THE COTINGO DAM AS A TEST OF BRAZIL SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING PROPOSED DEVELOPMENTS IN AMAZONIA

The proposed Cotingo Dam in Brazil's far northern state of Roraima is examined with the objective of drawing lessons for Brazil's system of evaluating environmental, social, and financial consequences of develo pment decisions. The Cotingo Dam illustrates the difficulty of transla ting into practice the principles of economic and environmental assess ment. Examination of the financial arguments for the Cotingo Dam indic ates that justifications in this Sphere are insufficient to explain wh y the project is favored over other alternatives and points to politic al factors as the best explanation of the project's high priority. Str ong pressure from political and entrepreneurial interest groups almost invariably dominates decision making in Amazonia. The analysis indica tes the inherent tendency of the present system to produce decisions i n favor of large construction projects at the expense of the environme nt acid local peoples. The requirements intended to assure proper weig ht for these concerns, such as the report on environmental impacts (RI MA) and the public hearing, fail to serve this role. Cotingo also prov ides a test case for constitutional protections restricting constructi on of dams in indigenous lands.