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Summary
As the COP26 is meeting in Glasgow, UK, Honduran communities maintain their resistance against “clean” energy projects proposed in their communities. These types of projects are often financed in the name of mitigating climate change but create social conflict and environmental destruction in the communities where they are proposed. The Jilamito dam project in Arizona, Atlántida is an example of one of these projects. We learn about this project and put it and others in the context of the global efforts to allegedly combat climate change.
Transcript
Karen Spring:
The COP26 UN Climate Change Conference will be held from October 31 to November 12, 2021. The location of this year’s climate conference, which was postponed from 2020 because of COVID-19, will be held in a location far away from Honduras, in Glasgow, in the United Kingdom. But the policies discussed in this conference will have huge impacts on the Global South and countries like Honduras.
Welcome to the Honduras Now podcast. This podcast shares human rights stories from Honduras and connects them with global issues and North American policy. I’m your host, Karen Spring, a longtime human rights activist that has lived in Honduras for over a decade. Thanks so much for listening.
The COP26 will be kicked off with the World Leaders Summit, where world leaders discuss actions and plans to fulfill their commitments under the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol. For listeners who may not know what the Paris Accord entails, it’s basically an agreement that aims to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit the global temperature increase.
If the history of the UN climate change conferences is any indication, a lot of promises will be made at the COP26, and many will be broken. And in some cases, the policies that come out of climate-related commitments don’t actually address the problems driving extreme weather conditions and rising global temperatures. But instead, some of these policies include throwing money at the climate crisis.
Now, obviously, investment is needed, but not investments in the same things that got us in this climate problem in the first place. What tends to happen, at least here in Honduras, is that millions of international dollars designated to address climate change around the country are often given to wealthy individuals or companies that throw in a little bit of greenwashing, to give a new veneer to an old process. This process of greenwashing essentially happens when companies or organizations mislead their audiences or their consumers into believing that a service or product they provide is environmentally friendly, sustainable, “clean,” and attacks the causes of climate change, when really they don’t.
This is what tends to happen in Honduras with global climate mitigation policy. The Global North dictates the terms of the funding. And, lo and behold, the same actors in the country that are least committed, at least in their actions, to sustainability and environmentalism, become the champions of slowing climate change.
Critical in all of this is the role of the international financial institutions. All around Honduras, projects that will allegedly mitigate climate change are being proposed and financed by international actors. Projects like the construction of hydroelectric dams and solar energy are called a source of “sustainable” and “clean” energy.
And, often, none of these projects are done on a small scale and in coordination with the populations that are most affected. For example, this money isn’t going to putting solar panels on poor people’s rooftops or building small dams that ensure the survival of a fundamental water supply for the nearby communities. When you look deeper into these projects in Honduras, and talk to the communities around where they’re being built, a different reality about global climate change policy is revealed. And the farce that is the so-called green initiatives is really exposed.
One example, which is a topic of today’s episode is the Jilamito Hydroelectric Project. Some of the funds for this project, the Jilamito Dam, comes from developed countries that give them money as part of their commitments to implement the Paris Climate Accords.
It’s approximately 9:20 in the morning in northern Honduras, and we’re driving up the main road to the north coast to head to the municipality of Arizona, which is in the department of Atlántida. As we’re driving up the main road to head to the north coast, the environment is extremely lush, there’s green everywhere, it’s beautiful. On either side of us on the road, there are large tracts of African palm, which have a long history in northern Honduras that links back to the Tela Railroad Company and the presence of US banana companies in the region.
On the radio we’re listening to Father Ismael Moreno, better known as Padre Melo, who’s talking with an expert in risk management about the impacts of the hurricanes, almost nine months after two hurricanes hit Honduras in November of last year. We’re passing over several rivers. We passed over the Pajuiles River and passed over the Mezapa River. Both are rivers that have drawn the attention of international investors that hope to build hydroelectric dams on those rivers. And we’re headed up to the municipality of Arizona, where we’re going to hear from community leaders about another fight against a hydroelectric dam that they want to build on the Jilamito River. And there’s a very specific US and Canadian connection to that hydroelectric dam. And the community’s been working very hard to get the international investments in that dam withdrawn.
So after a pretty long drive, we arrive to the community of Arizona and stop on the side of the major highway to pick up Lucy, a community leader and member of the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice, MADJ, and her mother. Both of them are going to take us to the Jilamito River and show us the site of the community’s resistance to the dam. After picking them up, we turn off the main road and onto a narrow dirt road with tons of bumps.
On either side of the road are rows and rows of African palm trees once again, and what many developed countries call a source of “clean” energy. The race to plant monoculture African palm in Honduras started years ago. The oil that is extracted from the fruit can be used as biofuel, another supposed global solution to climate change.
But, like dams, African palm has been the source of major social conflict in Honduras for many years, and the mass planting of African palm has led to deforestation, land grabbing, contamination of the rivers close to the plantations, and, like I said, major conflicts over land that in Honduras have been the cause of over 200 murders in just one region, the Bajo Aguán region, alone.
On the bumpy dirt road, we passed at least four huge cattle trucks loaded with palm fruit. I asked Lucy where the trucks were headed. She told me that a Dinant processing plant was nearby and the trucks were taking the fruit to the plant. Dinant Corporation is a huge African palm company owned by the wealthy Facussé family in Honduras. For years, they were funded by the World Bank, who supports them, because African palm is supposedly a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels. But as you drive along the north coast, you see tracts and tracts of monoculture African palm, and almost all of the plantations are in the hands of wealthy Honduran families.
After a long trek on a rocky dirt road and crossing many little streams and rivers, we get to a break in the road. To define the break in the road, there is a large cabin on legs. And there are banners across the cabin, and a sign that says “Get out INGELSA! You cannot sell rivers, you have to defend rivers!” And there’s lots of different protest posters saying “Resist Jilamito,” “Rivers cannot be sold.” And there’s also a sign that defines this place specifically as the Jilamito camp. So if you turn left in the fork in the road, you go down a tiny little hill and there are poles erected on either side of the road, and there’s a metal roofing. And lots of motorcycles pass us as we’re standing here at this place. And it’s a road that heads to a community, the community of Jilamito. And so on either side of the road, they’ve erected these posts that hold up this roof. There’s, again, more protest signs. And there’s a man who probably is in his 70’s named Don Carlos, Mr. Carlos, and he’s swinging in a hammock with a radio in his lap. And he is the man that’s here, taking care of the place, in case any tractors come from the company and try and pass.
This specific place, this fork in the road with the cabin that sort of defines the place and what this place is, is stopping the tractors and the equipment from the dam company from gaining access or continuing down this road, to then be able to access the river and build the dam. And so this place is very strategic, because as long as they’re here, and they have a presence here, the community and the communities that are against the dam, with the support of the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice, then the dam company will have difficulties getting in to be able to build the dam.
After getting to the encampment, we spend some time, hang out on the hammocks, and just chit-chat with the people that are there. And then we chat with Carlos and Lucy about the struggle to protect the Jilamito River.
Lucila Yamileth Lemus Cruz (interpreted):
Good afternoon. My name is Lucila Yamileth Lemus Cruz. I’m a native of the community of Arizona. I live in the urban center and I belong to the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice, MADJ. We are standing in one of the higher parts of the Jilamito Mountain. This area is called Nance de San Rafael. And we are in a very beautiful place surrounded by nature and lots of trees. There are hammocks here, where we come basically to relax, and we are permanently here at this encampment in order to take care of our river, the Jilamito River, from an extractive company that is trying to build a hydroelectric project on the Jilamito River. So as organized communities, we are here to basically keep watch so that the company doesn’t achieve its objective.
Karen Spring:
I asked Lucy what was special about the place where we were standing.
Lucila Yamileth Lemus Cruz (interpreted):
Because this is the access road to the mountain where they have tried to build the dam. That’s why we are here. But, as you can see, people pass through here in their cars, on motorcycles, on horses, and the road is free for people to use. The only people that cannot pass are the businessmen with their machines. Those are the people that cannot pass this point.
Karen Spring:
The company that wants to build the Jilamito Dam is called INGELSA. INGELSA is a company owned by another company called HERMACASA. But the project is largely controlled by a wealthy Honduran businessman named Emin J. Abufele and the US-owned and Massachusetts-based company, Simonds International. Emin Abufele is a wealthy Honduran businessman who owns at least one other hydroelectric dam project in the same municipality where he wants to build another one. In fact, the existence of the first dam owned by the same businessman is what led the communities around the municipality to begin resistance against the second dam, the Jilamito Dam. This is Lucy.
Lucila Yamileth Lemus Cruz (interpreted):
Before we started fighting to defend this river, we were also struggling to stop the now-former mayor because he had given permission to allow the construction of other hydroelectric dams in the municipality. Companies always seek out municipal authorities to get a construction permit. And also, the municipal environmental office has to come and supervise and oversee the environmental impact that these dams produce in the communities where they want to build. So that struggle started well before this one. It started in 2015, which is when we started organizing the communities. We got together. We demanded a town hall meeting to vote and declare our municipality free of extractive projects like hydroelectric dams, mining, and also the Zones of Employment in Economic Development, ZEDEs, so we began doing visits into the mountain because we had heard that another dam was going to be built. So we started to go into the mountain regularly to inspect. And by chance, on May 15, 2017, when a group of approximately 100 people did a visit, we were surprised to find out the construction machines were already in the mountain and had already been excavating. So on that day, we decided to create the encampment, a resistance, to not allow the company to take over the mountain, a mountain that belongs to the municipality.
Karen Spring:
Hydroelectric dams are great investment opportunities for individuals that are connected into the corrupt networks of the government. The companies granted the contracts often overestimate the amount of energy that the dam can actually produce. The National Congress and relevant state institutions know this. But because of corruption and corruption networks, this is allowed. This also means that these wealthy businessmen get paid money from the state to produce much more energy than they actually are. This allows Honduran millionaires and companies to pocket more money and to take advantage of hefty state energy contracts.
And it’s not like the owners of these dams financed the whole project on their own. They depend on international financing, which like most dams in Honduras, come from public money from governments like Canada, or your tax dollars, or public money through the international financial institutions and foreign companies.
Let me give you some background on the two major international financiers or business partners of the two companies building the Jilamito Hydroelectric Project. The DFC is the US Development Finance Corporation. It was founded in 2019 by the Trump Administration. It was created to “help US businesses expand into emerging markets, foster growth and improve lives in the developing world, while reinforcing US foreign policy and national security interests.” The DFC announced in July 2020 that it would finance the Jilamito Hydroelectric Project. The announcement was made in a press release issued after a high-level meeting between the Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa, the president of the DFC and also the president of the Inter-American Development Bank. The DFC’s funding is part of Biden’s new investment plan, known as America Crece, which I discussed in Episode 11 of this podcast.
The DFC’s announcement that it would be financing the Jilamito Dam sparked outcry. Lucy’s community and the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice pointed to the fact that, for years, the community had blocked the construction of the dam. Two people heavily involved in resisting the dam had been killed, and five people were facing trumped-up charges related to the resistance against the project. The municipality had also carried out a town hall meeting, making it known that they and local authorities did not accept the construction of the dam.
Shortly after the DFC made their public announcement that they were going to support the Jilamito Dam, US Congressional Representative Ilhan Omar from Minnesota led a congressional letter blasting the DFC for its decision. The letter reads, “There are elements of the proposed investment in the Jilamito Dam project that run in direct and flagrant contradiction to DFC’s stated commitment, and Congress’s stated intent in creating the DFC, to promote and facilitate investment with respect for human rights, the environment, and workers’ rights. It is a staggering disappointment, just seven months into DFC’s existence, that it would take such a profound misstep.” The letter that was proposed by Omar’s office was signed by over 27 other Congressional Representatives. And it goes on, “By any reasonable standard, the human rights and environmental impacts of the Jilamito Hydropower Project and the record of both INGELSA and the Honduran state should have prevented this investment from going forward. Given that existing protocols of DFC have failed, we will now consider legislative options to prevent this project from moving forward.”
After Representative Omar’s Congressional letter, and an open letter signed by 60 US and Honduran organizations demanding that the DFC withdraw its funding, the DFC announced in October 2021 that it would withdraw its funding for the Jilamito Project.
Lucila Yamileth Lemus Cruz (interpreted):
Well, the project was being supported by the Inter-American Development Bank, and the US Development Finance Corporation. But, thank goodness, the DFC pulled their support. This was a very amazing victory for us, the organized communities. We want the international banks to stop providing support for these projects. What they bring to our community is division and death, especially of the people that are involved in trying to stop them.
Karen Spring:
With the DFC’s announcement, the chances of the Jilamito Dam being built has definitely been weakened. But there are still other international funders that are backing the project, one being Simonds International, and the other the Inter-American Development Bank.
One of the main sources of the IDB, which is the acronym for the Inter-American Development Bank, comes from your tax dollars from countries in the Global North. Some of the money given to the IDB by Canada and the United States is specifically designated through funds that allegedly are supposed to combat climate change. In fact, for years, countries like Canada, as part of their commitment to the Paris Agreement, the agreement that is going to be discussed in the UK in the COP26 in the coming days, have given billions of dollars to the IDB. For example, the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in the Americas is a fund made up of US$250 million of public dollars. This fund is managed by the IDB and expected to fund private sector projects that address climate change in regions around the world between the years 2012 to 2037.
This is what the Canadian government’s website says about this specific climate fund:
“This initiative aims to support projects across Latin America and the Caribbean that are focused on renewable energy, energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and that help countries to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. The Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in the Americas aims to play a key role in overcoming leading-edge technology risks and cost hurdles in order to spark and scale up projects to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. Clean energy is a key focus of the fund, and projects supported by the fund may include wind, solar, geothermal, and hydro projects. The fund is managed by the Inter-American Development Bank, which catalyzes private sector climate mitigation and adaptation projects that require loans with concessionary terms to be viable. Canada’s contribution to the fund is expected to leverage up to 5 billion US dollars in private sector investment and help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 50 million tonnes over the fund’s 25 years.”
Together with the US Development Finance Corporation, before it pulled out of the Jilamito Project, the Inter-American Development Bank, the IDB, is funding the construction of the Jilamito Project in Arizona. In the name of “clean energy” and “climate resilience,” the IDB uses money destined to implement the Paris Climate Accords to fund wealthy Honduran businessmen and US companies to build hydroelectric dams. This is, of course, while ignoring the environmental damages these projects create for the local communities, and they also ignore the widespread resistance against them. This doesn’t mention that these projects actually ruin local visions, different visions, of what development is, and they also ruin the ways that communities can make sustainable use of their own local resources in order to promote their own well-being and survival.
Lucila Yamileth Lemus Cruz (interpreted):
We are here basically because we are defending our drinking water, the water depended upon by 24,000 people. There is little water in our communities. So we are promoting a drinking water project on the Jilamito River that will supply all of these communities. Access to water is a human right. And it’s not something that can be denied to people. These companies want to come here and use the river, but use it improperly to make money. Imagine this, we the people that live here, having a hydroelectric dam near our communities or in our municipality, doesn’t mean that we will pay less for our electricity. The electricity that this dam will generate will be sold on the market in other countries. So for us, what’s the benefit? There is no benefit for our communities.
Karen Spring:
While the IDB, Canada, and countries of the Global North say they’re financing projects that reduce the impacts of climate change, communities that depend on the Jilamito River as a water source also denounced the environmental impacts of these projects and how the environmental destruction affects the livelihoods of the surrounding communities.
Lucila Yamileth Lemus Cruz (interpreted):
They cause environmental damage, because the environmental impact is quite large. We can see here in this encampment, this was just a small trail. But in order to make a road to gain access to the river, they had to cut down many trees. This is the high part of the mountain. They destroyed a small stream when they cut down trees, trees that were very, very old and large. You can imagine how long some of these large trees have been there. They assist in stabilizing the earth. And when natural disasters like the hurricanes hit, they help reduce the possibility for mudslides and damage. Having trees in our mountains protects communities at the foot of these mountains.
Karen Spring:
Despite being responsible for a fraction of the emissions that are behind manmade climate change, it is the countries of the Global South, Latin America, Asia, and Africa who are being most impacted by climate change. The responsibility for addressing climate change is shared by all, but the financial burden should fall most on the countries that have historically contributed to and benefited from emissions, namely the countries of the Global North. Previous agreements to address that gap have completely fallen short. The climate debt is far from being paid. In 2009, wealthy countries pledged to raise $100 billion annually by 2020 to help poorer countries address climate change. But it is now 2021 and the first $100 billion has yet to be raised.
I don’t doubt that world leaders will sing the praises of the agreement that will surely come out of the COP26 conference and declare victory. But if the experiences of the people of the Jilamito Dam struggle is any indication, it will be a pyrrhic victory. For as long as climate change efforts are tied to promoting the same so-called solutions to the climate problems, we will not see the types of action we need to actually stave off the most serious effects of climate change, a price that I must remind you will be paid by the world’s poor. What we need is climate policy that puts people in the planet first, not the billionaires, or, as a local example, won’t put forward Honduras’s wealthy business class and the large US corporations waiting to profit off of Honduras’s natural resources.
So that is the episode for today. Check out our show notes at HondurasNow.org. And thank you so much for listening. Thank you to our sponsors and the people that keep this podcast going. This is your host, Karen Spring, signing off. Thank you so much. And hasta pronto.