Indigenous and environmentalist organizations in Brazil are organizing to stop the construction of what would be the country’s second largest hydroelectric plant. Settled in the Pará state, in the heart of the Amazon, the Belo Monte Dam promises to produce more than 10 percent of the electricity that Brazil will need for the year 2020.
On May 30, confrontations between indigenous people and police resulted in one death and left four people injured. Indigenous groups were settled in lands that they claim belong to them; the justice system ordered to stop the occupation. Since 2011, the indigenous have tried to stop the building of the hydroelectric plant by occupying the lands, blocking roads, and sending letters to the former President Lula da Silva. They have yet to receive a response.
A coalition of indigenous groups and environmentalist organizations stress that besides having profound environmental impacts such as deforestation and raised greenhouse gas emissions, 500 square kilometers of flooded area, river flow reduction and the loss of biodiversity throughout the Xingu River basin’s communities including the Kayapó, Arara, Juruna and Parakanã—the dam will result in the forced displacement of 20,000 to 40,000 people.
Despite their complaints, the national government and dam company expect the dam to start functioning in about two years.