Brazil: tribes lose 30-year fight to stop dam

Next year the Belo Monte dam will flood vast swathes of Amazon rainforest. Indian tribes living on the river have lost their fight to halt the project – now they await the floods that threaten their entire way of life.

For three decades, the Juruna have been in the vanguard of the fight against the hydroelectric plant – the world’s fourth biggest – which is being built on the edge of their territory in one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.

The community have marched, lobbied, seized hostages, burned buses and taken to their canoes to try to stop the project. But they have failed.
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Conservationists say the situation will get worse when the river is closed off. There are several fish, including the acari, that are unique to the Volta Grande (Big Bend) where the hydropower plant is being constructed. Much of this aquatic life is dependent on the rise and fall of the river. Many species reproduce in flood water ponds that will disappear once the dam is built.

Environmentalists say the Belo Monte case also highlights the importance of preserving indigenous territory which is home to the last good forests in Brazil. But under existing circumstances, the tribes who have long been the staunchest forest guardians are losing land, culture and the will to resist.

“Belo Monte is gradually weakening them. It’s very sad to see. We’ve been fighting together for 30 years, but now they are succumbing to drugs, drinking and prostitution,” said Antonio Melo, of the Xingu Vivo anti-dam campaign. “Dilma says the dams produce cheap electricity, but the cost is paid here in the destruction of the environment and the destruction of people’s lives.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/16/belo-monte-brazil-tribes-living-in-shadow-megadam?CMP=share_btn_fb