Passed Third International Meeting of People Affected by Dams and its Allies
(Temacapulín, Jalisco, Mexico, October 1-7, 2010 )
Temacapulín Solidarity, and Palmarejo Acasico
We, over 320 people from 54 countries across and around the world, concerned and fighters against destructive dams and activists for ecological use of water, just use energy, self-determination of peoples, homeland defense, environmental and climate justice and respect for human rights, we have found in Temacapulín. We met in a village which is in danger of being destroyed by the construction of the dam The Zapotillo. We stand in solidarity with our generous host and support its demand Temac for cancellation of the dam The Zapotillo. Temac should live, and their struggle is our struggle.
also express our solidarity with the struggles of the Mexican Movement of People Affected by Dams and in Defense of Rivers (MAPDER) and the communities, towns and cities in various parts of Mexico, which are now flooded or buried by tons of mud because of the fracture or the vent of dams in the country. The climate crisis unleashed its fury pitting them against excessive rains, overflowing rivers and dams are dangerous to their maximum capacity. Therefore denounce and reject the outdated policy and rampant construction of dams.
Water for life not for death! The scream made at the First International Meeting of People Affected by Dams, held in Curitiba, Brazil, 1997, reaffirmed at the Second International Meeting in 2003 in Rasi Salai, Thailand, and again regained strength during these intense days in Jalisco, in the community of Temacapulín.
Our Achievements
From Rasi Salai, we have continued working together to face the dam industry, and governments and financial institutions to promote and fund their destructive activities. Our struggles have beaten dam projects and helped to restore and protect rivers. We have made significant achievements in the fight for the right to informed consent about the projects on our lands and dignity repairs and conditions of resettlement.
We successfully implemented under community control, many experiences with technology and fair and environmentally responsible programs to meet our energy needs, water, sanitation and protection from destructive floods.
managed to create and strengthen various regional networks and national movements fronts of struggle against dams and for the rights of those affected. We are building a new model of production and energy use and water management that meets the needs of people before the interests of national and transnational corporations.
Our Challenges
issued 10 years after the important recommendations of the World Commission on Dams, in most of our countries, peoples' rights continue to be violated by the construction of dams. The rivers are still repressed and transfer, flooded forests, fish and other species exterminated. In flagrant violation of international agreements and national laws, indigenous and tribal peoples, ethnic minorities and traditional communities are disproportionately harmed by the brutal exploitation their territories, lands and resources. In many parts are bound to struggle against physical and cultural annihilation. Riparian communities, rural and urban dams are destroying their own ways and means of livelihood.
Women suffer even more dramatic disruptions of community and family life resulting from dam construction. In many places, are discriminated against in the process of resettlement and compensation. Furthermore, the concentration of thousands of workers during the construction phase is often accompanied by prostitution, epidemics and deterioration of education and health services concerning a very direct and immediate women's lives.
Youth, elders are also particularly vulnerable to economic, social and cultural caused by dams.
repression of communities and organizations that resist the dams and the militarization of the territories constitutes a blatant human rights abuse.
Our dead and persecuted have a sad history of violence of the builders of dams, but also the heroic resistance of the peoples concerned and their determination to carry on the struggle for a new way to use water to produce and use energy serve the people.
privatization processes in the 90's driven by the IMF and World Bank became the production of energy and water in a large business. Corporations make massive profits in the construction of dams, agro-business in the hydrocarbon and mining business.
Many countries return to a semi-colonial status to feed the consumer capitalism that dominates contemporary society.
Large dams reduce the ability of societies and ecosystems to adapt to global warming. Climate change is causing serious harm to people and ecosystems making the dam even less safe, less economically viable, accelerating the sedimentation of reservoirs. Large reservoirs are a major source of greenhouse gases (GHGs).
We oppose the so-called "Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that powerful governments and encourage private capital to offset their GHG emissions, including dams as clean and renewable energy. We support the actions that will develop the global movement for climate justice within the framework of the Conference of the Parties to be held in Cancun, Mexico this year.
We sympathize
and we join the struggle of La Via Campesina for food sovereignty, which is inseparable from popular control of water and energy sovereignty.
We stand and we join those who fight against mining and water privatization.
Our Demands
Shared experiences and the five days of rich exchanges led us to agree:
Tightens the principles and demands of the statements of Curitiba and Rasi Salai.
· We oppose the construction of all socially and environmentally destructive. We oppose the construction of any dam that has not been approved by the affected populations, after a well informed and genuinely participatory process, and that does not meet the basic needs prioritized by the communities themselves.
· governments, financial institutions and corporations must submit all decisions on dams in public acceptance and informed consent by those affected, as recommended by the World Commission on Dams, including the populations downstream and upstream of the dam ..
· The services provided by existing dams should be optimized, social and environmental damage minimized and repaired / cleared before construction any new project.
· Demands full respect to knowledge and management of traditional territories of indigenous and tribal peoples, traditional communities and farmers and their collective rights to self determination and free, prior and informed consent in planning and decision making water and energy.
· Repairs must be negotiated and given the millions of people who have suffered because of dams, including the provision of land, housing and social infrastructure. The dam builders and developers, and those who benefit from the dams, are the ones who should bear the cost of repairs.
• Must be promoted programs and recovery plans and economic and social development of affected populations on the popular control.
• We condemn the militarization of our territories. A halt to the use of all forms of violence and intimidation against people affected and threatened by dams and organizations who oppose them. We reject the militarization of the territories and the use of dams and water for military purposes. We demand that governments and international organizations respect and protect human rights and stop the persecution against two human rights defenders.
• The gender equality must be respected in all policies, programs and projects on water and energy. • Must be
actions, including decommissioning, to restore ecosystems and lifestyles that have been damaged by dams.
• We condemn the privatization of energy and water sectors. Demand an effective public control and democratic regulation of electricity and water services. Water and energy can no longer treated as merchandise, they are a public good. As recognized in the United Nations General Assembly, the water is a fundamental human right, which blames the government to ensure access universal access to water quality as well as ensure protection of water resources from contamination.
The policies for water and energy should be the subject of extensive public consultation and democratic. In some countries the dialogue on implementation of recommendations of the CMR can contribute significantly.
• Governments must protect the safety of people downstream and upstream of the existing dams, including insufficient investment in dam safety, accountable and participatory management of them and participatory development of protection plans or evacuation If rupture and emergency releases.
· those affected by dams built in a neighboring country have the right to be consulted on the construction and operation. National authorities and international river basin must be inclusive and transparent, and include representatives of social movements and NGOs.
• Governments must invest heavily in research and application of energy technologies and environmentally responsible water management. Governments should implement policies that discourage waste and overconsumption, and ensure equitable distribution of wealth.
· We reject the benefits of Clean Development Mechanism destructive hydropower projects, and oppose all carbon market mechanisms.
· Waterways should follow the principle "adapt the boat to the river, not the river to the boat."
We pledge to:
· Step our struggles and campaigns against dams, for the rights of populations affected and threatened, and the reparation of their losses and restore watersheds.
• Work to implement methods of water management and energy such as rainwater harvesting and community-managed renewable energy.
· Fight against the consumerist model and in campaigning against the consumption of energy-intensive products.
· Follow collectively discussing and building principles and guidelines of an energy and water management based on environmental responsibility and service to the people.
· Step exchanges between activists and movements working on dams, water, energy, environmental and climate justice, including reciprocal visits of people living in different countries.
To strengthen our movements by joining with others struggling against neoliberal development model, and a global social and ecological justice.
· Events each year's Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life (March 14).
Our struggle against destructive dams and the current model of water management and energy, is also a struggle against a social order dominated by the imperative to maximize profits, and it is a struggle for a society based on equity and solidarity.
Another model of energy and water management is possible!
Water for life, not death!
Water and energy are not good
Free Rios
free people 
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