Building Community Understanding of the Impacts of the Belo Monte Dam

This project will provide communities that would be impacted by Belo Monte Dam with information on the dam’s impacts and the mechanisms available to assert their rights, and promote their active participation in the decisions that affect them.
Location: State of Pará, Brazilian Amazon
Partner: Xingu Alive Forever Coalition

Project description

Background:The Xingu River is one of the Amazon’s most important. It lies at the heart of an immense mosaic of protected areas, and is home to some 40,000 people. As part of its development and energy security plans, however, the Brazilian government is planning to build what would be the world’s third largest dam on the river. The dam, called Belo Monte, would have enormous impacts on the lower and middle Xingu, directly impacting an area of more than 580 square miles, severely affecting some 20,000 people living along the Xingu’s “Big Bend”, which would be dried out as water is diverted to the power house, and displacing another 20,000 people in the town of Altamira and surrounding farmlands. The dam would also deplete fish, a main source of food, and the population of the region would more than double, increasing the levels of deforestation in the area.

The plans for Belo Monte are not new. In 1989, indigenous peoples and their supporters (including founder of the Rainforest Foundation, Sting) gathered in Altamira and successfully halted plans for five large dams on the Xingu and its tributary, the Irirí, which would have flooded over 7,500 square miles of the rainforest, including indigenous reserves. Recently, however, the Brazilian government developed a new engineering design which calls for only one dam – now dubbed Belo Monte – to be built. Rather than flooding a large area, the dam would instead dry out a large stretch of the river. Given the dam’s inefficiency, generating little energy during the four-month low-water season, experts also believe that if it were built, additional dams would be needed upstream to guarantee Belo Monte’s viability year-round.

The licensing process for Belo Monte has been extremely hurried, without proper observance of Brazilian environmental law and constitutional requirements that indigenous peoples be consulted regarding such projects on their lands. Communities have requested further information, and demanded that their rights be respected. This project, then, seeks to provide scientific information on the dam’s impacts, as well as information on the various mechanisms and tools available to assert their rights and make their voices heard. It further seeks to engage these communities in dialogue with the government, electric company, media, and the general public.

Activities:
•Community meetings and workshops in areas that would be affected by Belo Monte
•Development of joint strategies among indigenous and other peoples in the region
•Engagement of community leaders in dialogue with government agencies
•Provision of information to decision makers and the general public

Did you know?

The main findings of an independent expert’s panel assembled to assess the impacts of the Belo Monte dam include the following:
•80% of the flow of the Xingu River would be affected, disrupting food sources and transportation, and causing permanent drought along 100 kilometers;
•An estimated 100,000 people will come to the region to build the dam;
•Extensive deforestation would occur following construction of the roads and infrastructure necessary to maintain the dam.

News Updates

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