Kiad

Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca (annexed)

Defending the Tabasará River

In 2006, the Panamanian government granted Generadora del Istmo (GENISA), a company owned by the prominent Honduran Kafie family, a concession to build the 28.84-megawatt Barro Blanco dam on the Tabasará River in Chiriquí, western Panama. The project was financed through loans from three development banks, including the Dutch FMO and the German DEG. It was also approved under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) scheme – a UN carbon offset program enables developed countries to invest in projects that reduce carbon emissions in developing countries.

Construction work on Barro Blanco began in February 2011 and was completed in 2016, significantly impacting four Ngäbe communities living along the Tabasará River. The reservoir has submerged homes, farmland, and sacred sites, lands that have cultural, economic, historical and spiritual significance to the communities. The dam has altered the natural flow of the Tabasará River, affecting local ecosystems and biodiversity. Fish populations, which are an important food source for the Ngäbe, have been impacted, leading to decreased availability of protein.

The Ngäbe communities argue that their rights to free, prior, and informed consent were not respected in the planning and construction of the dam. There have been numerous protests and conflicts between the Ngäbe communities, the Panamanian government, and the companies involved in the dam’s construction. These protests have sometimes resulted in violent clashes and repression.

Due to human rights concerns, the government has withdrawn Barro Blanco from the Clean Development Mechanism scheme. The development banks which funded the dam have been advised by their investigation panels to publicly apologize for the dam’s impacts and ensure that communities receive compensation. To date, the Tabasará communities are still fighting for reparations.

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For more than two years, I have not been able to swim in this river It’s polluted, and the sediments cause itching. The children were ill for over a month after swimming in the river. They got bad skin reactions and had to go to the doctor. The water is stagnant, which attracts mosquitoes. We do not know what other illnesses this can cause.

Goejet

We want our land. We also want international authorities to fulfil their duty to protect the environment. We need truly sustainable energy sources other than hydroelectric dams. We want progress that builds and respects the environment, not “progress” that destroys it.

Monolo

We said that this project was going to flood our territory and it’s going to change our lives. We didn’t have this experience, but we knew that it was going to be so exactly. There were three, four classes of shrimp. Today, there are none. They all died.

Weni