A lengthy agreement (spanning 50 years) to produce energy from the Amazon basin was signed on June 16 in Manaus by Brazil’s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the President of Peru, Alan García Pérez in the absence of sufficient discussions, especially if one considers that what is at stake here is not simply the generation of megawatts (MW) but the balance of vast ecosystems.

The “Agreement between the government of the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Republic Government of Peru for the supplying of electric power to Peru and exporting surplus power to Brazil”, seems feasible on paper. The document opens with a statement of intent of “advancing towards an energy integration that can generate the greatest benefits for both countries”. And this benefit would come from the Amazon Rainforest.

Throughout its 15 articles, a series of conditions are put forward. Overall Picture, Commitments of the Parties, Technical Cooperation, an Excess of Temporary Offer, Emergency Situations, Production Adequacy and Sustainable Development. There is also the Resolution of Litigations, Specific Guidelines, Amendments, Duration and Denouncing.

The package seems to be complete, but as Mariano Castro from the Peruvian Society of Environmental Rights (SPDA) points out, “there are many things left out” in this Treaty. So many actually that on Friday 18th, soon after the Agreement was signed, environmental institutions spoke out during a press conference.

The objections to this Agreement refer mainly to two aspects: transparency over the details of the social and environmental aspects, and a lack of a national debate. Since the Brazilian and the Peruvian governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding, on November 9th 2006, for the establishing of a Permanent Commission on Energy, Geology and Mining Issues, this theme has been mostly overlooked by the media.

And there’s more: surprisingly, Castro recalled in the conference of 2008 that the Ministry of Energy and Mining had already offered Brazil nothing less than 20,000 MW of energy with practically all installations, a proposal that did not go ahead exactly because protests started to spring up on the part of civil society and especially by the Engineers College of Peru.

The recently signed Treaty establishes, in point “a”, article 3, that Peru commits itself to export to Brazil “a maximum of 6,000 MW, plus a tolerance of 20%”. Even so, Carlos Herrera Descalzi, also former minister of Energy during the Alejandro Toledo government (2001-2006), stated that in the decision levels, there is a “deep lack of knowledge and a desire for transcendence.”

An energetic Amazon

Where would this amount of power come from and why is it generating such waves of controversy? According to the book “Peruvian Amazon 2021” (by authors Marc Dourojeanni, Alberto Barandiarán and Diego Dourojeanni), Brazil selected 6 hydroelectric projects in the basin of the Peruvian Amazon, of the 52 that Peru has projected for the following years (with some of them on the range and not only in forests).

The two main ones that, in a sense, are already underway and in tune with the Agreement are the Inambari Project, with a temporary grant up to June 2010, the concluded Study Plan (with an Environmental Impact Study missing) and Project Paquitzapango, with a grant up to August 2010, which is also devoid of any study plans. Both will result in social and environmental risks.

Inamabari is located to the southeast of Peru, in a region known as Madre de Dios, which is relatively unpopulated and considered one of the greatest reserves of biodiversity in the world. The hydroelectric project to be built will cost 4,000 million dollars and will produce 2,000 MW, however it will demand the building of an enormous dam that will end up by flooding at least 40,000 hectares of forest.

César Gamboa of the DAR (Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales) NGO, recalled for instance that it is not just about a gigantic reservoir – which would become the fifth largest in Latin America – but also of 300 km of power lines that would deforest some 6,000 hectares of Amazon Rainforest.

A demographic problem

View Inambari in a larger map

Even if in this area there isn’t a high population density (the forecast is for some 8,000 people that will lose their homes), in Paquitzapango Project, a demographic problem could be created, and especially a social one of relevant dimensions. Located in the center of the forest, in the Basin of Ene River, it could cause flooding over areas of 18 communities of the Ashaninka ethnic group, one of the main groups in Peru.

It would also affect the 33 human settlements comprised of colonists and riparian populations, which already generate growing tensions between local inhabitants. Eresto Ráez’s observations seem pertinent on this theme, as a professor of the Peruvian University Cayetano Heredia, “the concept of cheap energy put forward by some public employees is not intrinsically a good thing.”

Doubts begin to grow when one considers others arguments of the former minister Herrera Descalzi. The argument that “the rational thing” for Peru would be to first make use of hydroelectric power plants from mountains, that cause a much lesser environmental impact, and dedicate a few years in exploiting the real hydroelectric potential of Peru, which is not made current since the 70ies, when a German mission began this study without ever completing it.

Then what is the problem? Daniel Cámac, current vice-minister of Energy and Mining declared that the energy demand in Peru is growing at the rate of 8% a year, and therefore, “we will soon need new sources of energy.” He insisted that this project is convenient for the country, because among other things, within 30 years the hydroelectric power plants built by Brazil will belong to Peru, as stated in the Agreement.

The document also mentions that the production of energy associated with the Generating Centers will prioritize the Peruvian legal market and the free market in Peru, and therefore the Brazilian market.

However, although mentioning three times the term Sustainable Development, it is not clear of just how this concept is of practical interest at this time without further debates on the subject.

Moreover: it is not clear in Peru if the Agreement will go to Congress, although it states in article 56 of its Constitution that International Treaties must pass through this filter. Cámac stated to O Eco Amazônia that yes, it will be submitted. But president García has hardly addressed the subject, even if it appears clear that the energy will go to Brazil but the Amazonian impacts will occur within Peruvian territory.

Ramiro Escobar is a journalist especialized on internacional affairs and environment. Currently is articulist of La Republica Newspaper and contribuitor to the magazines Porder e Quehacer in Peru. Also he contributes for international publications, such as El Pais newspaper, from Spain and the website ((o))eco Amazonia from Brazil. He also gives classes at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC).