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DAM-L LS: Urgent Appeal - Huge dam/forest clearance threatens lynx (fwd)
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Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 19:00:51 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: LS: Urgent Appeal - Huge dam/forest clearance threatens lynx
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URGENT APPEAL
Please help us to stop one of the biggest deforestation
and dam-building projects ever seen.
The Alqueva dam in Portugal will destroy one of Europe's
richest wildlife habitats, and help push the Iberian Lynx
(the world's most endangered big cat) to extinction.
Over 1 million trees are to be cut down, and hundreds of
people are being displaced.
There is no economic justification for the dam - except
for the large agribusiness interests buying up land in
the area, and new golf and tourist complexes in the
pipeline.
The area is a unique ecosystem, and home to endangered
eagles, wild cats, genets, Egyptian mongoose, as well as
endemic fish and plant species.
Efforts by Portuguese environmental groups even to
minimise the devastating ecological impacts have fallen
on deaf ears.
Only URGENT INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE can now stop this
disaster.
Please read the press release below, and send messages of
protest to Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres at:
pm@pm.gov.pt
Thank you
SOS LYNX
(sos.lynx@clix.pt)
PS. See also article in The Guardian (Society section) on
February 21 2001 (www.guardian.co.uk). This is the only
article that has appeared in the international media
about this issue!
PPS. This project is funded by the EU, so if you live in
the EU and pay taxes...!!
PPPS. Please distribute this alert AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE.
It is not too late to stop the slaughter...
press release
embargo Monday 26 February 2001
EUROPE'S BIGGEST DAM WILL PUSH ENDANGERED LYNX TOWARDS
EXTINCTION
Conservationists are calling for an immediate suspension
of one of the biggest deforestation programmes ever seen.
They say that the operation to fell over 1 million trees
in eastern Portugal to make way for Europe's biggest dam -
which began last week - could provoke a 'wildlife
disaster'.
The Vale do Guadiana region of Portugal, where the GB
pounds 1 billion Alqueva dam is being built, is home to
some of the world's rarest wildlife including the Iberian
Lynx, officially the world's most endangered big cat.
The Alqueva project - which includes 10 dams in all,
3,000 miles of irrigation canals and dozens of new roads,
bridges and pumping stations - is being funded by EU
taxpayers.
Hundreds of people will be displaced, and unique
archaeological finds dating back to the Neolithic era
will be permanently inundated.
Last Thursday (February 22) teams of men began the
mammoth task of felling all the trees in the 160 square
mile area that will be occupied by the new reservoir in
an operation that will take until early next year to
complete. Many of them are old-growth oaks.
The nesting trees and hunting grounds of Portugal's only
pair of Golden Eagles will be destroyed, as will that of
two pairs of the threatened Bonelli's Eagle. Ten per cent
of the country's rare black storks will be made homeless.
The Vale do Guadiana region is also home to Portugal's
third most important nucleus of the Iberian Lynx, which
faces the serious threat of extinction. There are just
five nuclei in Portugal, with a total population of
between 40-53 of these unique big cats that live only in
the Iberian Peninsula.
According to Miguel Pais, of the Iberian Birdlife Study
Centre (CEAI): 'The clearances will be a veritable
nuclear bomb. A lot of animals will die, and others will
be left without their territory.'
A report by the country's official conservation agency,
the ICN, indicates that part of the area being cleared
may be permanently inhabited by lynx, and that the
network of new irrigation canals could disrupt
vital 'habitat corridors'.
The environmental impact assessment carried out for the
EU by Irish consultants ESB International also warns that
the project could have a devastating impact. 'Animals
will lose their habitats by flooding the area of the
reservoir and by alteration of the living conditions in
the irrigation zone.'
It adds that wildlife habitats 'will be fragmented by the
reservoir, the irrigation channels and new roads',
concluding that 'this project will bring some species
closer to extinction within Portugal'.
The report also warns of the wider impact on threatened
species endemic to the region. The new irrigation
channels alone, it says, 'will represent obstacles which
cannot be crossed' with the result that there 'will be an
isolation of populations which can lead to a decrease in
the genetic diversity'. It concludes that this 'may lead
to the extinction of some species.'
The Portuguese government's official report into the
status of the lynx says that the valley to be flooded is
one of just 14 areas in the country where the animal is
thought to still survive. It classifies the valley as
the 'Alcarrache-Guadelim' lynx habitat, detailing some of
the recent sightings of this shy and mainly nocturnal
animal by local inhabitants.
The report goes on to say that the Vale do Guadiana
region could be home to up to 13 per cent of the total
Portuguese lynx population, and that it uses a network of
local tributaries to find mates during the breeding
season. These may now be affected by the Alqueva project.
Calls by Portuguese environmental groups to reduce the
scale of the project have been flatly refused by the
government and EDIA, the consortium contracted to carry
out the works. The Portuguese Nature Protection League
(LPN) says that if the dam were filled to 139 metres,
instead of the projected 152 metres, than it would be
possible to save half the trees and wildlife habitats.
Miguel Pais, of CEAI, said: 'This is one of the country's
richest biological areas. Alqueva will be a catastrophe.
There is no operation to save these species.' Joao Joanaz
de Melo of GEOTA, another Portuguese conservation group
campaigning against the dam, added that it was vital 'to
preserve these ecosystems that are unique to the Iberian
Peninsula'.
SOS Lynx, a new group formed to monitor the plight of the
Iberian Lynx, says the dam contravenes Article 6 of the
EU Habitats Directive which specifically prohibits the
destruction or deterioration of habitats of protected
species, such as the lynx. It says that the European
Commission's decision earlier this month to stop
development of a site in Germany inhabited by a protected
hamster species sets an important precedent. The ICN
report says that the 80 square mile Alcarrache-Guadelim
valley (which is being cleared) has excellent lynx
habitat attributes. SOS Lynx also points out that
February is the month when lynx are most likely to mate
or give birth, usually in old-growth oak trees.
SOS Lynx further points out that in November 2000, the
European Court of Justice ruled that EU member states
could not take 'economic considerations' into account
when deciding whether or not to nominate sites for
wildlife protection under the EU's Habitats Directive.
Groups including WWF have consistently maintained that
the Vale do Guadiana region should have been included
under the EU's Natura 2000 network of protected wildlife
areas. SOS Lynx is now calling for an immediate
moratorium on the clearances until a meeting of EU
experts at the Mediterranean Biogeographic Seminar this
May to assess the dam's impact. It also called on the EU
to suspend funds for the construction of the irrigation
canals (which is the major part of the project funded by
the EU, and which will take 25 years to complete) until a
full evaluation of the project's impact on the lynx is
completed.
The stated purpose of the dam is irrigation for intensive
agriculture. However, many believe that the region's thin
and poor soils are unsuited to such cultivation, and that
the real purpose will be to water some of the 48 new golf
courses planned for the neighbouring Algarve (there are
presently 25) and for new tourist complexes which critics
say will be built on the 460 new islands that will be
created within the Alqueva reservoir area. The existing
irrigation network in the region is used at less than 50
per cent capacity.
It is not only a unique natural heritage that is at risk.
Recent archaeological excavations have unearthed one of
the earliest known sites of human settlement in the area.
Researchers have uncovered tools from the Bronze Age,
Neolithic era ovens, and an entire Roman castle. These
will all disappear underwater if the dam goes ahead. In
the 1990s, international protest stopped another
controversial dam in Portugal, at Foz Coa, when Stone Age
engravings were discovered in caves that were to have
been inundated.
Next summer, hundreds of people from the Aldeia da Luz
village will be moved into a new settlement when their
existing homes will be flooded by the dam. Local
inhabitants, however, say they have been given little
choice but to abandon their homes.
ENDS
For more information, send an email to sos.lynx@clix.pt
or contact LPN (lead Portuguese NGO on anti-dam
coalition) on +351 21 778 0097.
Background information on Alqueva can be found at:
www.despodata.pt/geota/ingles/alqueva.htm
further notes on Alqueva:
1. The Vale do Guadiana lynx population connects with the
western end of the Spanish Sierra Morena lynx nucleus.
The survival of the Portuguese lynx is largely dependent
on young lynx dispersing from Spain and establishing
their territory across the border. The major cause of
mortality of young lynx is road accidents. However, the
Alqueva project includes a number of new roads in the
area. There is also a 'reproduction' zone within the Vale
do Guadiana population at Sobral de Adica, but this may
also now become cut off as a result of new irrigation
canals and roads being built as part of the project.
2. The total population of the Iberian Lynx in Spain and
Portugal is believed to be approximately 500. In 1992,
the figure was 1300. Some experts believe the species
could become extinct within the next 10 years.
Researchers from Portugal's Terrestrial Vertebrates Study
Group (GEVT) believe the Vale do Guadiana may in fact
harbour Portugal's largest lynx population which has gone
mostly undetected. Researchers from another Portuguese
institute (FAPAS) say that another important lynx nucleus
at Sao Mamede will also be affected by the Alqueva
project. Furthermore, there has been no assessment of
what impact Alqueva may have on the Vale do Sado lynx
population. Alqueva will affect the course of both the
Guadiana and Sado rivers, two of Portugal's biggest water
courses, transferring 500 billion litres a year between
their two basins. Rivers and tributaries are often used
as 'corridors' by lynx between one nucleus to another,
and are particularly important for genetic exchange
between different nuclei (reducing genetic diversity is
currently increasing disease and lowering fertility among
lynx groups). The other two lynx nuclei in Portugal are
Malcata and Algarve-Odemira.
3. The environmental impact assessment by ESB
International was conducted in 1996, and makes no
estimates of the local lynx population numbers. The
Portuguese government/ICN study into the status of the
lynx was carried out in 1998, and estimates that between
4-7 lynx inhabit the Vale do Guadiana area, where the dam
is being built. Sources inside the European Commission
say the ICN report is 'not in our Alqueva file'. The
Portuguese government/ICN report was, however, funded
under the EU's 'LIFE Programme'.
4. The majority of trees being felled are old-growth holm
and cork oaks. (Other trees include olive and
eucalyptus.) The hollows of cork and holm oaks are
usually used by female lynxes to rear their young. Lynx
mating cycles can easily be disrupted by human
perturbance. The lynx mating season is from December to
February. The birthing season is from February to April.
February is therefore a key month for the lynx if it is
to survive as a species, and a worse month could not have
been chosen to commence the clearances.
5. The Alqueva dam was originally planned by Portuguese
fascist dictator Antonio Salazar in the 1950s to supply
and power a 'new industrial city'. The city has never
been built. The building of the dam has been repeatedly
delayed because of successive controversies, the most
recent of which being the discovery that the dam wall is
being built on a seismic fault-line.
6. Last week, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) called
for an international moratorium on all mega-dams of over
100 metres because of the threat to unique river systems.
The Alqueva dam will be 152 metres high. At least one
species of unique fish is expected to become extinct in
the short-term as a result of Alqueva.
7. A previous WWF assessment of the Alqueva dam concluded
that 'the existing irrigation system is inefficient and
needs repair and upgrading. In any case, it is only used
at 50 per cent of existing capacity... The 152 metres
full storage capacity is hugely over-designed and will
cause irreversible destruction... The whole area is seen
as having the necessary characteristics for potential
designation under the Natura 2000 network.'
--
Gila Neta
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
tel: (510)848-1155
fax: (510)848-1008
http://www.irn.org
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