- Costa Rica: Nicoya Gulf and drinking water in the region endangered by gold-mining

Mining is one of the activities that international allocation of labour has imposed on the countries of the South, rich in natural resources. However, in no case has it led to the general welfare of the country; on the contrary, it could be considered a curse (see WRM Bulletin No. 71).

In Costa Rica, the Gold-mining Opposition Committee has been active in denouncing the numerous and devastating impacts of mining, related to mining in itself, the elimination of mine waste, transportation of the mineral and its processing, often involving or producing hazardous materials.

On 30 January 2001, in spite of strong opposition on the part of the communities and the municipality, the Government of Costa Rica authorized the Canadian company, Glencairn to carry out an open cast mining project with leaching (that is to say, the application of chemicals, in this case, cyanide, to filter and separate the metal from the other minerals). The project expects to extract 560 thousand ounces of gold in a little less than seven years, by-producing 15 million tons of waste.

The Glencairn mine was opened at 14 kilometres from the Nicoya Gulf, a very beautiful marine estuary, with rocky islands and cliffs, an extensive mangrove habitat and exceptionally high biodiversity. The Gulf has four islands that have been designated Wildlife Refuges, and the Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica’s most important wetland, hosting a wide variety of endangered fauna. There are also 5 thousand artisan fisher-people whose livelihood depends on this Gulf.

Open cast mines generally imply the elimination of the vegetation in the area, widespread dynamiting and the removal of rocks and the material above the ore until the bed is reached, and then this is again dynamited to obtain smaller pieces. These activities may have caused the recent landslides in the Ciruelas River, in the zone near the mine, an area already prone to landslides mainly during the period of flooding. The added danger is that this cyanide-contaminated earth, on reaching the river will compromise the drinking water supply to the city of Miramar and the rich estuary of the Nicoya Gulf.

Based on the complaints lodged by the Gold-mining Opposition Committee, the Association of Ecological Community Users of the Nicoya Gulf (Asociación de Comunidades Ecologistas Usuarias del Golfo de Nicoya – CEUS del Golfo) has requested the National Environmental Technical Secretariat (Secretaría Técnica Nacional del Ambiente – SETENA) to investigate the landslides, that could either be the result of the impact of the building works on the fragile terrain of the region or of the removal of earth to do the building works. They have also urged people to write to the company and to the Government of Costa Rica (presidente@casapres.go.cr; vicem@minae.go.cr; dhr@dhr.go.cr; pgonzalez@poder-judicial.go.cr; rojasc@casapres.go.cr), asking them to “stop gold-mining in Miramar because you do not do business destroying the water and the Nicoya Gulf.”

Article based on information from: “Mentiras ambientales ponen en peligro el agua de Miramar y la vida marina del Golfo de Nicoya,” CEUS, e-mail: soniatorres@racsa.co.cr ; “Costa Rica: minería de oro destruye alta biodiversidad del Golfo de Nicoya,” http://www.biodiversidadla.org/article/articlestatic/4178/1/7/ ; “Minas de oro amenazan contaminar con cianuro ecosistemas de Costa Rica,” ADITAL, http://www.adital.org.br/asp2/noticia.asp?idioma=ES&noticia=10513

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- Panama: The Naso people threatened by a dam project

The Naso (also known as Teribe) are one of the first groups that settled in the Panamanian territory. After several European armed expeditions, the number of Naso had decreased drastically to the point that by the nineteenth century there were less than two thousand individuals remaining. At present there are approximately 4,000 Naso on both sides of the Costa Rican and Panamanian border, generally living in poor conditions. In Panama, they inhabit the province of Bocas del Toro, in the northwestern forests bordering the Teribe River, a larger tributary of the Changuinola River.

Today the Naso culture is greatly threatened and on the verge of being destroyed by an increase over the last twenty years of westernization and the pressure to incorporate into a global market economy. Now, there is another threat to the survival of the Naso’s cultural identity.

Since the early 1970s several feasibility studies were authorized by the government in order to gather information about the potential of the Teribe River and its tributaries to produce hydroelectric power. The result was a proposal to start the construction of two hydroelectric projects, one on the upper part of the Teribe River, and the other on one of its tributaries, the Bonyic River.

Apparently, the government decided to postpone the project. But almost three decades later, a small group of investors restarted the process by requesting an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the water concession they needed to develop the project. In 1998, the National Environmental Authority approved the EIA as well as a water concession for 50 years. The group also obtained from the Regulatory Agency for Public Services a concession to generate energy, also for 50 years. However, at that time the Panamanian environmental legislation was not as strict as it is now. The new environmental legal framework requires that every project with significant impacts on the environment needs a citizenship participation process, something that had not occurred.

The community was poorly informed about the project, and there were a lot of doubts among the Naso people on the way their traditional authorities (the king and his council) were conducting the negotiation process. So much that in 1998 the community forced them to quit and elected a new king and council. After recent negotiations between the company, Naso representatives, and some Panamanian NGOs, the company agreed to conduct a new EIA along the lines of the current law.

The “Central Hidroeléctrica Bonyic” is currently owned by a partnership called Hidro Ecológica del Teribe S.A. and its major partner is a Colombian company known as Empresas Públicas de Medellín. They expect to start the operation phase during the second half of 2006 and the overall cost of the project will be approximately US$ 50 million, for a reservoir with 800,000 cubic meters, and a dam 30 meters high by 135 meters wide.

The impacts of previous hydroelectric dams have shown how destructive these projects are, both for the environment and especially for the local people. That has been the case of a hydroelectric dam in the Bayano area of eastern Panama, which inundated thousands of acres of fertile land inhabited by indigenous communities.

If the projected dam is built the environment and the culture that exist in the Naso territory will change drastically. The new highway to be built connecting the village of Changuinola to the dam will encourage Naso emigration and an infiltration of settlers, as well as an increase in deforestation. The deforestation caused will lead to the destruction of the rich and pristine land that the Naso people have inhabited for centuries. The loss of habitat as well as the decrease in water and air quality as well as in animal populations will cause severe consequences in the life style and health of the Naso. It will also create a great threat to the adjacent International Biosphere Reserve “La Amistad”. The re-emergence of diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue, etc, not to mention the appearance of unknown diseases, is another risk that has not been taken into account by the project’s promoters.

If this project takes place, it could mean the beginning of the end of the Naso culture.

It is clear that the Naso people need much more information about the process. That is why the Panamanian NGO "Alianza Para la Conservación y el Desarrollo" (Alliance for Conservation and Development) is trying to reach all of the Naso communities before a new EIA -in line with the current law- is carried out, to inform the people about the potential negative impacts of the dam on the environment and their culture before it is too late.

Several concerned people are also trying to spread the knowledge and raise as much public awareness about this project as possible. They say, “It is important that another indigenous group does not get taken advantage of in the shadows of lack of public knowledge. We urge people and organizations to join us in this new struggle we are facing to save the land, the environment, the lives, and especially the rights of these people."

For more information or ways to get involved please contact Rachel Cohn: rcohn@oberlin.edu or Ruben Gonzalez: Ruben.Gonzalez@worldlearning.org

Article based on information from: “The Naso People and their Struggle”, sent by Rachel Cohn.