Word has just come down that the Belo Monte dam complex on the Xingu River has been approved by Brasilian authorities. So much for environmental values from the new country's new 'radical' leadership - production of electricity always takes precedent! A statement from Atossa Soltani, Executive Director at Amazon Watch, notes that "President Dilma Rouseff is undermining the positive environmental and social advances Brazil has made in recent years, and miring its image on the global stage just as it prepares to host the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit next year." Maybe that is the ultimate goal, to produce enough electricity to run a permanent, fully wired Earth Summit Center where important people can meet year round to discuss tree planting quotas and CO2 reduction goals, et al. Who was is that pointed out human beings are the only species on earth that consciously destroys the environment upon which its survival depends?
Well, the peoples in the Amazon basin have been fighting this project for years, and it's fair to assume this decision will push them to apply more aggressive tactics to protect the environmental integrity of their territory. It will be like the Niger Delta rebellion against big oil, with the native people are labeled as terrorists and the government cohorts with big industry to fight them. The projected population displacement from Belo Monte is 16,000, but if experience with other dams of this scale has taught us anything, it's that the initial forced removal numbers can be as low as 25% of the final head count. Three Gorges is a prime example of this trickery. In 1998, the project was going to require relocation of 1.2 million people; in 2007, the number was 4 million. The Narmada Project in India works under similar lies (or illusions? you decide).
Well, the peoples in the Amazon basin have been fighting this project for years, and it's fair to assume this decision will push them to apply more aggressive tactics to protect the environmental integrity of their territory. It will be like the Niger Delta rebellion against big oil, with the native people are labeled as terrorists and the government cohorts with big industry to fight them. The projected population displacement from Belo Monte is 16,000, but if experience with other dams of this scale has taught us anything, it's that the initial forced removal numbers can be as low as 25% of the final head count. Three Gorges is a prime example of this trickery. In 1998, the project was going to require relocation of 1.2 million people; in 2007, the number was 4 million. The Narmada Project in India works under similar lies (or illusions? you decide).
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