[Editors Note: Oscar Rivas, featured in the article below, was name Paraguay’s Minister of the Environment in May 2009. When his appointment to the cabinet-level post was announced, Rivas said issues related to water are a primary concern. “We need to get results right away, yesterday actually, on issues such as the consequences of climate change, including droughts, and the reconstruction of water sources that have been systematically destroyed from a lack of investments.” He emphasized that the lack of water is affecting productivity in sectors such as cattle, and food production.]
By MAGGIE I. JARUZEL
Oscar Rivas and Elias Diaz Peña have been recognized internationally for their environmental work in the Pantanal region of South America. Yet, both are quick to say they don't have all the answers.
Rivas and Diaz co-founded Sobrevivencia (Spanish for "survival") in 1986 in Asuncion, Paraguay. The staff of the non-governmental organization (NGO) conducts research and assesses the impact of current and proposed large infrastructure projects — bridges, hydropower dams and highways — funded by multilateral development banks (MDBs).
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| Sobrevivencia people speak out. |
"Our role is to ask the hard questions so development decisions are made in the best interest of the local people," Rivas, director of Sobrevivencia, said through an interpreter.
"The questions that need to be asked are these: 'Who benefits from the projects approved?' 'Are the projects responsive to the community's needs?' 'Who wins and who loses in the end?'"
Sobrevivencia works to promote and build sustainable communities. The organization also provides public education campaigns to inform citizens about specific development projects and how they could affect critical ecosystems in Paraguay and the nearby countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay.
Since 2005, the Mott Foundation has provided two grants totaling $250,000 to support Sobrevivencia and its efforts to strengthen community-based organizations and grassroots groups that work to reduce the negative social, economic and environmental impacts of projects financed by MDBs or the Initiative for Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA).
Sobrevivencia plays a watchdog role, working to ensure that democratic decisionmaking processes are in place when considering large-scale development projects — whether at the local, national or transnational levels.
When it comes to development, bigger isn't always better — or even necessary, says Rivas.
"It's not that the people here don't want water, road or hydro-electric projects. They do want these things, but they don't want — or need — them on the scale that is proposed."
In addition to taking into consideration information provided by development funders, Rivas says, decisionmakers also need to accept the technical expertise provided by professionals within NGOs and listen to the views of citizens who will be most affected by specific projects.
"There are seriously conflicting visions for this region," he said.
"The people in the region see themselves living in harmonious ways with smaller, sustainable development projects, but the vision of the MDBs is to propose mega-projects as solutions to poverty."
Government leaders with a genuine desire to reduce poverty in the region seem to be caught in the middle as they try to determine the right thing to do, Rivas says.
Also caught in the middle, he says, are the thousands of local people who earn their livelihoods from small-scale fishing and agricultural endeavors.
The Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland system, containing one of the most important sources of drinking water on the planet, Rivas says.
"What's threatened is the ecological health of the region,'" he said. "The models of infrastructure development that are proposed would benefit large businesses and force the displacement of many local people."
Most NGOs, grassroots groups and citizens favor building more roads where they are justified, Rivas says. But they oppose erecting expensive, ocean-to-ocean superhighways that would benefit only private-sector interests and damage or even destroy community livelihoods.
When it comes to suggesting solutions for the transportation challenges facing their home country, Sobrevivencia staff members point to Paraguay's railroads as better ecological and economic choices than superhighways.
They also have provided alternative ideas for proposed dam projects in the region, including the Corpus Dam that would straddle portions of Paraguay and Argentina.
"Why further desecrate the river when there is already ample electricity in the area?" asked Diaz through an interpreter.
The love that the two men have for the Pantanal region and its people is being passed on to a new generation. By linking youth with longtime community leaders in several fields — environment, development, human rights and women's groups — Sobrevivencia has re-energized its own staff, because the enthusiasm of the young people is infectious, Rivas says.
"After spending time with them, we are refreshed and renewed in our commitment. They bring back that sense of hope," he said.
"They make us push the reset button to think about things in new ways. We are convinced that today's young people can bring about real change in the Pantanal region."