A river is always a path, sustenance, and memory.
At the Volta Grande (or Great Bend) of the Xingu River, deep in the Brazilian Amazon, the water did more than just flow: it taught people when to plant, when to fish, and when to celebrate.
There, life moved to the rhythm of the river.
Ten years after its inauguration, the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant (UHE) in Pará returns to the center of public debate, this time under the scrutiny of the Inter-American Human Rights System. More than an anniversary, this milestone reinforces the urgency of an effective institutional response:justice cannot continue to be postponed.
On May 5, 2016, the first turbine of Belo Monte began operating on the Xingu River. Ten years later, the Indigenous, riverine, and artisanal fishing communities along the middle Xingu River—who were never properly consulted—continue to suffer systematic violations of their rights. The balance of this decade is not one of development; it is one of documented harm and denied reparation.
No mining, fossil fuel extraction or power generation project lasts forever. Their useful life is determined by internal factors, such as the quantity of resource reserves, and external factors, such as declining demand or financial problems.
But no matter how long a project lasts or how it is affected, its promoters—whether public or private—must provide for a closure and responsible exit process that considers the natural environment and affected communities, and that is desired and promoted by all stakeholders.
Water and energy go hand in hand.
Processes such as gas extraction, oil refining, and hydroelectric power plant operations all require water. Thus, as energy demand increases, so does the need for water to generate it.
This leads to environmental and social impacts, including the depletion of water sources and the pollution of rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water.
Understanding the connection between water and energy production gives us a broader perspective on what our water consumption entails.
By Víctor Quintanilla and Mayela Sánchez García*
The voices of communities across Latin America and the Caribbean are powerful, especially when they call for environmental protection amid multiple, growing threats.
Often, this demand falls on deaf ears among those who deliver justice at the national or local level.
This trend makes it necessary to turn to complementary avenues of international justice.
In the absence of significant progress, they are calling on the government to identify the entities responsible for implementing each measure ordered by the Court, to provide comprehensive and specialized health care, to ensure the mitigation of pollution from the La Oroya Metallurgical Complex, and to immediately pay compensation to the victims of the case.
Even if the companies change, the decision of Cajamarca's citizens remains the same: to defend their territory against large-scale mining.
At a public hearing, they highlighted the impacts and risks to Latin American communities resulting from decades of extraction, commercialization, and use of coal, oil, and gas, as well as from irresponsible closure and exit of projects in the context of the energy transition.
Historically, coal has been identified as an important source of non-renewable energy. It was the fuel that powered the Industrial Revolution, transforming the world's production methods, and for a long time, it was the main fuel for transportation, electricity generation, and heating.
But it is time to leave that era behind. Today, we know that coal is the fossil fuel that generates the highest carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, one of the main greenhouse gases driving global warming, with effects such as melting glaciers and rising sea levels.
