Initiative for Infrastructure Integration of South America

The Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA) is an unprecedented development plan to link South America's economies through new transportation, energy, and telecommunications projects.

IIRSA investments are expected to integrate highway networks, river ways, hydroelectric dams and telecommunications links throughout the continent--particularly in remote, isolated regions--to allow greater trade and create a South American community of nations.

The initiative was launched in late 2000 with the participation of the 12 countries of South America which form the Union of South American Nations. It is being supported by the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) which, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the River Plate Basin Financial Development Fund (Fonplata). Together the three institutions form the Technical Coordination Committee (CCT) which provides technical and financial support for IIRSA activities. [ [http://www.caf.com/view/index.asp?ms=17&pageMs=41608 CAF] accessed on October 13, 2007 ]

Criticism

According to Conservation International scientist Tim Killeen, who conducted a study on the IIRSA, [ [http://www.conservation.org/publications/pages/perfect_storm.aspx "A Perfect Storm in the Amazon Wilderness" (2007)] ] the current plans could lead to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and have profound and far-reaching consequences.

The study shows that cutting and burning of the forests could seriously imperil the multibillion-dollar agriculture industry of the Rio Plata basin, as well as destroy the ecosystems that are home to indigenous people. According to the study, the IIRSA would also wipe out some of Earth’s richest storehouses of terrestrial and freshwater life and would negatively affect climate change by releasing into the atmosphere the huge quantities of carbon dioxide stored in the biomass of the tropical forest--estimated at about twenty times the world’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions.

According to Killeen, the IIRSA does not have to be destructive: "A visionary initiative such as IIRSA should be visionary in all of its dimensions, and should incorporate measures to ensure that the region’s renewable natural resources are conserved and its traditional communities strengthened." [http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/23555 Amazon Rainforest at risk from initiative to connect South American economies] ]

References

Killeen report []