Op-Ed Paper: Time for President Benítez to Reevaluate Our Country’s Hydroelectric Energy Agreement with Brazil
To the ABC Color Newspaper
Yegros 745, Asunción — Paraguay
Letter to the Editor: Natalia Daporta
Subject: Time for President Benítez to Reevaluate Our Country’s Hydroelectric Energy Agreement with Brazil
The Paraguay River has reached its lowest levels in half a century, placing the energy and environmental security of millions of Paraguyans at risk, as well as threatening continental stability. As a result, our nation has been in the grip of a serious drought for most of the year, meaning Paraguayan riparian communities who rely on the River’s currents to sustain their livelihoods have become particularly vulnerable to the economic, health and social impacts from this ongoing environmental emergency.
This disaster can no longer be tolerated and requires immediate Presidental action!
President Benítez, you are already well aware of how unrestrained agroforestry policies promoted by Brazilian President, Jair Bolosonaro, have contributed to the observed fires in the Pantanal Wetlands. Yet, you may not know how these unsustainable policies have significantly disrupted the normal operations of the wetland’s ecological and hydrological cycles, which, in turn, has reduced forest cover in the area, creating the conditions ripe for drought and conflagration. The Pantanal serves as the major source of freshwater for much of the Paraguay River and the heavily populated Rio de la Plata drainage basin, thus the actions taken within Brazil have not detrimentally impacted their own citizens, but those of their neighbors, specifically Paraguay.
Our nation already struggles to guarantee the economic, energy and environmental security of much of our population, but has recently appeared to overcome several massive security concerns. The recently implemented 2014–2030 National Development Plan (NDP) placed Paraguay in a stronger domestic and geopolitical position by establishing commendable sustainable development goals, while the 2009 energy agreement made with Brazil appeared to provide Paraguay with an economic lifeline that sought to integrate our two nations closer, while simultaneously guaranteeing future energy security. Unfortunately, despite the relative success of the NDP, the energy agreement developed after the construction of the Itaipu Dam has not lived up to the hype.
The Itaipu Dam originally guaranteed each nation 50% of the energy generated, but Paraguay only used about 5% of its share and had to sell the rest to Brazil at a fixed price. The 2009 deal seemed to resolve this issue by allowing Paraguay to sell the energy at higher prices, which rose to $360m annually, but failed to account for Brazil failing to uphold the original terms of the bargain by pursuing unilateral national policies that significantly interrupted the total amount of potential energy generated by the River. President Bolonaro’s policies may have jumpstarted much of the Brazilian economy, but it has come at the cost of Paraguay’s environments, energy capacity and future socio-economic prospects.
The economic contractions due to COVID-19 lockdowns, as well as the ongoing spread of the virus, has already impacted our national security, yet the drought occurring throughout Paraguay could prove even deadlier in the long-term. President Benitiz, your Colorado Party recently obtained electoral victories at the federal and legislative levels, enabling you to aggressively tackle these crises. We suggest that you accomplish these goals by demanding a review of the ongoing energy agreement negotiated between Brazil in Paraguay, which was broken by Brazil in bad faith.
To overcome the massive economic shocks that struck average Paraguayans, in the form of higher import costs of essential supplies, our government should demand Brazil pay for more the energy that we sell them, while simultaneously demanding that we receive a higher share of the River’s generated energy, so as to overcome the shortage in energy generation due to the reduced hydroelectric capacity.
Arguing on the basis of shared responsibility, Paraguay should assert itself more on the geopolitical stage, both regionally and internationally, and present its case that the sustained drought in the Paraguay River has hurt Paraguay’s human security and is a direct consequence of Brazil’s actions. Utilizing our existing geopolitical prestige as original signatories to the UN and MERCOSUR, Paraguay can muster support from other powers to begin pressuring Brazil to cease and desist with its unsustainable, environmentally harmful unilateral actions that have placed regional climate systems under tremendous pressure by diminishing the water production of many tributary sources. Because South Americans and Paraguayuans at all levels of society have been impacted by the ongoing drought, nations should demand Brazil repay them for the damages they’ve inflicted throughout the continent.
President Benítez, demanding both more annual payments, as well as compensation for the damages sustained, would provide immediate relief to many Paraguayan people whose livelihoods are rapidly vanishing as the River’s waters recede. Without comprehensive reforms that focus Paraguayan energy and environmental security through the expansion of their diplomatic capacity and sustainable development industries, Paraguay will continue to experience severe energy, financial and environmental pain. The risks created by the drought require adaptation, conservation and prioritization of natural security, while holding those who espouse climatically unfavorable policies accountable for their actions.
