” w/ William Pena Lopera
Thurs, 9/26, 2:00 pm, “Human Rights in Latin America”, UMass/Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd
Fri, 9/27, 9:30-10:50 am, Salem State Univ., Sullivan Bldg 209 (corner of Lafayette & Loring)
Fri, 9/27, 6:00 pm, Encuentro 5, 9 Hamilton Place, Suite 2A, Boston
Sat, 9/28, 1:00-4:00, Casa El Salvador, 46 Bennington St, East Boston
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