Bloodshed next over Amazon dam?

[Judi Lynn]

Source: MSNBC

Bloodshed next over Amazon dam?
Protest camp being built after Brazil awards construction
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 2 hours, 7 minutes ago

BRASILIA, Brazil - Indigenous groups warned of bloodshed after Brazil, which fought off three court rulings, on Tuesday awarded the rights to build the world's third-largest hydroelectric dam in the Amazon rain forest. The bidding for the $11 billion Belo Monte dam was halted three times before a final appeal by the government allowed the winning bidder, a private-public consortium, to be announced.

~snip~
'Avatar' director among critics
Critics include James Cameron, director of the blockbuster movie "Avatar," who has been in the area this month to meet with indigenous leaders. "Avatar" depicts a fictitious Na'vi race fighting to protect its homeland, the forest-covered moon Pandora, from plans to extract its resources.

Environmentalists and indigenous groups say Belo Monte would devastate wildlife and the livelihoods of 40,000 people who live in the area to be flooded.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva insists that the dam is essential, and says it will provide clean and renewable energy to feed increasing demand.

Opponents organized protests across Brazil on Tuesday to condemn the project. Amazon Watch, a San Francisco-based group that works to protect the rain forest and the indigenous people living there, said thousands of people are engaging in coordinated protests in nine cities, including Altamira, which would be partially flooded by the Belo Monte reservoir.

Cameron said the proposed dam "is a very, very important, pivotal battleground" because it will set the stage for the development of 60 more dams. Environmentalists also argue that the energy generated by the dam will largely go to big mining operations, instead of benefiting most Brazilians.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36673041/ns/world_news-world_environment/

[earcandle]

1. If there is a God, please help them. And those here that are having their mountain blasted. And

Iceland too!

[Cal Carpenter]

2. The key here:

"...the energy generated by the dam will largely go to big mining operations, instead of benefiting most Brazilians..."

As is the way with most 'development' - it is not driven by the needs or wants of the people, but rather of the corporations.

K & R

[BlueIris]

3. Yep.

Very sad.

[conspirator]

4. If they provided free electricity forever to the Amazon inhabitants

then I would agree. But no. Corrupt as brazil is only rich are entitled to free electricity. The indigenous and poor will have to pay.

[Truth2Tell]

5. Awarding of Brazilian dam contract prompts warning of bloodshed

Source: The Guardian

Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro

Indigenous leaders in Brazil are warning of imminent violence after a successful tender for the rights to construct a giant hydro-electric plant in the Brazilian Amazon which opponents claim will wreak havoc on the rainforest and its inhabitants.

The tender for the Belo Monte dam, on the Xingu river in the state of Pará, was won by a consortium of Brazilian companies on Tuesday, taking the government one step closer towards the construction of the £7bn dam, which would reputedly be the third biggest of its kind, with the capacity to produce some 11,000MW of power.

One Brazilian minister told reporters that the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was pleased with the result. But environmentalists, indigenous leaders and their supporters, including Avatar's director, James Cameron, who has made two recent visits to the region, have vowed to fight to prevent construction.

The Kayapó leader Raoni Metuktire, who gained international exposure in the 1980s and 1990s touring the world with Sting, said indigenous men from the Xingu were preparing their bows and arrows in order to fight off the dam.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/21/contract-belo-monte-dam