Belo Monte Dam Forest Clearing Given Green Light. We Need to Show Them the Red Light.
Posted under: IBAMA, also known as the Brazilian environmental agency, has officially given licences, (the OK, go ahead) to Norte Energia (the company in charge of the Belo Monte Dam project) to clear about 588 acres of forested land around the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon River. This means an area of forest the size of Monaco is just being chopped down to make way for this dam! To make things worse, Norte Energia is also being given permission to build roads to reach this remote site – which means even more trees will fall.
This is just one step closer towards the construction of this dam, which is planned to be built in the heart of the Amazon jungle.
Is this the first time the construction of this dam has been in the spotlight? No!
The dam’s opponents, like Hollywood film director James Cameron, actress Sigourney Weaver, and musician Sting have argued against the building of this dam, saying not only will building it will displace 16,000 people, it will lead to a huge amount of deforestation, and the wildlife in that area will be negatively impacted.
Credit: J.Gil / Flickr – Protestors for indigenous communities from Altamira on the banks of the Xingu River, at a public hearing on construction of the Belo Monte Dam in 2009.
Now that trees are about to start falling, does that mean this fight is over, and the dam will be built? NO.
We can still take a stand. There are several legal challenges being planned and argued in Brazil, so this could stall the start of this project for a while. We must use this time to show our support to the indigenous groups living around the Xingu River AND the Amazon Rainforest. We need to stand tall with them and say NO to the Belo Monte Dam!
