Mega Dams and Other Infrastructure

Industrial operations require a vast network of infrastructure: roads, ports, waterways, railways, etc. They cut through forests and communities’ territories in order to transport commodities and minerals to industrial centres. Mega dams, although said to provide “clean energy,” flood forests and generate energy primarily for polluting industries and large urban centres.

Type of content

Country

B269_amazonia
Bulletin articles 27 February 2024

How different forms of ‘green’ extractivism are causing the destruction of the Amazon forest

The Amazon region is one of the final frontiers of resistance to capital expansion. This is epitomized by the struggles of social activists such as Chico Mendes, as well as by the presence of most of the earth’s remaining indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. However, different forms of ‘green’ extractivism are currently and increasingly advancing on this territory.
B269_Bolivia
Bulletin articles 26 February 2024

Fires and agribusiness: deforestation drivers in the Bolivian Amazon

The expanding agricultural frontier to grow soybean and oil palm, in addition to mining and the potential construction of mega-dams, are advancing upon the living spaces of indigenous and peasant communities. In late 2018, communities organized a coordinating committee to defend their territories and their right to a dignified life.
B268_Indonesia
Bulletin articles 19 December 2023

The Industrial Park KIPI reveals the dirty and destructive face of Indonesia´s “green” transition

President Jokowi calls the Kalimantan Industrial Park Indonesia (KIPI) “the largest green industrial area in the world”. But in reality, there is nothing green about the KIPI. It will lead to massive fossil fuel use, land and water grabbing, while threatening thousands of people in coastal communities with forced eviction. (Available in Indonesian).
new capital indonesia brasilia bulletin
Bulletin articles 16 January 2023

New Capital Cities, Deforestation and Social Apartheid: Parallels Between Brazil and Indonesia

Brazil and Indonesia share a particular similarity: at some point its rulers decided to build a new capital city. While rulers in Brazil built Brasilia some 60 years ago, construction of the new Indonesian capital is currently underway. Both projects reinforce a colonial State, in spite of their promoters claiming the opposite. Both stories however, also show the role of social struggles as a way to revert a history of colonialism. (Available also in Bahasa Indonesia)
agroefogo
Bulletin articles 16 January 2023

South America: "Green" Destruction in the Amazon Rainforest

Most of the causes of deforestation that were identified in a UN-led global analysis from 1999 continue to exist. Yet, the “solutions” proposed since then have become new underlying causes of deforestation. In this scenario, projects that destroy the forest and “green” projects depend on each other in order to be viable.
water Bolivia
Bulletin articles 12 September 2022

“Without water there is no life:” The rivers of the Bolivian Amazon

The Beni River in the Bolivian Amazon is under threat. While the government seeks to install mega-dams that would flood an area much larger than the capital, La Paz, mining and its concomitant mercury contamination continue to bring illness to these territories.
Portel, Pará, Brazil.
Bulletin articles 16 June 2022

Connecting the Climate Crisis (and the so-called ‘Solutions’) to Historical Injustices and Oppressions

Fossil fuels are at the root of the climate chaos – but the conditions for this crisis have been created by the interconnections and dependencies between colonialism, racism, patriarchy and class exploitation. To address climate chaos, therefore, it is necessary to address the unequal relationships of power upon which a fossil-fuel dependent capitalism is based.
Mekong community Ban Khoum dam Thailand
Bulletin articles 16 June 2022

“Energy Trade or Our Life”: The Struggle Against the Dams in the Mekong River Mainstream

The nearly 5,000 km. of the Mekong River, which crosses six countries and sustains the lives and livelihoods of millions, is under severe threat due to the on-going construction of large scale dams. Communities are resisting what could be the final struggle to save some of the remaining parts of the River… of their lives.
Bulletin articles 4 January 2022

The Coercion of the Indonesia’s New Capital City Mega-Project and the Neglect of the Balik People’s Voices

The Balik People will bear the impacts of the plans to build a New Capital City mega-project in Borneo, Indonesia. Government officials and business elites in the country are certainly among those who will enjoy the benefits.
Available in Bahasa Indonesia.

Other information 27 September 2021

Palm oil plantations are making inroads in the Brazilian Amazon

Bulletin articles 9 July 2021

The transition to a ‘low-carbon’ economy: a green camouflage for more destructive capitalism

This bulletin aims to reflect on the extraction, violence and oppression related to the so-called energy ‘transition’ and its ‘green’ camouflage. A transition from what? And towards what?

Bulletin articles 9 July 2021

Renewable energies and ‘green hydrogen’: Renewing destruction?

Industrial-scale renewable energy infrastructure has seen a revival in the agenda of the ‘energy transition’ and as part of the economic recovery plans in front of the pandemic. Besides, the production of ‘green hydrogen’ from these projects adds another layer of injustices.