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    James Cameron Returns to the Brazilian Amazon with Avatar Stars Sigourney Weaver and Joel David Moore to Shine Spotlight on the Destructive Belo Monte Dam

    Visit Planned to Indigenous Communities Affected by Dam Project on April 13-14 Press Conference and Protest with Dam Affected People in Brasilia at 2 pm on April 12 in the Centro Cultural de Brasília. SGAN 601

    Brasilia, Brazil – James Cameron, Director of Avatar returned to Brazil this week accompanied by Avatar stars Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, and wife Suzy Amis Cameron to raise worldwide awareness about Brazilian indigenous communities' battle to stop the massive Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River in the Amazon rainfore

    April 12, 2010
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    2 min read

    Cameron: Amazon dam dispute a real-life 'Avatar'

    The Associated Press | BRASILIA, Brazil – Director James Cameron said Monday that a real-life "Avatar" battle is playing out in Brazil's Amazon rain forest, where indigenous groups are trying to halt the construction of a huge hydroelectric project.

    April 12, 2010
    5,960 views
    3 min read

    Tribes of Amazon Find an Ally Out of "Avatar"

    The New York Times | VOLTA GRANDE DO XINGU, Brazil – They came from the far reaches of the Amazon, traveling in small boats and canoes for up to three days to discuss their fate.

    April 10, 2010
    1,874 views
    5 min read

    Amazon Watch is building on more than 28 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.

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    Civil Society Groups File Official Complaint on Belo Monte Dam with United Nations

    International Rivers | UN Special Rapporteurs Asked to Investigate Irregularities in Project ApprovalA document delivered to the United Nations last Thursday, April 1, claims that flaws in the environmental licensing process for the controversial Belo Monte Dam in Brazil were overlooked due to polit

    April 1, 2010
    4,274 views
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    Avatar Director James Cameron Returns from a Visit to Belo Monte Dam Site on the Xingu River

    Cameron Urges the Lula Government to Reconsider the Dam Project in Favor of Alternatives Press Conference at Hotel Tropical on Wednesday, March 31, at 10 am Photos and Broadcast Quality Footage of Xingu Visit Available Upon Request

    Watch a video of James Cameron's visit hereDownload high-resolution photos hereManaus, Brazil – James Cameron, Director of

    March 30, 2010
    5,315 views
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    The Xingu and its People

    For hundreds of years, the Xingu River basin has been home to a cross-section of Brazilian life, made up of rural and urban communities. The region reveals a diverse conglomeration of people, with varying levels of multilingualism and acculturation to the Brazilian mainstream.

    March - April 2010
    2,177 views
    1 min read

    Cameron Travels to the Xingu River

    James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver and Joel David Moore travel with members of Amazon Watch to the Xingu River basin.

    March - April 2010
    5,083 views
    1 min read

    BNDES Will Be Notified About Its Co-Responsibility for Impacts of the Belo Monte Dam

    Amazônia | An extrajudicial notice will be delivered to the bank's headquarters in Rio de Janeiro at 11 am this Wednesday.The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), which has already set out to become the largest funder of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on the Xingu River in Altamira (PA), will be notified of it's co-responsibilit

    March 25, 2010
    1,295 views
    3 min read

    Indigenous Communities Protest the Belo Monte Dam

    Amazonia.org.br | Indigenous leaders from more than 15 ethnic groups living in the Xingu River Basin (PA) promise to protest the Belo Monte dam on the 5th of April. According to the São Paulo newspaper O Estado, indigenous groups are worried about the rapidly approaching date of the auction due to take place on April 20th.

    March 24, 2010
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    Government License for Belo Monte Dam Provokes International Outcry

    Letter to President Lula Demands Cancellation of Massive Hydroelectric Project

    Today, a coalition of 140 international organizations sent a letter to Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to demand that he immediately halt plans to build Belo Monte Dam on the Amazon's Xingu River due to its immense social and environmental impacts, and instead consider alternatives.

    March 11, 2010
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    President of Brazilian Social and Economic Development Bank (BNDES) disregards resistance to Belo Monte dam and grants its financing

    Rede Brazil | Despite vehement opposition against the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on the Xingu River from indigenous communities and local social movements; despite numerous warnings from scientists about the severe environmental impacts the dam will bring to the region; despite specialists from the Brazilian Environme

    March 3, 2010
    4,113 views
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    Fury as giant Belo Monte Amazon rainforest dam is approved by Brazil

    Times Online UK | Brazil has approved the controversial construction of a giant hydroelectric dam in the heart of the Amazon, defying a 20-year protest by indigenous and environmental campaigners who say that the project will devastate the surrounding rainforest and threaten the survival of local tribes.The Belo Monte project on the Xin

    February 3, 2010
    2,865 views
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    Global Concern Mounts Over Brazilian Government's Licensing of the Destructive Belo Monte Dam

    The World's Third Largest Dam Is Expected to Devastate Vast Area of Amazon Rainforest

    Brasilia, Brazil – A coalition of environmentalists, indigenous people, and social movements in Brazil condemned the news that an environmental license was issued yesterday by the Brazilian environmental agency (IBAMA) for the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam.

    February 2, 2010
    3,706 views
    3 min read

    BNDES Called to Account for Projects

    Recharge Magazine | Latin American communities and organisations want Brazil's national development bank, BNDES, to stop sponsoring 'destructive' renewables projects.Plataforma BNDES, a coalition of nearly 30 representatives from Brazilian social movements and non-governmental organisations, is pressing the bank to operate tr

    January 22, 2010
    2,574 views
    2 min read

    Battle for the Xingu

    Iara Lee / Cultures of Resistance | Imagine if Hurricane Katrina was not a hurricane at all, but an event sponsored by the federal government, in collaboration with several multinational corporations. If your imagination fails you, then perhaps you'll get a clearer picture by learning about the people of the Xingu River.

    January 2010
    6,003 views
    1 min read

    BNDES: Brazil's powerhouse bank

    Al Jazeera English | With his slicked-back hair, neatly trimmed, close-cropped beard, and impeccably pressed suits, Luciano Coutinho looks like any other obscure Brazilian banker.But he is anything but an average banking man.Coutinho is the president of the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social - Brazil's national de

    December 1, 2009
    4,521 views
    6 min read

    Brazil Bank Funds Destructive Projects, Say Activists

    Interpress Service (IPS) | RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 26 (IPS) - Public money in Brazil is being used by the state development bank to finance deforestation projects and others that trample rights, concentrate wealth, and encourage "imperialist" expansion of large national companies, according to activists at a three-day meeting in this southeastern city.

    November 26, 2009
    2,018 views
    5 min read

    Letter from Peoples Affected by Brazil's Development Bank

    The following letter came out of a three-day meeting organized by the Plataforma BNDES, a group of Brazilian and South American civil society organizations and social movements pushing to reform Brazil's Development Bank (BNDES) from a highly questionable and destr

    November 25, 2009
    3,692 views
    6 min read

    Looking ahead, Brazil's farmers take up reforestation

    The Washington Post | LUCAS DO RIO VERDE, BRAZIL – For nearly 20 years, Luiz Alberto Bortolini cleared trees and planted soybeans as fast as he could, one of many pioneers who turned this barren outpost into prosperous farmland.Now, he and hundreds of other successful farmers are replanting trees as part of an ambitious initiative to

    November 23, 2009
    2,675 views
    4 min read