{"id":22192,"date":"2020-07-30T13:58:01","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T13:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&p=22192"},"modified":"2021-04-01T15:05:01","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T15:05:01","slug":"how-fishermen-and-shellfishers-have-been-impacted-by-the-port-of-suape-for-more-than-40-years","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/how-fishermen-and-shellfishers-have-been-impacted-by-the-port-of-suape-for-more-than-40-years\/","title":"How fishermen and shellfishers have been impacted by the port of Suape for more than 40 years","content":"

In June this year, the <\/span>NCP (National Contact Point)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a>, an international body responsible for monitoring compliance with the <\/span>guidelines of the OECD<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a> (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), completed an analysis that began in 2015 of the <\/span>violations committed by the multinational Van Oord against traditional communities in the region of Suape<\/b><\/span><\/a>, on the southern coastline of the state of Pernambuco.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The NCP drew on a petition signed the Z8 Fishing Colony, formed by families from the region of Gaibu, by the Suape Forum, a network of fishing and shellfishing associations, and by the civil society organizations Conectas and Both Ends. The document identified <\/span>several environmental impacts and serious violations committed against the original inhabitants<\/b> of the area during the dredging of the Port of Suape carried out in 2011 to open and deepen a channel, which enabled the expansion of a shipyard at the site.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After a five-year assessment that included mediation sessions between representatives of the affected communities and the company, the organization concluded that there had been <\/span>severe environmental and human rights impacts against the communities<\/b> that lived there and it presented recommendations to be adopted by the company. The recommendations include the installation of artificial corals \u2013 in an attempt to remedy irreparable damage to the local ecosystem \u2013 and the implementation of a health program for the people of the region.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This half-decade episode is, however, just one more chapter in the long drama that has <\/span>afflicted families affected by the Port of Suape for more than 40 years<\/b> and that, due to its impacts, has been called the \u201cforgotten Belo Monte\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Port of Suape<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Suape Industrial and Port Complex<\/b> is a mega-project covering 13,500 hectares whose construction began in 1978 in the municipalities of Ipojuca and Cabo Santo Agostinho on land inhabited for generations by traditional communities.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Accommodating more than 100 companies \u2013 among them Unilever, Solar Coca-Cola, Pepsico Brasil, Toyota and Fedex \u2013 with a share capital of R$1.2 billion, the complex was called the <\/span>\u201cEngine of the Northeast\u201d<\/b> by a former governor, Eduardo Campos.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Besides generating income and employment, much publicized by the state and federal governments, the port has been responsible for the <\/span>removal of nearly 20,000 people<\/b> who used to live in the region before the complex was built.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to data from the Suape Forum, the region of Suape used to have a population of 25,000. Today, it stands at less than 7,000. Barred from entering their former territories, these people are still <\/span>treated as trespassers and are frequent targets of threats and reprisals<\/b>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n