Colombia: European energy corporation plans to flood rainforest

The people living next to the Magdalena river are fighting desperately for their homeland. A giant hydro-electric power plant is supposed to be built in their rainforest. Large parts of the land are planned to be flooded. The protest camps of the local farmers have been evacuated by force. These people need our support.

Call to action

So far the Rio Magdalena river is flowing naturally through the rainforest and is home to many species. Beginning with the construction work on the giant embankment dam El Quimbo, this unique biotope will disappear forever. 82 square kilometres of rainforest will be flooded. The habitat of thousands of animals and plants will be destroyed and more than 1 500 people are going to lose their villages, their land, and their pastures.

The energy corporation Enel advertises this project as “green energy” – but this type of electricity generation is in fact destructive for the environment and all but green. Many million tons of stones have to be blasted down. 200 000 cubic metres of concrete and 15 000 tons of construction steel are needed to build the dam. In fact, this means there will be 5 000 tons more steel in the dam than there is presently in the Eiffel Tower.

Animals and plants do not have a voice of their own that is heard in Colombia, so the people were protesting against the embankment dam by blockading the construction site of this insane venture. In the beginning of February special forces of the Colombian police (ESMAD) evacuated the protest camp by force. In a few days the first construction phase is about to start. This involves the relocation of the Magdalena river in a below ground tube. Above that tube the dam will be constructed – with an elevation of 150 metres.

Please sign our petition to Colombian government. We demand that this devastating embankment dam must be stopped.

Letter