Brazilian minister defends river diversion project

Terra Daily, via Agence France-Presse: An ambitious plan by Brazil to irrigate its parched northeast region with a vast network of canals and reservoirs is more about giving water to residents than to agri-business, a minister argued Monday. National Integration Minister Geddel Vieira Lima told reporters that detractors' claims that the four-billion-dollar project was designed primarily to benefit huge cattle ranches and commercial fruit and sugarcane farms were false.

"The priority is the human aspect, then comes the economic aspect," he said in Sao Paulo, explaining that inspiration for the plan came from other countries that have struggled with distributing scarce water resources, such as Austalia. But, while he said "nobody, absolutely nobody will be without drinking water" when the project is completed, he admitted that "not all the poor people" in the region will have direct access to the channeled water.

The scheme is one of the biggest proposed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and involves diverting water from Brazil's Sao Francisco River into the northeast, where the government has already spent billions in stop-gap measures to help drought-stricken communities and businesses. Two canals, 400 and 220 kilometers (250 and 140 miles) long, are to be built along with pumping stations, aqueducts, reservoirs and two hydroelectric plants.

Opposition to the project from rural groups has been fierce, and last year a Catholic priest, Bishop Flavio Luiz Cappio, held a 23-day hunger strike in protest. But the country's Supreme Court in December dismissed criticism that environmental and social costs would outweigh the vaunted benefits and gave its authorization, overturning a lower court's order to suspend the work.

The waterfront in Manaus in Brazil, "Portanegra," Wikimedia Commons