Impact of Hydroelectric Dams on Indigenous Language Reten on: A Case Study at Chixoy Dam, Guatemala

Background facts Indigenous people There are about 370 million indig‐enous people in the world. They comprise about 5% of the global popula on, but account for near‐ly one third of the world’s poorest of the poor. (UNPO) Indigenous and tribal peoples “have suffered dispropor onately from the nega ve impacts of large dams.” (WCD)

Dams Large dam reservoirs have dis‐placed 40‐80 million people glob‐ally since 1950, and have affected many millions more. (WCD) Dams have affected 60% of the world’s rivers. (WCD)

Guatemala Indigenous people comprise over half of Guatemala’s popula on .(UNDP) In Guatemala, 86.6% of indige‐nous people are poor. (World Bank)

In 1982, construc on of the Chixoy hydroelectric dam displaced 3,500 Mayans living in remote communi es in Guatemala’s central highlands. These communi es were moved to army‐built se lements on the out‐skirts of small towns, where they con nue to live today. Socioeconom‐ic condi ons in these se lements are poor, and many of the impacts of dis‐placement on nutri on, educa on and livelihoods are documented. Yet impacts on the cultural con nuity of these indigenous communi es—effects that may be more durable—are minimally noted. Loss of access to their river and other natural re‐sources that provided a founda on for their way of life undermines their use of tradi onal foods, medicines, clothes, spiritual prac ce, and forms of community organiza on and gov‐ernance that have sustained them for genera ons. This study quan fies a cultural im‐pact of displacement: reten on of the indigenous language, Maya Achí. It uses mul ‐variate regression analy‐sis to measure the loss of Achí usage that can be a ributed to displace‐ment.

Despite conten on surrounding their social and environmental costs, we con nue to build large dams at a rapid pace.

Ins tu ons that finance and regu‐late dams endeavor to minimize social and environmental harm.

These ins tu ons need be er in-forma on about how dams disrupt the cultural fabric and con nuity of communi es they displace.

Infrastructure policy decisions are in‐formed by cost‐benefit frameworks that inadequately accommodate qualita ve data and anecdotal evi‐dence. This project endeavors to quan fy one of the cultural impacts of dams. Conveying cultural impacts within this framework will strengthen decision‐making processes pertaining to equitable distribu on of the costs and benefits of development.

Context

Generate study results that inform the Chixoy case, which is being li ‐gated in na onal and interna onal courts.

Establish a precedent for rigorous measurement of the cultural im‐pacts of development projects, to be er inform policy decisions more broadly.

Communi es in the shaded areas above were displaced to army‐built se lements, marked by the plus signs (+) on this map. These se lements sit at the edges of larger towns and are close to roads. Several non‐displaced Achí‐speaking communi es also exist in this area, and have since before Chixoy’s construc on. Comparing outcomes in displaced and non‐displaced communi es with similar characteris cs will help generate meaningful and unbiased results.

A man with his grandson in Pacux, a se lement built to house a Mayan community displaced by Chixoy’s reser‐voir in 1982. The grandson was born in Pacux, which sits just outside the Spanish‐speaking town Rabinal.

This mural on a cemetery wall outside Pacux depicts vil‐lage life before displacement. The tle reads, “The histo‐ry of the Achi village, a story of struggle and resistance,” referring to community opposi on to displacement.

Results

Methods Over the summer of 2012, surveys with over 100 data points were conducted with one to five individuals in each of 280 households in displaced and non‐displaced villages near Chixoy dam. Impact on language will be es mated using a difference‐in‐differences strategy:

Yit = β0 + β1Displacedi + β2Timet + β3Displacedi*Timet + θi + uit

Y is a measure of language use, for individual i at me t. Some measures of Y in‐clude: Achí fluency; adult preference for Achí vs. Spanish when speaking with children; child preference for Achí vs. Spanish when playing soccer with friends.

Displaced and A er are dichotomous variables β3 is the difference‐in‐differences es mator, or the coefficient of interest.

In other words, this compares the difference in language use before and a er dis‐placement among the displaced group with the difference in language use among the non‐displaced group—while controlling for other relevant variables. It will an‐swer the ques on: “To what extent has use of Achí changed in the displaced com‐muni es as compared with similar communi es that were not displaced?”

Summary

Goals

Motivation

One of the research assistants conducts a household survey with two genera ons of persons displaced by the Chixoy dam.

A very preliminary look at the data suggests that the youngest genera‐

on in displaced communi es has not lost Achí fluency at a greater rate than in other communi es, but does express a preference for Spanish over Achí in social situa ons and other contexts outside of the home. Fur‐ther analysis is needed before these results can be quan fied.

Noah Cohen-Cline noahcc@gmail.com The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tu s University

Source: Douzant Rosenfeld, via Barbara Rose Johnston, Chixoy Dam Legacy Issues Study