More About Belo Monte Dam

Jair Bolsonaro Launches Assault on Amazon Rainforest Protections

Executive order transfers regulation and creation of indigenous reserves to agriculture ministry controlled by agribusiness lobby

"There will be an increase in deforestation and violence against indigenous people," said Dinaman Tuxá, the executive coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous People of Brazil. "Indigenous people are defenders and protectors of the environment."

US Funds with Big Amazon Farming Stakes Face Bolsonaro Choice

Finance to be "very important" tool if Brazil’s government strips Amazon protections, say researchers

Amazon Watch is running a campaign against BlackRock for its investments in companies that cause deforestation in the Amazon. In the past, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has called on companies to invest with social and climate impact in mind.

Jair Bolsonaro: Looming Threat to the Amazon and Global Climate?

With little more than a week to go until a runoff election, far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro – who has affirmed his intention to withdraw Brazil from the Paris Climate Agreement – continues to be the rising political star in the world's eighth biggest economy, and the nation that stands as guardian to a major portion of the Amazon, the globe's largest remaining rainforest.

The Amazon on the Brink

Once a leader in protecting the region's vast forests, Brazil is now moving in the opposite direction

If the government's retrenchment on environmental protection continues, there may soon be nothing to stop the chain saws on the Amazonian frontier, where the rule of law can be weak and land is frequently seized and cleared illegally. This has implications beyond Brazil. The Amazon's lush forests make up the largest reserve of carbon dioxide on the surface of the earth. This potent greenhouse gas is released when forests are burned or bulldozed and left to decay.

Complicity in Destruction

How northern consumers and financiers sustain the assault on the Brazilian Amazon and its peoples

Despite their importance, the Brazilian Amazon and its peoples are suffering the worst assault in a generation. Deforestation is mounting steadily while hard-fought environmental and human rights protections, critical to the future of the rainforest, are under serious attack. Indigenous and traditional communities themselves suffer disproportionate violence and repression for defending their rights and forests.

Brazilian Legislators Break Law, Attack Amazon, Trade Freely with World: Report

A report published this week by Amazon Watch reveals that six prominent Brazilian politicians – members of the bancada ruralista agribusiness lobby and all but one up for election in October – have been found guilty of serious environmental, economic, and social crimes and offenses.

Belo Monte: There Is Nothing Green or Sustainable About These Mega-dams

Belo Monte is just one of many dams across the globe that have been justified – and funded – as sustainable pursuits. Yet, this conflates the ends with the means. Hydroelectricity may appear relatively 'clean' but the process in which a mega-dam is built is far from it.

Brazil's Political Storm Driving Amazon Deforestation Higher

Many experts aren't surprised by these land-grabber assaults, even though the Apyterewa preserve lies within the area of influence of the giant Belo Monte dam built on the Xingu River, and even though one of the conditions for the dam's construction, agreed to in 2010, was that the government protect this territory and evict all illegal intruders living there. Even before the dam was built, critics warned that the authorities would not be able to fulfill this commitment, and that pressure on protected areas near the dam would rise.