The scale of this change, mind-boggling as it is, is not unusual in this part of the world. Over the last half century, Brazil’s economic frontier reached the region, bringing a huge influx of workers – waves of loggers, gold-panners, cattlemen, miners, road and dam builders.
The implosion of Brazilian businesses with the Lava Jato corruption operation, the devaluing of the Real currency, and the rise in credit rates in Brazil have created an opportunity for Chinese businesses to establish greater participation in the country. Taking advantage of this situation, the China Three Gorges enterprise is preparing to make an...
So many people attended the hearing that in the beginning one group that couldn't manage to enter the public auditorium provoked a bit of a ruckus in response to the attempt to cancel or change the location of the hearing.
The most drastic change in Bel's life was the obliteration of her ancestral identity and the imposition of a new identity when she was compelled to transform from a fisherwoman into a farmer.
"They want to end the history of the Munduruku, but we won't let them," chief Juarez Saw declared. After every pronouncement, his listeners responded with a resounding shout: "Sawé!" – both a salutation and a war cry.
The burning of trees and animal deaths is only the first stage of a vicious cycle that marks the relationship between Belo Monte and the surrounding forest. Authorized to devastate thousands of hectares, the plant should use the timber for its own purpose or donate it for external use. The entry of large volumes of timber into the local market...
The ministry said a decision from the federal court in Brasilia lifted the earlier order blocking the beginning of power generation at Belo Monte, which had been planned for the coming weeks.
Terry's incisive ethnographic work with the Kayapo people, and his longstanding advocacy on behalf of their culture, forests, and rivers, earned him unique respect and admiration from Kayapo leadership, who called him 'Wakampu'.
"This case sets an important precedent for the defence of indigenous rights in the Amazon at a time when the government is set to repeat the Belo Monte disaster by building dozens of dams on the Tapajós River."
A Brazilian court has suspended the operating licence for the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, one of the world's largest, just weeks before its owner, Norte Energia, planned to start electricity generation.
Brazil's massive Belo Monte dam, which is due to be completed this year, "may set a record for biodiversity loss" owing to its siting at a location with an exceptional number of endemic species.
Washington, DC – As the first reservoirs of the Belo Monte Dam are being filled, the Brazilian government is coming under fire from international organizations. On December 21, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights opened a case against Brazil, which was challenged by affected communities represented by the Interamerican Association...
2015 could only be defined as a bad year for Brazil. Economic meltdown, political crisis, social adversity, and environmental destruction defined the last twelve months. Yet rather than striking out in new directions as 2015 drew to a close, the Brazilian government was doubled down on its failing socio-economic model, ushering in a new wave of...
While government officials inside COP21 conference rooms just outside Paris were reviewing the cost-benefit analyses of cutting down on emissions or debating the numerical semantics of the warming of the earth, the human side of climate change and environmental destruction took center stage just a few kilometers south at the Maison des Metallos on...
The final agreement from the Paris climate talks has been the subject of much controversy regarding the language in the document pertaining to indigenous rights. Any semblance of a legally binding measure pertaining to these rights was omitted from the final agreement that was signed by the governments of 190 countries. The agreement concluded a...
"Our struggle is large and dangerous, but we know we shall win. I've been to Belo Monte so I know what these dams represent: if they are built on the Tapajós they will flood our lands, and destroy our fish and hunting. We've come to put an end to this madness," Munduruku Chief Suberanino Saw told Amazon Watch in 2104.
Paris, France – Indigenous leaders Maria Leusa Kaba Munduruku and Rozeninho Saw Munduruku will receive today the prestigious UNDP Equator Prize at an awards ceremony at COP 21, in recognition of the Munduruku people's courageous efforts to protect their territories in the Brazilian Amazon from threats posed by planned hydroelectric dams, as well...
A coalition of more than three hundred civil society organisations from 53 countries has launched a manifesto calling on government leaders and financiers at the Paris climate talks to keep large hydropower projects out of climate initiatives.
Support from climate initiatives is one of the reasons why more than 3,700 hydropower dams are currently under construction and in the pipeline. Yet large hydropower projects are a false solution to climate change.
Altamira, Brazil – The Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) today authorized the Belo Monte Dam’s operating license, which allows the dam's reservoirs to be filled.
In an act of defiance targeting the Brazilian Oil and Gas Agency, Brazilian indigenous leaders and activists interrupted a major auction of new fracking concessions set to spread across the Amazon rainforest.
For the people who once lived within and relied upon the forest for survival, industrial development such as mega-dam construction greatly impacts the natural balance, automatically altering their right to live in a healthy environment. That's why talking about human rights abuses in the Amazon requires the acknowledgement that environmental...
VICE News | "Brazil is putting these dams into the energy mix, without so much as looking at their carbon footprints," said Brent Millikin, the Brazil-based Amazon program director for International Rivers, a US environmental group. "The dams are a disaster every way you look at it."
Reuters | Greenpeace called on Brazilian authorities on Tuesday to reject an environmental assessment for a hydroelectric dam on the Tapajos River in the Amazon because it was a "marketing tool" that disregarded the indigenous people living along its banks.
Recently we asked the international community to take action by urging the Brazilian environmental agency IBAMA to reject the dam-building consortium Norte Energia's request for Belo Monte's operational license. In a stunning victory for social and environmental accountability – and thanks in part to the many thousands of you that took...
Antonia Melo is standing on her front porch. Behind her sits a room full of memories and photos. Her grandchildren wrap their arms around her legs. She speaks with strength, energy and indignation. At first, I couldn't really feel the sadness in her tone when I spoke with her, but now I can.
IPS | Ethnocide, the new accusation leveled against the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, brings to light deeper underlying aspects of the conflicts and controversies unleashed by megaprojects in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.
As the investigations of operation Lava Jato have unfolded revealing massive corruption within the Brazilian dam industry, the fundamental reasons for the federal government's obsession with destructive dam projects such as Belo Monte and São Manoel are becoming increasingly clear.
Development Progress | There is an urgent need to, as another Brazilian energy expert has said, ‘open up and manage a debate on the country’s energy path’, including the future contribution of hydropower. A more open and transparent decision-making process with robust, independent review would increase the political legitimacy of decisions.
We look forward to celebrating 30 years of achievements with Indigenous leaders, supporters, and allies. Amplify! will feature a cocktail reception, delicious vegetable-forward dinner, inspiring program with special guests from the Amazon, live entertainment, and after party.
