Asuncion, Buenos Aires
25 February, 2004

Their excellencies, the President of Argentina, Dr. Nestor Kirchner and of Paraguay, Dr. Nicanor Duarte Frutos

Re: Yacyreta and Corpus dam projects

In reaction to the announcement of your decision to complete the additional engineering works required for raising the Yacyreta reservoir level, and to carry out new studies this year needed for construction of Corpus dam, civil society organizations from Argentina and Paraguay wish to express to you our position with respect to these two projects. Raising the level of Yacyret reservoir to 83 meters above sea level will cause serious social and environmental impacts in addition to those already caused at the reservoir’s current level, which until now have not been repaired. The real cost of the hydroelectricity generated is far higher than that calculated in offering it to the market, because the cost of repairing the social and environmental damages it has caused are not internalized. The economic gain that will be obtained by the generation of a greater amount of energy for some years does not compensate for the immense loss that thousands of families will suffer, nor for that which the Parana river and its associated ecosystems, which have already been seriously modified by Itaipu and Yaycreta dams, will suffer forever. The destruction of natural wealth, the basis for the quality of life of populations, will have as its consequence the increase of that poverty and misery which our governments plan to reduce with these unsustainable development projects. It is important to underscore that the high cost of hydroelectricity as a consequence of the social and environmental damages it causes has been emphasized in the final report of the World Commission on Dams, a document of international relevance, which is an important basis for negotiations on the implementation of the Conventions on Climate Change and on Biological Diversity, to which both countries are signatories.

Another serious concern, for which reason we closely follow the impacts which Yacyreta reservoir has caused, is the behavior of seepage from the reservoir into the Iber wetlands. Following the concern and insistence of diverse non-governmental organizations, ranchers, universities, and local governments, the Iber -Yacyret Forum, in which some of the undersigned organizations participate was formed. For some months now, the Ibera -Yacyreta Forum has been participating in the “Consensus Panel” together with the Yacyreta Binational Entity, the Corrientes Provincial Water and Environment Institute, and the National Secretariat for the Environment, to invite bidding by consultants in order to determine whether the studies carried out until now are sufficient to affirm there is no relation between the behavior of the Iber wetlands, which are filling with water, and the filling of Yacyreta reservoir.

If the level of the reservoir is raised further, the probability of this seepage worsening is great. On the other hand, the engineering works for protection of the Aguapey arroyo, without which the dam at its design level of 83 meters would flood 28,000 hectares more in Paraguayan territory than planned in the binational treaty include the damming of the mouth of the arroyo on the Parana and the construction of a large channel to divert the flow of the Aguapey to the drainage channel of the right Lateral Dam. These works, as a whole, constitute a large engineering project which should be submitted to a process where their social and environmental impacts are evaluated, as required under Paraguayan law.

We ask you, in the light of the damages which have been identified in both projects, “How do you think it will be possible for you to legitimize your political decision to move forward with them? What are our efforts, and the efforts of many technical experts and academics worth, if they are not going to be taken into account?”