Challenging Megadams: Latin America

The Yacyretá Hydroelectric Dam

Located on the natural resource rich Argentine-Paraguayan amazonic border, the Yacyretá hydroelectric dam is one of the greatest infrastructure works in Latin America. It is also one of the most controversial mega hydroelectric projects in the world. Studies for the construction of this dam were conducted in the 1950s. Plans for construction of the dam, and administrative structures that would be in charge of its construction, were completed in the 1970s, while both State partners - Argentina and Paraguay - were governed by dictatorships. The dam was built with financial support from the National Treasury, in addition to extensive external financing from agencies including the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

The dam includes a 67 kilometer-long containment wall that crosses the Parana River, the border between Paraguay and Argentina, which also holds the water flow in an area of falls of the river. The force of the fall of the water generates electrical energy through large turbines installed in the dam for such purpose.

The dam has had serious negative consequences for the communities and environment of the region, particularly those of the Corrientes and Misiones provinces in Argentina, especially in the city of Posadas. The filling of the dam at its present level has produced the flooding of 52,600 hectares of unique natural ecosystems, and agricultural territories of great productivity. It has caused the alteration and degradation of habitats of fresh water, loss of the quality of water and the drastic decrease of the population of numerous species of fish, representing enormous economic losses for the local population.

The social and environmental impact of the work included the relocation of thousands of families as well as the loss of valuable natural resources. The construction of the dam has also destroyed the lives and livelihoods of the affected indigenous and other rural communities living in the flooded and nearby lands, creating a legacy of poverty and suffering. However, the overall magnitude of the dam’s social and environmental impacts have yet to be accurately determined, as a proper impact evaluation assessment has never been conducted.

The construction of the Yacyretá dam was followed by a great number of complaints from local community stakeholders and organizations representing victims. One of these complaints was the filing of a report before the World Bank Inspection Panel, a mechanism created to receive complaints by victims of World Bank-financed projects. The case was presented by the Paraguayan branch of Friends of the Earth in September of 1996 on behalf of victims on the Paraguayan border. Later, Argentine Senator Mario Lozada submitted himself a claim in representation of affected Argentine communities.

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