MAB builds solar panels in the Ribeira Valley in São Paulo state

During the last week of November 2012, the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) started to build solar panels for water heating in the communities affected by dams in the Ribeira Valley, one of the poorest areas of the São Paulo state. The goal is to create alternative heathing systems so that families have to pay lower electricity bills. 

Several meetings of grassroots groups and communities in the Valley took place in 2012. The main topics discussed were about the struggle against the construction of dams in the region, where the resistance occurs for more than 20 years. The improvement of the living conditions of the population such as roads, health, education, environmental protection and food production were also important points.

Ubiratã de Souza Dias, one of the local coordinators of MAB, said that “the families of the Ribeira Valley are facing the threats of the dams and have to pay a high tariff for electricity in the region, so the solar panels can be an alternative to reduce the bills”. MAB also reinforced the debate about the actual energy model as a whole, beyond the isolated alternative sources of energy. “It is the whole society that is affected by the electric sector” Ubiratã concluded.

MAB’s plans for 2013 is to start of the programme called ” Agroecology Integrated and Sustainable Programme (PAIS in Portuguese) that will provide family and market food production without the use of poisons, in addition to the solar panels alternative.