Floating Seminar on Paraguay River (fwd)

Rob Huntley (rob at pinetree.pinetree.org)
Wed, 08 May 1996 17:25:53 -0400 (EDT)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a forwarded message.
Please direct and/or copy correspondence to the original source.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 12:33:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Glen Switkes <glen at irn.org>
To: ern at globenet.gn.apc.org, foeintiss at gn.apc.org, gcastro at aol.com,
leite at web.apc.org
Cc: ag508 at freenet.carleton.ca, ax!ausu at igc.apc.org, doneaton at fpsp.fapesp.br,
fabian at ubacyt.uba.ar, gabb at huelen.reuna.cl, jroper at sas.upenn.edu,
lulopes at cynic.NS.UVic.Ca, mepower at garnet.berkeley.edu,
ramella at cjb.unige.ch, rbissio at chasque.apc.org
Subject: Floating Seminar on Paraguay River

Invitation:
FLOATING SEMINAR ON THE PARAGUAY RIVER

Organized by: Sobrevivencia - Friends of the Earth Paraguay
Rios Vivos Coalition Paraguay-Parana-Plata

From: Corumba, Brazil to Asuncion, Paraguay
1,200 km

Dates: June 2-11, 1996

Ship: Kalipso, with capacity of about 100 people.

Theme: The Paraguay-Parana-La Plata Basin
and the Hidrovia Paraguay-Parana project

We would like to inform you that the Floating Seminar
on the Paraguay River, between Corumba, Brazil and
Asuncion, Paraguay, has been organized to contribute
to the understanding of the Paraguay-Parana-La Plata
River Basin and to discuss official proposals for
the Paraguay-Parana Hidrovia (industrial waterway.

This Seminar will take place during a trip on the
Paraguay River on a chartered ship, specially built
for the comfort of its passengers, and is being
organized by SOBREVIVENCIA - Amigos de la Tierra
Paraguay with support of the RIOS VIVOS Coalition.
We would like to see whether you may be interested
in taking part.

Despite the fact that the project to alter the
rivers and the already existing Paraguay-Parana waterway,
as proposed by the governments of the region,
will directly or indirectly affect broad and diverse
sectors of the population within the river basin,
civil society still has little precise and accurate information
to contribute to the understanding of the profound
social and environmental impacts which the planned
engineering works, if carried out, will cause.

In the countries of the region, official information
is difficult to obtain and does not present a level of
information adequate for an analysis of this undertaking.
The information available emphasizes, above all, the
supposed economic benefits and refers only marginally
to the project's socio-environmental impacts. On the other
hand, independent studies on the theme are until now
incomplete because they have not been able to look
at the complete range of information available on the
region and its populations. For this reason, we think
it is necessary to carry out a truly participatory
analysis on the basins of the region and on the
development projects which the governments are
promoting, with the Hidrovia Paraguay-Parana as
the centerpiece.

This analysis, through an interchange of diverse
experiences among the participants of the seminar
who will come from various sectors and regions,
will permit the forming of a consensus, particularly
among affected populations from the region, and
will seek to generate precise guidelines for
the development of sustainable societies in the
Southern Cone of America.

Among the objectives of the Floating Seminar are:

* To experience natural areas of importance for the
sustainability of the region, along the Paraguay River;
* To meet with diverse human river communities,
and to understand their knowledge of the river system,
and to hear their opinions and expectations;
* To discuss potential socio-environmental impacts
of the Hidrovia Paraguay-Parana project;
* To discuss alternatives to the official project;
* To hear and discuss with riverine communities
their proposals for sustainable development in the basin;
* To share opinions with diverse social sectors,
with scientific experts, and with representatives of
governments, and multilateral aid agencies to hear
the diversity of current proposals and to build bridges
for the construction of points of consensus.

During the trip, there will be discussions, reports,
meetings with local communities and indigenous peoples,
cultural expressions of river peoples, visits to critical
ecosystems, and to sites of critical risk given the imminent
engineering works planned within the official proposal for the
Hidrovia.

We are sending you this information because we
consider your participation in the Floating Seminar
important, based upon your experience and your interest
in the future of the Paraguay-Parana-La Plata Basin.

For more information on the Hidrovia and the Rios Vivos
Coalition, and for details on the trip, including costs,
and transport and other details, please contact Sobrevivencia
or International Rivers Network

Cordially, Oscar Rivas
General Coordinator (Sobrevivencia)

**********************************************

Sobrevivencia
Casilla de Correos 1380
Asuncion, Paraguay

tel: (595 21) 24 427
tel/fax: (595 21) 492 249
(595 21) 550 451
email: survive at ax.apc.org

International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703, USA
tel: (510) 848 1155
fax: (510) 848 1008
email: glen at irn.org