The news was received with dismay by environmentalists and indigenous people. “This is a tragic day for the Amazon,” said Atossa Soltani, an executive director at Amazon Watch.
International Rivers also condemned the move. It said the government pressed ahead with the project “despite egregious disregard for human rights and environmental legislation, the unwavering protests of civil society, condemnations by its Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) and the request for precautionary measures by the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The license was granted by Brazil’s environmental agency IBAMA despite overwhelming evidence that the dam-building consortium Norte Energia (NESA) has failed to comply with dozens of social and environmental conditions required for an installation license.â€
The Belo Monte Dam Complex will divert nearly the entire flow of the Xingu River along a 62-mile stretch. 120,000 acres of rainforest and settlements will be flooded and more 40,000 people will be displaced. International Rivers says it will generate a vast quantity of methane, a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.
The Brazilian government yesterday said in a note to the press that “planning and licensing has been designed to both maximize the benefits of a new power source in Brazil’s clean energy grid and reduce the social and environmental impact of construction.â€
It announced the launch of initiatives to promote social services to local communities and investment in the region, including a permanent 500-meter area of preservation in the vicinity of the reservoirs. Norte Energia, Belo Monte’s licence holder, is expected to invest US$62.7 million in conservation units at the basin of the Xingu River.
Video about James Cameron’s support for Brazilian indigenous people:
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The World Bank estimates that forcible “development-induced displacement and resettlement†now affects 10 million people per year. According to the World Bank an estimated 33 million people have been displaced by development projects such as dams, urban development and irrigation canals in India alone.
India is well ahead in this respect. A country with as many as over 3600 large dams within its belt can never be the exceptional case regarding displacement. The number of development induced displacement is higher than the conflict induced displacement in India. According to Bogumil Terminski an estimated more than 10 million people have been displaced by development each year.
Athough the exact number of development-induced displaced people (DIDPs) is difficult to know, estimates are that in the last decade 90–100 million people have been displaced by urban, irrigation and power projects alone, with the number of people displaced by urban development becoming greater than those displaced by large infrastructure projects (such as dams). DIDPs outnumber refugees, with the added problem that their plight is often more concealed.
This is what experts have termed “development-induced displacement.†According to Michael Cernea, a World Bank analyst, the causes of development-induced displacement include water supply (dams, reservoirs, irrigation); urban infrastructure; transportation (roads, highways, canals); energy (mining, power plants, oil exploration and extraction, pipelines); agricultural expansion; parks and forest reserves; and population redistribution schemes.
Screw the heartless idiots that decided this.
This world – OUR world – is in corruption and they’re just adding to it. It is so so SO inhumane to just WIPE OUT hundreds of thousands of hectares, destroy the homes of many indigenous that have lived there for millenniums and to drive at least 10 species into extinction. There they go, just taking life for granted. I can’t think of a proper word for how cold and greedy and selfish they are. There were other ways to save energy, too many.
I don’t think I’ve never been filled with such hatred in my life, directed at those idiots that have screwed over the Amazon. But I have no idea how I could possibly help. No I don’t have any money, I’m just a kid.
If there is something I can do to help, please let me know.