In Brazil, in the state of Ceará, the anacé indigenous community runs the risk of being subtracted its ancestral lands. The reason? Tiktok plans to build a gigantic data center in this area of Brazil, among other things already hit by drought.
This structure, located in Caucaia, in the north of the country, will consume about 30 cubic meters of water every day to cool its servers. The water will try from a “Pozzo Artesiano”, A trived well that captures the water under pressure from the water table to bring it to the surface.
As usual, if on the one hand the authorities promise that the project will create jobs in the region, which is one of the poorest in the country, on the other the NGOs fear that this geographical area of Sertão is further drafted, with its semi-arid climate.
An investigation by the Guardian published in April shows that the giants of technology (Amazon, Microsoft and Google) are locating their data centers in the most arid places in the world, risking to further deprive them of water. The British newspaper listed 38 in operation and 24 on site only in South Africa, Kuwait, Chile, United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, at the end of August, the indigenous group Anacé in the Brazilian state of Ceará presented a formal complaint to the federal authorities, asking them to stop the development of the Tiktok data center.
The Anacé have long claimed the area where Tiktok and Casa Dos Ventos, a wind energy company that will ran the Data Center, must be built. His leaders say that their right to consultation – guaranteed by an international agreement – has been violated and that their concerns about the water consumption of the project are ignored.
They are putting it right next to the river in an indigenous territory that has a spiritual and ceremonial meaning for the community, said Ytaysaba a Rest of world.
The Anacé people, who lived the Region since the seventeenth century, claims that the project is invading the traditionally occupied lands without the preventive, free and informed consultation requested by law, violating their rights and ignoring critical environmental concerns.
The resistance of the Anacé against Tiktok’s maxi data center
In Brazil, the Anacé indigenous community is strongly opposing the construction of Tiktok’s huge data center: the problem is that the authorities have granted permits without starting any consultation with the Anacé, despite the agreement of the international work organization – of which Brazil is a signature – guarantees the indigenous populations the right to be listened to before any project on their lands.
According to the community, the official estimates on the environmental impact are incomplete: only for water consumption, for example, the 30,000 liters per day declared by the developers seem underestimated compared to similar projects.
In the last 12 months, Brazil has seen a 330% increase in requests for access to the electrical network by data centers. The country, which already houses over 180 structures, aims to become a global hub of artificial intelligence by exploiting its abundant renewable sources. But this “progress” has a very high cost: lands removed from the communities, massive consumption of water and energy, and increasingly heated conflicts.
Anacé – about 1,500 families – denounce that their constitutional rights have been trampled on and ask for the immediate suspension of the project. Their history is not isolated: from Chile to the Netherlands, to the United States, more and more communities oppose the Data Center that consume vital resources in fragile territories.
Despite threats and pressures, the Anacé do not give up: they are ready for new forms of mobilization to defend their land, their water and their future.
Sources: Rest of World / Business & Human Rights Resource Center / The Guardian
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