Author: Tracy Kay
Edited by: Haleigh Reutershan, Stephanie Rodriguez, Keury Collado
For over forty years plans of building a dam along the the Xingu River in northern Brazil have been revitalized and redesigned in the hopes of supplying Brazil’s growing population with a stable amount of electricity. The hydroelectric dam, formally named the Belo Monte Dam, began construction after the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) issued an installation license to do so in 2010. Many citizens of Brazil have realized that Belo Monte exhibits the same authoritarian tendencies as the brutal regime of Brazil, not surprising as the country is currently in the hands of a military dictatorship.
It’s ultimate goal — to provide clean, renewable, and sustainable energy and aid Brazil in prospering socially and economically. However, there’s a reason that this project was negotiated again and again before its relatively recent approval. Long term and persistent controversies surrounding the project stem from the environmental damage and negative impacts on local communities. Being submerged deep in the Amazon Rainforest, the Xingu River connects with its fellow rivers to sustain the lives of indigenous people who use its current to provide food, water, and transportation. Anti-dam protests have been active all over the country for the last 20 years, one of the most famous being the protest of the Candonga Dam in 2003.
Due to the $17 billion project being constructed by the Brazilian government, the body of water will be diverted away from its natural flow in order to power what is believed to be the third largest hydroelectric dam on the planet. Eighteen of the forty ethnic groups that live in the Xingu River Basin depend on the sustenance of the Xingu River alone and without it, will be forced to relocate. One of these groups, the Arara tribe, depends so heavily on the natural resource that in an interview conducted by Bianca Jagger, the Arara leader of thirteen years described their lives to be “irreversibly affected” by the implementation of the Belo Monte Dam. The inability to fish and farm will most likely cause thousands of people to go hungry. Over 20,000 people will be forced to relocate into nearby cities where they will have to compete for jobs and if they are unable to avoid unemployment, will work in logging. Logging is one of the leading causes of deforestation in the amazon, thus starting the vicious cycle of environmental degradation over again.
The city of Altamira, located in the state of Para, has noticed a massive spike in criminal activity. The reason is primarily the negative impact on the quality of life of the residents due to the construction of the Belo Monte Dam. The immense pollution of the river has jeopardized the water and food as well as their means of bathing and transport for indigenous peoples. The indirect effects of this has caused people to spiral into alcoholism and depression leading to cultural disintegration.
Despite the danger to indigenous communities along the Xingu River, the Brazilian government decided to proceed with the dam. It was mandatory for the government to take into consideration the people who reside near the area that their project aimed to settle itself, but the government claimed that the likelihood of the community being flooded by the reservoir was comparable to the impact they would endure during the building of the dam. This gave them incentive to continue the project as they emphasize the potentially immense economic benefits.
What is a country to do when nearly 80% of its energy needs stem from hydroelectricity? Amazon Watch, a nonprofit organization founded to protect the rainforest and the rights of indigenous peoples commented on the dam, calling it the “most devastating infrastructure project ever built in the Amazon”.
Summary Factoid Questions!
- How is the Belo Monte Dam affecting the lives of indigenous people?
- What is the Brazilian government’s argument as to why they should continue building the dam?
Sources
Amazon Watch “Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam.” Amazon Watch. Web. 29 Apr. 2017.
http://amazonwatch.org/work/belo-monte-dam
“Arara do Para Indian Language (Araras).” Arara Language and the Arara do Para Indian Tribe
(Araras, Pariri, Ukargm). N.p., n.d. Web. 27 April 2017.
http://www.native-languages.org/arara.htm
Intercontinental Cry.”Harmful impacts of the Belo Monte Dam on the Amazon’s Xingu
River.” Web. 27 Apr. 2017.
https://intercontinentalcry.org/harmful-impacts-of-the-belo-monte-dam-on-the-amazons-xingu-river/
Jagger, Bianca. “The Belo Monte Dam: An Environmental Crime.” The Huffington Post.
Web. 27 Apr. 2017. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bianca-jagger/the-belo-monte-dam-an-env_b_1614057.html
Knowledge@Wharton “The Tug of War Over Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam.” Web. 27 Apr.