Colombian communities raise concerns about Canadian-owned Hidrosogamoso dam’s impact on fish mortality

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Photo: Sogamoso Dam.

El Espectador reports: “After a complaint made by fishermen of the lower basin of the Sogamoso River, who assured that on December 25 and 26 there was a severe drought and fish mortality in some municipalities of Santander that are downstream of the Hidrosogamoso dam, the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad, called on hydroelectric plants not to make abrupt closures of gates.”

Muhamad said: “With respect to the situation that happened in Hidrosogamoso, the Sogamoso River and the downstream affectation, both to the ecosystem and to the communities, we must express an urgent and important call to the hydroelectric companies of Colombia not to close the gates without notifying the communities, without planning and without transitions so that the ecosystems adjust.”

She added: “It is very clear in the monitoring of the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) that from one day to the next the Sogamoso River went from 500 cubic meters per second to 80 cubic meters which, although it is the ecological flow, does not seem to be enough to guarantee the life of the River, the fish and also the sustainability of the fishermen and the inhabitants who depend on it.”

El Espectador also notes: “The Ministry of Environment assured that a team of the National Environmental System is already in the territory to analyze the effects on the Sogamoso River and listen to the affected communities, fishermen and peasants.”

Tweet by Minister Susana Muhamad: “Regarding the situation of Hidrosogamoso, we will review the minimum ecological flows and the procedures for opening and closing floodgates, to guarantee the life of the Sogamoso river and the rights of the amphibian and peasant communities that depend on it.”

This was also reported on by Alerta Santanderes at MinAmbiente le puso la lupa a la represa de Hidrosogamoso por mortandad de peces and W Radio at MinAmbiente revisará los caudales ecológicos que tienen las hidroeléctricas.

“El monstruo”

In July 2022, Mongabay also reported: “In La Playa, a fishing village of around 500 people in Santander, Colombia, well-kept houses and vibrant murals live in the shadow of el monstruo — the locals’ nickname for the Hidrosogamoso Dam, a mega project that has challenged local livelihoods and triggered a wave of activism.”

The article explains: “Operating since 2014 on the Sogamoso River, Hidrosogamoso is Colombia’s fourth-largest hydroelectric dam. But ISAGEN, the company that built the dam more than a decade ago, now owned by multinational Brookfield Asset Management, failed to consult the community and address concerns about the project’s social and environmental costs, according to local sources.”

“Hidrosogamoso’s reservoir, Topocoro, replaced about 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of forest and cropland, causing deforestation and loss of habitat and aquatic species diversity. More than 1,000 people had to relocate, while the livelihoods of those relying on the river for fishing, small-scale mining, and subsistence agriculture suffered, according to Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office and local NGOs.”

“Over a recent video call, four women from the Ríos Vivos movement told Mongabay that the local community continues to feel the long-term impacts of the dam, while also being threatened by pilot fracking projects in the area.”

The full article by Jane K. Feeney can be read at Displaced by a dam, women defenders fight for their land rights in Colombia.

Brookfield Asset Management

In January 2016, Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management bought a majority share (57.6 per cent) in the Colombian power generation and distribution company Isagen (and its Sogamoso hydroelectric dam).

Euractiv has reported: “The Sogamoso dam in northern Colombia, where, between 2009 and 2014, six activists have been killed and many more disappeared without a trace.”

In March 2020, El Espectador published this article titled Community denounces fish and bird deaths in Barrancabermeja.

That article notes: “The fishermen of the San Silvestre spout, in Santander, denounce that since the middle of February there is a fish mortality in the place. According to them, this emergency is due to the fact that Isagen, a company in charge of the Sogamoso dam, opened the floodgates to feed the river that bears the same name.”

This past summer, PBI-Canada visited the San Silvestre wetlands along with FEDEPESAN, CREDHOS and PBI-Colombia.

We organized this webinar on December 7 as a follow-up to that visit.

Photo: CREDHOS president Ivan Madero along with Andrea Nocove and Julia Figueroa from CCALCP outside the Brookfield office in Toronto, Canada during a Peace Brigades International-organized advocacy tour in November 2019.


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