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World Water Day 2007 Home Water Scarcity A Honduras Dam One Size Doesn't Fit Saving the Yangtze IHA Software A New Era |
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By Christine Griffiths
Honduras’ Patuca River — the second-largest river in Central America — has for centuries been the lifeblood of the indigenous communities that live along its banks.
But this traditional relationship is under threat: A hydropower dam is now planned for the Patuca to help meet Honduras's increased need for energy.
In August 2006, Nature Conservancy consultant and aquatic biologist Peter Esselman set out with a group of researchers to determine the impact such a dam may have on the ecology of the river system and the lives of the people who depend on its waters.
Traveling in a 40-foot dugout canoe, Esselman and his crew motored 250 kilometers over 11 days, stopping at riverside villages and interviewing individuals and small groups of fishermen along the way.
The Conservancy’s Sustainable Waters Program and The Nature Conservancy in Honduras will use the information collected during Esselman’s expedition to advise the Honduran government and Empresa Nacional de Energia Electrica — the organization leading the dam construction project — on how to promote sustainable dam construction and operation on the Patuca.
Nature.org asked Esselman about his experiences talking with the indigenous community members on the Patuca and how the dam might affect their lives and the river's ecosystem:
nature.org: What were your impressions of the people you met and their connection to the Patuca River? And how did those impressions affect you?
Peter Esselman: The indigenous communities living along the Patuca River have a profound linkage to their natural environment. The river and the forest are their superhighway, their supermarket, their drugstore, the local meat shop and also the source of most of the meager incomes they make every year.
It is hard not to be affected when coming into contact with a culture whose means of sustenance are so different from our own. I met families that survive on less than $300 per year, which they make on their small rice crop. And while they are not living with plenty, they derive sufficient nutrition and other basic products that they need from the forest first and then the river.
They live in what's probably the third-largest roadless area in Central America, and the health of their natural-resource base is of crucial importance to them. This certainly affects my perceptions of my own relatively easy material reality. But more importantly, it reminds me of the intimate and direct link that many people on the planet have to their local ecosystems.
nature.org: Do they have concerns about a dam being built on the river?
Peter Esselman: The indigenous groups along the Rio Patuca were understandably very concerned about the dam planned to be built upstream of them. They had already been sensitized to the possible consequences of hydropower from a failed attempt to build a dam much closer to their homelands on the middle Patuca.
You can imagine that they were deeply interested and very concerned about the dam affecting transportation (the river is the main route into and out of the area), fish populations, water quality and the delivery of nutrient-rich flood sediments to fertilize their crops.
nature.org: Why is it important to preserve the Patuca River?
Peter Esselman: The most important reason to preserve the Patuca River is because more than 9,000 members of two indigenous groups occupy the indigenous Biosphere Reserves along the river. So the river is part of their cultural patrimony and also crucial for their day-to-day existence.
This is not to trivialize the importance of the Rio Patuca as an ecosystem. The Rio Patuca is one of the largest rivers in Central America, and is very likely to be one of the more biologically diverse systems in the region — it is generally true that large rivers have more species, and can be stronger centers of evolution.
From my brief exposure to the river and through the perspectives and knowledge of the fishermen, it is clearly an amazing place with much complexity and many species, including bull sharks and primitive sawfish populations that travel hundreds of kilometers up the river. It is a truly a fabulous place to witness.
nature.org: While you were in such a remote location with only a canoe for transportation, did you have any adventurous experiences to share?
Peter Esselman: The whole trip was one grand adventure from beginning to end. Rio Patuca is the Wild West of Honduras, where the law of nature is the law.
As we left the roadside town of Nueva Palestina and penetrated the indigenous reserves, we left cattle pastures cleared of all trees and penetrated a lush green forest with abundant birds and other wildlife, picturesque scenery, and always the meandering river that is the super-highway into the region.
But the real adventure for me was a social one. Whether it was learning about the lives of the three young soldiers that accompanied our team or the old fishermen of the villages that catch more than 43 species for use, or running across a boat load of heavily armed police looking for the narco-traffickers that committed a murder on the river banks, the days were always fascinating. It is a trip and a people I will not soon forget.
Christine Griffiths is a marketing specialist for The Nature Conservancy.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Peter Esselman (Patuca River); Peter Esselman (Patuca River detail)
