[WSF-Discuss] Fwd: [social-movements] Approval of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam Provokes International Outcry

Mon Mar 22 02:41:28 UTC 2010

Apologies for this late posting...

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Hermann Dworczak <dworczak at hotmail.com>
> Date: March 20 2010 7:25:28 pm GMT+05:30
> To: <social-movements at lists.riseup.net>
> Subject: [social-movements] Approval of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric  
> Dam Provokes International Outcry
>
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>                                                             For  
> immediate release
> March 11, 2010
>
> Government License for the 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. The letter was sent to President Lula  
> following an emergency meeting convened by the Movimento Xingu Vivo  
> Para Sempre (The Xingu Alive Forever Movement) that brought together  
> dozens of Brazilian and international organizations opposed to the  
> dam in Altamira, a city that will be partially flooded by the project.
> Slated to be the world's third largest hydroelectric project, Belo  
> Monte has been mired in controversy for over 20 years. The mega- 
> project would divert the flow of the Xingu River and devastate an  
> extensive area of the Amazon rainforest, threatening the survival of  
> indigenous peoples.
> The letter to President Lula was signed by a group of prominent  
> environmental and human rights organizations, including Greenpeace,  
> Amnesty International, and 40 indigenous groups from across the  
> U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa. Among its arguments, the letter  
> encourages Lula to embrace alternatives to mega-dams in the Amazon,  
> refuting the government's claim that Belo Monte will provide clean  
> and renewable energy, and showing how Belo Monte would actually  
> exacerbate climate change. In fact, while Belo Monte is said to  
> provide clean energy, the dam will emit large quantities of methane,  
> a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more potent per ton than C02.  
> Studies have shown that by investing in energy efficiency, Brazil  
> could cut demand for electricity by 40% by 2020 and save $19 billion  
> in the process. The amount of energy saved would be equivalent to 14  
> Belo Monte dams.
> "International NGOs and indigenous groups are outraged at the  
> Brazilian government's attempts to ram through this project in  
> violation of Brazilian law and the rights of indigenous peoples.  
> Local communities are strongly opposed and committed to stopping  
> this project and international groups are vowing to support them,"  
> said Christian Poirier, Brazil Program Coordinator for Amazon Watch.
> In July of 2009, President Lula met with representatives of  
> Brazilian civil society and leaders of Indigenous communities from  
> the Xingu River basin in Brasilia, promising them renewed dialogue  
> on the looming mega-project and assuring them that "Belo Monte will  
> not be shoved down anyone's throat".
> "We understood this to mean that Belo Monte would only be approved  
> once affected communities had been adequately consulted about the  
> project, understood its implications, and consented to its  
> construction," the letter states. "Yet less than a year later, your  
> government has given the green light to the project, despite the  
> outrage of local communities as well as glaring concerns and  
> warnings by Brazilian experts."
> Chief among those concerns is Brazil's failure to secure the free,  
> prior and informed consent of affected indigenous communities, in  
> violation of international law.
> Belo Monte would inundate 500 square km of land and divert most of  
> the river's flow through artificial canals, drying out a 100-km  
> stretch of the Xingu River's "Big Bend", leaving Indigenous and  
> traditional communities without water, fish, or a means of river  
> transport. At least 20,000 people would be forced from their homes  
> in Altamira and the Xingu's Big Bend.
> Indigenous leaders, Brazilian and international civil society groups  
> are stepping up their opposition to Belo Monte. Among other actions,  
> legal challenges to the provisional license are being prepared,  
> advocacy efforts have spread to audiences worldwide, and the  
> region's indigenous peoples are mobilizing a major response to the  
> government's plans to dam a river they hold sacred.
> "Belo Monte will only bring death to the Xingu, its inhabitants, and  
> its immense intact biodiversity," said Antonia Melo of the Movimento  
> Xingu Vivo. "We are glad that the international community has joined  
> us in our fight to save this life-giving river."
>
> ###
> More information:
> Download a copy of the letter
> International Rivers' Belo Monte Fact Sheet
> Media Contacts:
> Christian Poirier, Amazon Watch, christian at amazonwatch.org, +55 11  
> 8565 5343
> Aviva Imhof, International Rivers, aviva at internationalrivers.org, +  
> 55 11 8460 9513
> Amazon Watch is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that works  
> to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous  
> peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with indigenous and  
> environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate  
> accountability and the preservation of the Amazon's ecological  
> systems.
> International Rivers is an environmental and human rights  
> organization with staff in four continents. For over two decades,  
> Internationatl Rivers has been at the heart of the global struggle  
> to protect rivers and the rights of communities that depend on them.
>
> 2150 Allston Way, Suite 300, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA
> Tel: +1 510 848 1155 | Fax: +1 510 848 1008 | info at internationalrivers.org 
>  | www.internationalrivers.org
> Click here to unsubscribe
>
> With kind regards,
> Paul Wolters
> Conselho Indigenista Missionário (Cimi)
> Secretariado Nacional, Brasília
> tel: (55) - 61 - 21 06 16 66
> www.cimi.org.br
> www.indianeninbrasil.nl
> www.guarani-campaign.eu
> Should you prefer not to receive this CIMI Newsletter, please let me  
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