El Diquís Hydroelectric Project


The El Diquís Hydroelectric Project is a cancelled hydroelectric dam project, designed by ICE.
The dam was to be located between Buenos Aires, Osa, and Pérez Zeledón in Puntarenas Province in southwestern Costa Rica. Planned as the largest hydroelectric dam in Central America, the 631 MW El Diquís Hydroelectric Project would have generated electricity for more than one million consumers, dwarfing both the Reventazón dam that opened in 2016 and the Pirrís hydroelectric plant, completed in 2011. The $2 billion PHED project would have required 7363.506 hectares of land, 915.59 hectares of which are indigenous territories, and displaced 1547 people. It would also have employed in the region of 3,500 people and the electricity produced has the potential to be exported to neighbouring countries.
The PHED was suspended indefinitely by ICE on November 2, 2018. In the announcement, the executive president of ICE, Irene Cañas, cited financial issues as a primary reason for the decision and also announced a series of adjustments to improve the financial conditions of the entity. Previously, in November of 2016, the Costa Rican Supreme Court ordered a moratorium on the PHED until ICE completed a consultation with local affected indigenous communities, which it had been stalling on since 2011.

History

In October 2011, The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Costa Rica gave ICE a six-month deadline to make peace with indigenous residents in the Térraba area based on recommendations by the United Nations. In 2010, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and current CU Boulder Law School Dean, James Anaya recommended that ICE take immediate actions to open transparent dialogue with affected indigenous communities. None had been taken by 2015 when the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination wrote their Report on the Grave and Persistent Violation of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Costa Rica. Under international treaties signed by Costa Rica, primarily the International Labor Organization Convention 169, ICE must respect Térraba indigenous lands and obtain free prior informed consent prior to construction.
The PHED was slated to be part of the PPP - Plan Puebla Panama, now known as The Mesoamerica Project, or in Spanish Proyecto Mesoamérica - via SIEPAC. Oddly, SIEPAC Section 17, still unbuilt yet would serve as the transmission line, is part of what is the MesoAmerican Biological Corridor, The Path of The Tapir. The entire corridor was formerly in the scope of the PPP.
The dam's electrical operating plant is proposed at Palmar Norte some distance from the dam itself. The project includes two tunnels one gravity fed and the other electrically waters to be pumped back behind the dam. Palmar Norte is a small village located in the Diquis Valley within a RAMSAR designated watershed/mangrove region - the Humedal Nacional Térraba-Sierpe covering 32,235 Hectares, where billions of marine lifeforms are born. It is the largest wild mangrove region in Central America established as a forest park in 1977 and receiving RAMSAR status in 1995. Located nearshore to this intricate watershed is the only marine site on Earth where both subspecies of Humpback Whales congregate. National Geographic states one of five last wild places is adjacent to this region, The Osa Peninsula. Nearshore is the protected island of Caños. Strong opposition to the project from Women of the Osa, Nature Conservancy, ASANA, eco-lodges serving the upscale tourism, international travelers who have settled in the area, and nearby communities are against the dam. It is estimated over 200 sacred Indigenous sites would be destroyed by the project.
The current status of this project is also unclear since Section 17 of SIEPAC is unbuilt because of several lawsuits pending in Costa Rica brought by rainforest-based communities in the rural Southern Zone of Costa Rica opposed to the transmission line. The small sustainable rural communities contend the transmission line destroys primal forest, significant watersheds and puts at-risk species at further risk while destroying habitats, peace and hopes of these communities creating eco-tourism and cultural tourism.
The previous version of this mega-dam was under development for over 30 years, first called the Boruca Dam. The Boruca Dam included an Aluminum smelting operation. The Boruca and Térraba peoples fought and won a decision against the dam and the industry. Then ICE moved the project upstream to the west to the neighboring Térraba Indigenous peoples lands. Instead, the Diquís would be built on the General River rather than the Térraba River and would flood some of the Valle de General. The Térraba River under the current project is where the warm waters from the electrical plant at Palmar Norte would be released. The Térraba River feeds the Humedal Nacional Térraba-Sierpe.
The remote Southern Pacific Zone of Costa Rica is dependent on eco-tourism bringing improved living to locals and Indigenous peoples. To say this energy is to be used for these communities is not correct. The population across the entire region is very sparse. There is also no industry in the region except farms for coffee and pineapples.

Indigenous Protest

Representatives of indigenous organizations pressed for the ICE to halt construction plans for the El Diquís Hydroelectric Project since its inception, stating that their rights have been disregarded. Damming the river basin will flood approximately 685 hectares of protected land, which will force members of the neighbouring Térraba community out of their homes permanently. A study by the University of Texas School of Law's Human Rights Clinic released in July 2010 concluded that the Costa Rican government has violated the rights of the indigenous people by failing to consult with them and keep them informed of project activities, in spite of international laws requiring them to do so. The report reads: “Costa Rica has failed to respect and protect the human rights of its indigenous peoples in the areas of information, property, representation and effective participation in decisions surrounding the ... Its national electricity authority, ICE, has not obtained the effective participation of the Teribe peoples as required under international law.”
In March 2011, the Teribe indigenous community filed a lawsuit against ICE, and in April 2011 the United Nations Organization also sent a letter to the Costa Rican government echoing the concerns of the Indigenous community.