Destruction of Endangered Macaw Habitat Must Be Stopped, Say Brazilian Communities ...

A unique bird species and traditional livelihoods are threatened by a French company’s wind energy project; communities ask the United Nations to intervene.

December 15, 2022 · American Bird Conservancy


The Lear's Macaw was rescued from the brink of extinction through years of conservation action, but wind energy development has emerged as a new and potentially deadly threat within the species' small range. Photo by Bennett Hennessey.

Excerpt:

As world leaders gather in Montreal for the United Nations' (UN) COP15 biodiversity conference, and UN environment chief Inger Andersen warns that “we are at war with nature,” the future for the Endangered Lear's Macaw hangs in the balance in Bahia, Brazil. So does the way of life for 600 families whose communal lands are increasingly being declared off-limits by French energy company Voltalia. For nearly two years, the company has denied all requests from biodiversity conservation groups and affected communities to relocate its wind energy project away from the habitat of the rare bird. Now, a group comprising 70 organizations and community associations, and supported by American Bird Conservancy (ABC), WWF, and Re:wild, has appealed for help with a formal complaint to the United Nations.

In the complaint to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 70 local organizations and community associations in the Canudos region of northeastern Brazil state that French company Voltalia began installation of 28 wind turbines — being constructed on 136 acres (55 hectares) of land vital for people and wildlife — before the company conducted the required environmental impact studies and public hearings. The complaint calls for Voltalia to suspend the project and move it out of Lear's Macaw habitat, and follows up on a public letter requesting the same that was released in August of 2021.

“The Lear's Macaw has come back from the edge of extinction through intensive conservation efforts over the past 35 years, and now faces the risk of deadly collisions with turbines and associated powerlines,” said Amy Upgren, Director of Alliance for Zero Extinction and Key Biodiversity Area Programs at ABC.

“Renewable energy is vital in the fight against climate change, and so is conserving our planet's increasingly endangered wildlife,” added Lewis Grove, Director of Wind and Energy Policy at ABC. “Researchers at COP15 project that one million species are facing extinction. Will the Lear's Macaw be one of them? We're advocating that this project be relocated where it will do less harm.”


Wind turbines already constructed and put in place in Bahia, Brazil, by French energy company Voltalia. Photo courtesy of Barong.

https://abcbirds.org/news/communities-appeal-un-help-lears-macaw-2022/