• The Chan 75 hydroelectric project is being constructed by AES-Changuinola, an affiliate of the Virginia-based Allied Energy Systems (AES) Corporation. The construction is taking place within the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve in Panama, though the reserve is also shared by Costa Rica. The dam has an installed capacity of 220 Megawatts.
• The Biosphere Reserve is home to important endangered mammal and bird populations, such as the jaguar, the harpy eagle, and the tapir.
• In May 2007, Panama’s environmental agency, La Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (ANAM), approved the concession of 6,215 hectares of the Palo Seco Forest to AES-Changuinola. Hundreds of indigenous Ngöbe families inhabit the Palo Seco Forest which is part of the Biosphere Reserve.
• The Biosphere Reserve also protects La Amistad International Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The extirpation of all major migratory aquatic species from the rivers of the La Amistad International Park will be one of the several irreparably harmful and highly likely results of the dam’s construction.
• The construction of the Chan 75 project will require the complete relocation of more than 1,000 Ngöbe subsistence farmers that will be directly affected by the dam and the reservoir. This includes those from the communities of Charco de La Pava, Valle Rey, Guayabal and Changuinola Arriba. ANAM approved the project without their free, previous, and informed consent.
• Both the government and the AES Corporation have not taken seriously the existence of any land rights of the Ngöbe population. Most of these families were living in the area for many years but were never granted certifications of ownership.
• AES-Changuinola has used a combination of bribery, blackmail, and threats to obtain signatures for land transfers from the affected families. Local protests have been violently repressed and Ngöbe individuals, including women and children, have been arbitrarily detained.
• Three more dams are scheduled to be built on the Teribe-Changuinola River Watershed, despite the fact that sufficient research on the cumulative and synergic effects of these dams has not been completed.
• In March 2008, two non-governmental organizations, La Alianza para la Conservacion y el Desarrollo (ACD) and Cultural Survival, filed a petition to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission to protect the human rights of the indigenous Ngöbe that are being relocated for the construction of Chan 75.
• The construction continues today in extreme proximity to the communities - often times so loud that Ngöbe individuals find themselves unable to sleep. All the while, the very real threat of forced-displacement hovers on the horizon.

Information sourced from: Barrera, Linda; Gray, Jason; Thorson, Erica. Petition to the World Heritage Committee Requesting the Inclusion of Talamanca Range-La Amistad Reserves/La Amistad National Park on the List of World Heritage in Danger. International Environmental Law Project of Lewis & Clark Law School. Portland, OR: 2007. http://law.lclark. edu/org/ielp/objects/ LaAmistadPetition_4- 23-07_english.pdf. Lutz, Ellen. Human Rights Violations by the Government of Panama Directed Against Ngöbe Indigenous Communities and Individuals in the Changuinola River Valley, Bocas Del Toro, Panama: Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Cultural Survival and La Alianza para la Conservacion y el Desarrollo. March 7, 2008 Consultores Ecologicos Panamenos, S.A. Actualizacion Ambiental del Proyecto Chan-75 (Cota 152 MSMM a la Cota 165 MSMM). Hidroteribe S. noviembre, 2006.