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Introduction What will be left of the Xingu river for the people of Xingu?
Ademir Alfeu Federicci, murdered opponent of the Belo Monte Dam
Brazil's state dam company, Electronorte, is moving ahead with plans to build one of the Amazon's most controversial development projects - the Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River in the state of Pará. The Belo Monte dam replaces an old proposal for hydroelectric construction on the Xingu, abandoned over a decade ago in the face of massive international and national protest.
Page 2 The Belo Monte reservoir will flood 400 square kilometers of agricultural lands and forest and will directly impact the Paquiçamba reserve of the Juruna indigenous people. Thousands of families will be relocated. Yet Electronorte launched a public relations campaign to discredit opponents advertising Belo Monte as a 'blessing from God'.
Belo Monte will open the way for a series of large dams on the Xingu and tributaries that will impact on forests and many forest peoples. Belo Monte will generate no energy during the 3-5 dry months of the year making it one of the most inefficient dams in the world. Other dams upstream will be needed to guarantee an adequate, year-round flow of water into Belo Monte's turbines.
The Brazilian government is now openly stating its plans to construct the Altamira (6,588 MW) Ipixuna (1900 MW), Kakraimoro (1490 mil MW) and Jarina (620 MW) dams upstream from Belo Monte. Various Kayapó reserves and the homelands of peoples such as the Araweté, Assuriní and Arara would be flooded. Altamira alone will flood more than 6,000 km2 of forests.
Page 3 In August 2001, Brazilian Energy Minister Jose Jorge announced that dam construction was due to start in early 2002. However, a legal ruling recently declared the completed Environmental Impact Assessment for Belo Monte invalid because Electronorte had not conducted competitive bidding for the EIA contract. In addition, the environmental consulting company contracted by Electronorte is implicated in a fraud scandal surrounding the Araguaia-Tocantins industrial waterway project. With or without completed environmental studies, Jorge insists the project will be offered to private companies on a concession basis no later than April 2002, so that the dam may be completed by 2008.
The new dam is expected to cost $3 billion and will be the second largest hydroelectric dam in the country with a capacity of 11,000MW. In terms of installed generating capacity, Belo Monte would be among the world's three largest dams. A further $2.5 billion would be needed to construct transmission lines from the new dam.
Electronorte expects to contribute 30% of project costs while private investors will provide the remaining 70%. The Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES) could finance up to 40% of private contributions. However, investors could be put off by Belo Monte's association with the problematical upstream dams on which Belo Monte depends.
Page 4 The massive expansion of hydroelectric production on the Xingu River is part of the Brazilian government's Ten Year Plan to intensively develop the Amazon region. Hydroelectric production is touted as the only way out of Brazil's current energy crisis. Opponents argue that Brazil's model of development is unsustainable, shortsighted, and incompatible with the region's needs. They recommend meeting the country's future energy needs through more cost-effective investment in energy efficiency and conservation and in alternative energy sources including co-generation, biomass and wind.
Critics also fear that the Ten Year Plan will intensify the war for Amazonian resources in which indigenous peoples and traditional communities find themselves lined up against powerful landowners, cattle ranchers and industrialists seeking to exploit their land without heed to social and environmental costs.
Page 5: Impunity and Fear The undeclared resource war being waged in the Amazon against opponents of industrial mega-projects has cost the lives of six activists in the last three months. Among them was Belo Monte's most prominent critic, Ademir Alfeu Federicci (known as Dema), shot dead on 25 August 2001. Dema was an outspoken leader of the Movement for the Development of the Transamazon and Xingu (MDTX), a broad-based grassroots forum against the Belo Monte dam. Dema recently denounced corruption among Xingu politicians and government officials who stand to gain from Electronorte's compensation payments.
Amazonian NGOs spotlight the climate of impunity and fear surrounding the Belo Monte project as reminiscent of the dark days of Brazil's military dictatorship. Instead of opening serious democratic debate about the project, Electronorte has intimidated opposition groups by filming their gatherings.
Page 6 Social and environmental impacts of the Belo Monte dam are foretold in the destruction wreaked by existing Amazonian dams such as Tucurui, built by Electronorte in the 1980s. Inadequately compensated, the 40,000 people displaced by Tucurui were pushed deeper into poverty while submerged rotting vegetation from the dam now contributes one-sixth of Brazil's total greenhouse gas emissions according to the National Institute for Amazonian Research. Electronorte claims that hydroelectric power production is 'pollution-free'.
For Xingu's poor farmers, temporary employment created by the dam is not a viable replacement for lost agricultural lands and the river's fish supply. Considered an 'obstacle' to business interests, indigenous peoples are particularly vulnerable. Mega-projects typically confront indigenous communities with disease, loss of food and clean water sources, cultural disintegration and human rights abuses by lumber cutters, migrant workers and land speculators. The indirect and long term impacts of Belo Monte are of even greater concern as other unsustainable industries such as aluminum and metal refineries, soy plantations, logging, and mining expand into the area.
Page 7 Electronorte's approach to Belo Monte's first Environmental Impact Assessment and project licensing was called into question for several reasons. Even before the project received its first license, Electronorte had already reached agreement with the state governor on its compensation package for local authorities. Critics also decried the narrow geographical focus, limited scientific scope and superficial analytical methods of the dam's EIA. Moreover, there were no consultation mechanisms in place for affected populations.
The swelling opposition movement to Belo Monte is calling for alternative long-term projects such as eco-tourism, fishing and recreation that effectively administer the Amazon's exceptional biodiversity. Arguing that most Xingu people cannot afford the electricity provided by Belo Monte, they seek sustainable development alternatives to meet the real needs of the region's inhabitants who are among the most marginalized in Brazil.
Weeks before his death, Dema wrote an appeal to the world about Belo Monte entitled 'SOS Xingu' asking
"What will be left of the Xingu river for the people of Xingu?"
Sources Movimento Pelo Desenvolvimento da Transamazonica e Xingu email: fvpp@amazoncoop.com.br
Forum of the Eastern Amazon email: guilherme@fase-pa.org.br
Comissao Pastoral da Terra email: cptam@argo.com.br
Cepasp email: cepasp@skorpionet.com.br
International Rivers Network website: www.irn.org
Reuters
Inter Press Service
BNamericas
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Press Releases
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Feb 02, 2010 -- Global Concern Mounts Over Brazilian Government's
Licensing of the Destructive Belo Monte Dam ...
The World's Third Largest Dam Is Expected to
Devastate Vast Area of Amazon Rainforest
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Updates
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Feb 05, 2010 -- Brazilian Government Shoves Belo Monte Down Our Throats Ahead of Campaign Season ...
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Feb 04, 2010 -- From the Xingu Alive Forever Movement: a letter of denouncement and indignation against the approval...
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News Clips
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Feb 03, 2010 -- Fury as giant Belo Monte Amazon rainforest dam is approved by Brazil...
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Feb 03, 2010 -- Destructive Belo Monte Dam Gets Green Light in Brazil...
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Jan 22, 2010 -- BNDES Called to Account for Projects...
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