Environmentally sound – really! A hydropower project, situated in our last remaining tropical dry forest, within the new national park. We had the environment particularly in mind when planning the project, conducting an environmental impact assessment following internationally accepted standards to help us find the best solutions.

Programme Manager Kassius Klei Ximenes: Iralalaru lake will not be affected!

Photo: Basil Rolandsen / Bouvet Photography

River water disappears into a hole to reappear at the seaside. Everything inbetween is inside the mountains or buried – unless you stumble over the intake you will not see it. No dams, steel towered power lines, roads – just nature itself. Only at the edges of the park can we find indications of what is hidden – a small road and a power line with transformer near the village, and small houses and a jetty at the beach.

The local community is satisfied, too. The Mainina sinkhole, sacred by traditional belief, will not be touched – water is diver­ted upstream. The groundwater and the springs in the area will most likely not be affected – negative effects will be mitigated. The lake will not be regulated, no dams will be built, the river will not be affected before the intake pond, no crocodiles or endangered birds will be threatened, and no significant adverse consequences will be experienced by other species.

Environmental change will occur in the cities, and global: Clean hydroelectric power will replace polluting, oil-based generators. Everybody wins. Pleasing, isn’t it?