George Soros procures to dam a river to irrigate rice fields causing a big controversy For the third time in the last few years a group of rice companies leaded by Copra -related with the first multimedia consortium in the country- and the Soros one Adeco Agro, attempt to dam the Ayuí Grande river, burying 8,000 hectares under an artificial lake, altering the system of this important watercourse –vital to other producers– and eliminating valuable native woodlands. The local Fundación Iberá, a Corrientes-based foundation, which led the effective repudiation by prestigious organizations and well known jurists on the two previous occasions, said: “They cannot do it, and this time, this private attempt to take over a public resource should be dismantled for good
as it is environmentally and legally unacceptable.”

Rice companies Copra S.A. and Adeco Agro have done the impossible to go ahead with their ambitious project to dam the Arroyo Ayuí Grande, creating an 8,000 hectare lake to irrigate new crops. This, they say, would enable up to 28,000 hectares to go under irrigation.

To Fundación Iberá and an overwhelming part of the Argentine population — it is enough to view the Blog at www.ennombredelayui.blogspot.com to appreciate the support this campaign has drawn — this is simply unacceptable.

According to constitutionalist Daniel Sabsay, President of the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation [Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales] “The owners of private farmlands cannot
appropriate a river and its banks, to turn them into a lake, and flood areas that are public and protected by a battery of laws. They cannot arrogate the use of a watercourse from which the sustainability of an entire watershed downstream depends, as well as many producers that
legitimately use that same resource and who will be seriously affected by a unilateral act that will modify its system.”

Sabsay analyzed this case of the Province of Corrientes and maintained:

“This is not in accordance with the model of sustainable development contemplated in our national Constitution, the international treaties to which Argentina is a party and, naturally, the national laws
regulating the minimum requirements of environmental protection, and the deriving provincial legislation. Such an attack on the public order of the environment, defined so meticulously b the Argentine Supreme Court, is unacceptable”, referring to a series of decisions
such as the famous "Mendoza" precedent (known as the Riachuelo case).

This would be the first time something like this happens and it would set a risky precedent for addressing legal and environmental issues.

The itinerary of the companies in their attempt to flood the Ayuí:

2005 - A joint venture of five companies led by Copra and Pilagá tri ed to go ahead with the building of a dam — which they dubbed “mega-dam” due to its sheer size— wielding a visibly feeble Environmental Impact Evaluation and arguing huge benefits for the area. They met with solid
resistance from the community.

2007 - Pilagá was sold to Adeco Agro, which then joined Copra in resurfacing the project. They hired well known scientists and university professors (whose prestige vanished as soon as their names
were linked to such an insurmountable project). The dam was reduced slightly in size (from an 11,000-hectare lake to 8,000) as one of the companies realized the venture was unfeasible and withdrew its farmlands from the project.

2008 – A notable group of jurists, artists, producers and scientists published the Open Letter “The Ayuí must continue to flow” [El Ayuí debe seguir siendo un arroyo]. The letter was signed by Antonio Tarragó Ros (singer), Daniel Sabsay (constitutionalist), Antonio Brailosky (environmentalist), Eduardo Peluffo (producer in the area of the Miriñay), Ernesto Viglizzo (INTA/Conicet agronomist), Aníbal Parera (biologist), and many other neighbors, producers and persons of repute.

- Thousands of people adhered to the Open Letter through the Blog created by Fundación Iberá in defense of the Ayuí watercourse.

- The companies understood, nevertheless, that their only obstacle was the National Forest Law, which froze all clear-cutting until the province issued its Native Forest Regulation. Accordingly, they
withdrew from the scene once again; this time to press the Corrientes government to issue a “Native Forests Land Planning” that would allow them to advance with their dam project.

2009 – Having succeeded in getting their Order from the provincial executive (signed by the outgoing governor Arturo Colombi), they obtained a favorable opinion from the Forest Resources office and requested a Public Hearing, which has been scheduled for December 4th.

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The Native Forest Land Planning Executive in the Court The Native Forests Executive Order has been in the hands of Justice ever since Fundación Iberá filed an Amparo (*) requesting the absolute
and peremptory annulment of the order as it is considered to be: (a) groundless (for not publishing compulsory information, such as forest zoning maps); (b) unconstitutional (for contradicting several laws); (c) instituted without the consensus required by the National Forest Law, and particularly serious (d) promoter of damage to the producers in the areas with native forests, automatically condemned to receiving no benefits from a substantial Compensation Fund for preserving these
forests.

“Although the latter went unnoticed by many people, access to the Fund ceased automatically when the Governor signed the Executive Order instead of sending the regulation to the relevant congressional track for debate on the use of forests,” explained biologist Aníbal Parera, seasoned in sustainable rural production policies. “The law penalizes the provinces if they decide to skip the congressional track.”

On the verge of a new provincial government taking office and checked by the statements of the newly elected governor when launching his Environmental Platform, his advisor Lino Gómez said: “On one of the tributaries of the Miriñay river a private enterprise wishes to cover
it and flood it to grow rice, and this government has done nothing about it; the only existing study is the one paid by the company itself.”

It is not surprising that the companies are now pressing for a Public Hearing just six days away from the change of government.

To Antonio Tarragó Ros, a popular folk singer from the province of Corrientes, “This is a real tragedy but I have learnt that art can change tragedy into virtue: we shall write poetry and songs to the Ayuí, so that it may continue to flow.”

Nevertheless, the audacious and irregular project of the Ayuí Grande dam is back once more to capsize. If they advance with the public hearing, the Corrientes Water and Environment Institute (ICAA) and the companies could find themselves in an odd situation, without the legal
support they are credulously relying on (the Executive Order on Native Forests could first be declared “absolutely null”). To Enrique Lacour President of Fundación Iberá, this position is nothing but naive:

“They don’t seem to understand that there are laws at all the levels, from the municipal to the international that would stop this project in any court of justice.”.- Some Essentials about the Ayuí
* Arroyo Ayuí Grande: This river is in the heart of Corrientes, 50 km from the Esteros del Iberá, and is one of the main tributaries of the Miriñay river, which flows into the River Uruguay.

* The Ayuí’s gallery forests: Predominant in these woods is the Inga uruguensis (Ingá), a 15 meter high tree, as well as the Cathormion polyanthum (Timbó Blanco), Nectandra falcifolia (Laurel), and orchids and epiphytes.

* Endangered species: Several threatened species living in the Ayuí would be displaced from their habitat, such as the Marsh Deer (Blastocerus dichotomus), the Maned Wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) and the Neotropical Otter (Lontra longicaudis) (all three are protected and considered Natural Monuments by the Province of Corrientes).

* Exorbitant ambition: There are other ways to irrigate crops in the area, recommended even by the experts the companies hired. For example, several smaller dams could be located at the watershed
headwaters, where there are no mature forests that could be flooded.

Their failing is that they would not supply the capacity the project is seeking.

* Without precedent: There are no precedents of a project of this nature. Dams of this size are hydroelectric and at the service of the entire community (power generation), not for the benefit of private parties, as in this case.

* Damage to producers: Other producers do not go along with this project. Many cattle ranchers and rice growers located downstream are concerned about possible accidents (dam breakage), lack of water (in times of drought they suspect the company will withhold the water) and environmental damage (the watershed production is highly dependent on the water and the ecosystem).

* Out of true: The project does not fit the national Constitution, the international treaties, and national and provincial laws. Even so, the manifest unlawfulness did not stop the province from “going along with” the process at all times. With or without the Forest Executive Order,
the project is unviable.

* Powerful interests: These are not local correntino companies that are pushing the project. Adeco Agro belongs to the group of international investment tycoon George Soros, and the head of Copra
S.A. is a well known manager of the Clarín multimedia group.

* Jobs and donations to local hospitals: This is what the companies are proposing in exchange for devastating the ecosystem and impairing downstream producers’ access to water.