Endorsed at Rivers for Life:
The 3rd International Meeting of Dam Affected People and their Allies
Temacapulín, Mexico, 1-6 October 2010
Solidarity With Temacapulín, Acasico and Palmarejo
We, more than 320 people from 54 countries throughout the world affected by dams, fighters against destructive dams, and activists for ecological and equitable water and energy management, self-determination of peoples, defense of territories, environmental and climate justice, and respect for human rights, have come together in Temacapulín. We have met in a town that is threatened with inundation by the El Zapotillo Dam. We stand in solidarity with our generous hosts in Temaca and support their demand for the cancellation of El Zapotillo Dam. Temaca must live, and their struggle is our struggle.
We also stand in solidarity with the struggles of the Mexican Movement of People Affected by Dams and in Defense of Rivers (MAPDER), and with the communities, towns and cities from throughout Mexico that have recently suffered flooding, or been buried under mud because of dam breaks, or the sudden opening of dam gates. The climate crisis is unleashing its fury with torrential rains, overflowing rivers, and dams that are filled to their maximum capacity, threatening those living downstream. We therefore denounce the obsolete policy of unrestrained construction of dams.
Water for life, not for death! The call made at the First International Meeting of People Affected By Dams, held in Curitiba, Brazil, 1997, was echoed at the Second International Meeting in 2003 in Rasi Salai, Thailand, and gathered renewed force during the intense days of the past week in Jalisco, in the community of Temacapulín.
Our Achievements
Since Rasi Salai we have continued united, working to confront the dam industry and the governments and funders that promote their destructive activities. Our struggles have defeated dams and helped restore and protect rivers. We have also won important victories in the struggle for the right to informed consent over projects on our lands, and to just and dignified resettlement and reparation.
We are successfully implementing equitable, effective and ecologically responsible community-based technologies and programs to meet our needs for energy, water, sanitation, and protection from destructive floods.
We have succeeded in creating and strengthening diverse regional networks and national movements against dams and for the rights of affected people. We are building a new model of energy production and use and water management that addresses people’s needs rather than the interests of national and transnational corporations.
Our Challenges
Ten years after the release of the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams, human rights continue to be violated by dams. Rivers are being dammed and diverted, forests flooded, fish and other species wiped out. In open violation of international agreements and national laws, indigenous and tribal peoples, ethnic minorities, and traditional communities, are disproportionately affected by the savage exploitation of their territories, lands and resources. In many places they have to fight to prevent their physical and cultural annihilation. Dams are also destroying the livelihoods and ways of life of riverine, small farmer, and urban communities.
Women suffer in particular from the breakdown in family and community life caused by dams. In many places they are discriminated against in the processes of resettlement and reparation. In addition, the influx of thousands of workers during construction is often accompanied by prostitution, disease and the deterioration of education and health services that directly and severely impact the lives of women.
Youth and old people are also particularly vulnerable to the economic, social and cultural changes caused by dams.
The repression of communities and organizations resisting dams, and the militarization of their territories, are flagrant violations of human rights. Our dead and persecuted tell us the sad story of dam builders’ violence and of the heroic fight of affected people and their brave decision to continue the struggle for a new way to manage water resources, and to produce and use energy in the service of people.
Privatization processes pushed by the World Bank and IMF have transformed the production of energy and water resources into big business. Corporations make exorbitant profits building dams, selling water, agribusiness and mining. Many countries are reverting to a semicolonial situation to provide the resources for the consumerist capitalism that dominates present day society.
Big dams reduce the ability of societies and ecosystems to adapt to global warming. The changing climate is causing grave harm to people and ecosystems and making dams even less safe, less economically viable, and shorter lived. Large reservoirs are a significant source of greenhouse gases.
We oppose the misnamed "Clean Development Mechanism,” promoted by powerful governments and private capital to enable them to offset their GHG emissions, including by building dams. We support the actions being organized by the global movement for climate justice within the framework of the UN climate conference, which will be held in Cancun, Mexico, later this year.
We also join in solidarity with the struggles of La Via Campesina for food sovereignty, which is inseparable from community control of water and energy. We also join in solidarity with those struggling against mining and the privatization of water.
Our demands
Our shared experiences and our five days of rich exchanges have led us to agree:
We commit ourselves to:
Our struggle against destructive dams and the current model of water and energy management is also a struggle against a social order dominated by the imperative to maximize profits, and is a struggle for a society based on equity and solidarity.
Another model of energy and water management is possible!
WATER FOR LIFE, NOT FOR DEATH!
FREE RIVERS, FOR FREE PEOPLE!
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