Post by Okwes on Jun 2, 2008 11:32:04 GMT -5
Amazon Indians lead battle against power giant's plan to flood rainforest*
By Patrick Cunningham in Altamira, Brazil
Friday, 23 May 2008
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/amazon-indians-lead-battle-against-power-giants-plan-to-flood-rainforest-832865.html
The Amazonian city of Altamira played host to one of the more uneven
contests in recent Brazilian history this week, as a colourful alliance
of indigenous leaders gathered to take on the might of the state power
corporation and stop the construction of an immense hydroelectric dam on
a tributary of the Amazon.
At stake are plans to flood large areas of rainforest to make way for
the huge Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on the Xingu river. The government
is pushing the project as a sustainable energy solution, but critics
complain the environmental and social costs are too high.
For people living beside the river, the dam will bring an end to their
way of life. Thousands of homes will be submerged and changes in the
local ecology will wipe out the livelihoods of many more, killing their
main food sources and destroying their raw materials.
For the 10,000 tribal indians of the Xingu, whose lives have changed
little since the arrival of Europeans five centuries ago, this will be a
devastating blow.
"This is the second time we are fighting this battle," says Chief
Bocaire, a young leader of the Kayapo, one of more than 600 Indians from
35 ethnic groups who gathered in record numbers in Altamira. The Indians
had travelled hundreds of miles to get there in an area with hardly any
roads. The roads that do exist are mostly dirt tracks, impassable in bad
weather and difficult and dangerous at the best of times. For most it
has been an odyssey of several weeks, travelling in small boats to reach
the roads.
"In 1989, our parents defeated a similar proposal with the help of the
international media. Now it is back. But we are ready to fight again.
This time we speak their language, and we are more determined than
ever," says Chief Bocaire.
With so much at stake, tensions spilled over into violence this week
when an engineer from the power company Eletrobras was caught up in a
melee with Indians wielding machetes. Paulo Fernando Rezende had his
shirt ripped from him and was left with a deep cut to his shoulder.
Nineteen years ago, the Indians called on the support of the rock star
Sting and the late Body Shop founder Anita Roddick. Pictures of the pair
alongside Chief Raoni, with his lower lip distended by a traditional lip
plate, sent their message to the outside world.
The reservoir will flood up to 6,140 square kilometres (2,371 square
miles). Scientists say it will cause a dramatic increase in
greenhouse-gas emissions. from the decomposition of organic matter in
the stagnant water of the reservoir.
"Hydroelectric dams have severe social impacts," Philip Fearnside, one
of the world's leading rainforest scientists explains, "including
flooding the lands of indigenous peoples, displacing non-indigenous
residents and destroying fisheries."
Dr Fearnside said the project helps aluminium plants looking to cash in
on exports but does little for local needs, and in fact increases the
health risks to local populations, including malaria.
For three months in the dry season, the flow of the Xingu reduces to a
trickle and the dam's turbines will stop working, unable to maintain the
supply of power and necessitating the use of inefficient fossil-fuel
power stations.
Last November, Chief Bocaire delivered a letter to President Luis Inacio
Lula da Silva. Signed by 78 leaders, the letter demanded that all dam be
halted.
But Glenn Switkes, of International Rivers, says: "The Lula government
and its political allies are closing ranks to ensure it goes ahead no
matter what the cost. The construction cost could be more than £5bn, and
Belo Monte will not be feasible without building other dams upstream to
regulate the flow of the Xingu -- and that means facing off with the
Kayapo."
*
The material in this post is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research
and educational purposes.For more information go to:
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/documents.htm
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this
email for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner*.*
By Patrick Cunningham in Altamira, Brazil
Friday, 23 May 2008
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/amazon-indians-lead-battle-against-power-giants-plan-to-flood-rainforest-832865.html
The Amazonian city of Altamira played host to one of the more uneven
contests in recent Brazilian history this week, as a colourful alliance
of indigenous leaders gathered to take on the might of the state power
corporation and stop the construction of an immense hydroelectric dam on
a tributary of the Amazon.
At stake are plans to flood large areas of rainforest to make way for
the huge Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on the Xingu river. The government
is pushing the project as a sustainable energy solution, but critics
complain the environmental and social costs are too high.
For people living beside the river, the dam will bring an end to their
way of life. Thousands of homes will be submerged and changes in the
local ecology will wipe out the livelihoods of many more, killing their
main food sources and destroying their raw materials.
For the 10,000 tribal indians of the Xingu, whose lives have changed
little since the arrival of Europeans five centuries ago, this will be a
devastating blow.
"This is the second time we are fighting this battle," says Chief
Bocaire, a young leader of the Kayapo, one of more than 600 Indians from
35 ethnic groups who gathered in record numbers in Altamira. The Indians
had travelled hundreds of miles to get there in an area with hardly any
roads. The roads that do exist are mostly dirt tracks, impassable in bad
weather and difficult and dangerous at the best of times. For most it
has been an odyssey of several weeks, travelling in small boats to reach
the roads.
"In 1989, our parents defeated a similar proposal with the help of the
international media. Now it is back. But we are ready to fight again.
This time we speak their language, and we are more determined than
ever," says Chief Bocaire.
With so much at stake, tensions spilled over into violence this week
when an engineer from the power company Eletrobras was caught up in a
melee with Indians wielding machetes. Paulo Fernando Rezende had his
shirt ripped from him and was left with a deep cut to his shoulder.
Nineteen years ago, the Indians called on the support of the rock star
Sting and the late Body Shop founder Anita Roddick. Pictures of the pair
alongside Chief Raoni, with his lower lip distended by a traditional lip
plate, sent their message to the outside world.
The reservoir will flood up to 6,140 square kilometres (2,371 square
miles). Scientists say it will cause a dramatic increase in
greenhouse-gas emissions. from the decomposition of organic matter in
the stagnant water of the reservoir.
"Hydroelectric dams have severe social impacts," Philip Fearnside, one
of the world's leading rainforest scientists explains, "including
flooding the lands of indigenous peoples, displacing non-indigenous
residents and destroying fisheries."
Dr Fearnside said the project helps aluminium plants looking to cash in
on exports but does little for local needs, and in fact increases the
health risks to local populations, including malaria.
For three months in the dry season, the flow of the Xingu reduces to a
trickle and the dam's turbines will stop working, unable to maintain the
supply of power and necessitating the use of inefficient fossil-fuel
power stations.
Last November, Chief Bocaire delivered a letter to President Luis Inacio
Lula da Silva. Signed by 78 leaders, the letter demanded that all dam be
halted.
But Glenn Switkes, of International Rivers, says: "The Lula government
and its political allies are closing ranks to ensure it goes ahead no
matter what the cost. The construction cost could be more than £5bn, and
Belo Monte will not be feasible without building other dams upstream to
regulate the flow of the Xingu -- and that means facing off with the
Kayapo."
*
The material in this post is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research
and educational purposes.For more information go to:
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/documents.htm
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this
email for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner*.*