E/CN.4/2003/90 page 12 II. SELECTED CASE STUDIES 31. Detailed research reports on major development projects and their impact on the lives and livelihoods of indigenous peoples as well as on the environment are available for a number of countries. A small selection of these experiences, particularly as regards the implications of the construction of major dams, are presented and summarized in the following sections. Costa Rica 32. The Boruca hydroelectric project in southern Costa Rica, to become operational in 2012, is expected to flood an area of around 250 square kilometres which would directly or indirectly affect seven indigenous territories and some non-indigenous areas as well. The Costa Rican Electricity Institute, which is promoting the project, has reportedly not formally consulted with indigenous organizations, which have organized commissions to dialogue with the Government and have received help and advice from local universities and international non-governmental organizations. A technical study undertaken to assess the possible effects of the project on indigenous peoples draws attention to the expected displacement of the affected population, disruption of traditional agricultural activities, changes in the environment, disorganization of customary life in indigenous communities, short-term employment for local people but no long-term plans for their incorporation into new economic activities, inflationary pressures on the cost of living and other worrisome consequences. The Special Rapporteur suggests that the Government of Costa Rica would be well advised to promote mechanisms whereby the opinion of indigenous peoples may be taken into account in relation to the Boruca project. 44 Chile 33. During the 1990s important changes occurred in the Bio-Bio River basin in southern Chile, occupied by around 10,000 Mapuche-Pehuenches, due to a major hydroelectric development project that will eventually involve the construction of six different dams and electricity plants. The first of these, Pangue, built by ENDESA, a formerly public but now privatized company, was completed in 1996. Despite having government support and international financing, the company showed no regard for the needs and interests of the Pehuenche communities nor the local environment. An evaluation study commissioned by the World Bank, which had partially financed the project, was highly critical, pointing to the fact that the poor indigenous population in the area had not benefited at all from it, whereupon the distribution of the report to the Pehuenche people was withheld. A second study corroborated the earlier findings, prompting a statement by the Bank’s president recognizing the mistakes and drawbacks of the project. 34. Nevertheless, the Government of Chile and the corporation went ahead with plans to build the second, much larger, dam and plant at the Ralco site, to become operational in 2003. By that time, Chile had adopted new indigenous and environmental legislation,45 which enabled Mapuche organizations to challenge the projects politically as well as in court. The National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI), a government agency, was charged with the task of negotiating an agreement between the parties, but two of its directors - both indigenous professionals - were sacked because they expressed their reservations about the way