By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
![Indigenous Brazilians Participate in Public Hearing on Del Monte Dam (photo courtesy of www.treehugger.com)](http://www.treehugger.com/indigenous-people-belo-monte-dam-hearing.jpg)
BRASILIA, Brazil – Last week, environmentalists and indigenous people adamantly rejected the Brazilian government’s decision allowing work to begin on a giant hydroelectric dam. The project will proceed while the state prosecutor filed an appeal to suspend the ruling.
Brazil’s environmental agency approved “necessary infrastructure” for the controversial $15-billion Belo Monte dam, which is set to become the third-largest in the world. This initial ruling authorizes Norte Energia to destroy 600 acres of forest and build roads to the Xingu River in the northeast Brazilian state of Para.
Sixty civic groups and non-governmental organizations representing everyone from environmentalists to local peasants have formed a coalition called “Xingu Lives Forever.” In a recent statement responding to the ruling, Xingu Lives Forever called this a “dictatorial act.” The group also added that they were “going to continue opposing this project with all our might.”
Opponents of the dam claim that it is “not economically viable” and that the dam’s construction will displace up to 30,000 people because of the planned flooding on the banks of the Xingu River. Other critics of the project say only a small proportion of the electricity to be generated by the dam will meet residential needs, while the bulk will go toward industrial and mining development, also likely to spread environmental damage in the area.
Philip Fearnside of the National Amazon Research Institute said that the forests flooded by the dam’s reservoirs will generate enormous qualities of methane, a greenhouse gas estimated to be 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
State prosecutor Felicio Pontes filed an appeal, arguing that agreed-upon conditions have not been met, particularly concerning the rehabilitation of degraded zones.
In a statement to the public, Pontes said “[d]ue to decisions like this, we can say today, (the environmental agency) is the author of the worst offense against the environment in the Amazon.” The federal government says Belo Monte is vital to the economic development of the country and claims that no native land is threatened. The state has also claimed that it is spending millions of dollars to offset the social and environmental impacts of the dam.
For more information, please see:
United Press International – Brazil Going Ahead with “Monster Dam” – 31 January 2011
AFP – Brazil Dam Go-Ahead Sparks Anger – 28 January 2011
Yahoo News – Brazil Green Lights Amazon Dam in Disregard for Environmental Laws and Local Opposition – 27 January 2011