Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam

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Photo: Xingu River, Brazil

AIDA and the struggle against world’s third largest dam

"The river is the heart of our land and our people….We will not sit back and watch while those in Brasilia attempt to determine our future without our consultation, without hearing us, without respecting us and, for some, without ever having set foot on our lands…. Neither the Xingu River nor our lives are for sale."

--Excerpt from a letter by the Xingu Alive Forever Movement, February 4, 2010

The Xingu River flows for 1,700 miles (2,736 km) through the heart of Brazil and is home to thousands of indigenous peoples, riverine communities, and a rich biodiversity of plants and animals, including several species of migratory fish and two endangered species of monkey. But if Electronorte’s construction of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam continues, as much as 600 square kilometers (230 square miles) of rainforest and agricultural land will be flooded and at least 20,000 people displaced.

The proposed dam would divert nearly all of the Xingu’s water flow.  The countless impacts of such a massive water diversion mean that traditional fishing grounds would be irreversibly destroyed; thousands of people would lose access to river transport; rainforests would be wholly submerged; dead vegetation would rot, releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases; and thousands of people would lose their homes, livelihoods and culture.

Indigenous and riverine communities have been fighting against the dam since it was first proposed twenty years ago.  Legal and political controversies surround Norte Energia’s environmental impact assessments are woefully inadequate and necessary environmental and human rights safeguards have not been implemented.  Nevertheless, on June 1, 2011, the Brazilian government approved a license permitting the dam's construction.

To support local communities and grassroots movements, AIDA together with Brazilian partners petitioned the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) to intervene in the case. On April 1 2011, the IACHR granted precautionary measures in favor of indigenous communities in the Xingu river basin. The Commission requested that the Brazilian government halt all construction and licensing for the Belo Monte dam and that it protect the rights and health of indigenous communities.. .  AIDA will continue to work to ensure compliance with the IACHR resolution and help protect local communities' rights and environment from this large hydroelectric project.

The controversy surrounding Belo Monte follows a tragically familiar pattern for large dams in Latin America.  Typically, developers build large dams with no meaningful public participation and without adequate and comprehensive environmental and social impacts assessments.  Cost overruns, underperformance, and allegations of corruption plague many large dam projects, which in tropical areas can potentially produce more greenhouse gasses than coal burning power plants. Meanwhile, local communities bear the extremely negative impacts while energy-hungry heavy industries receive the benefits.

If Belo Monte proceeds, it will fly in the face of the image Brazil tries to promote as a regional leader and host of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) in 2012. Contrary to this position, Belo Monte is moving forward without heeding the IACHR resolution, without comprehensive environmental and social impact assessments, without a clear compensation agreement for displaced persons, and with no recognition of the need to compensate people who are harmed but not forced to relocate.

Two AIDA reports are strengthening dam opponents’ efforts --"Large Dams in the Americas: Is the Cure Worse than the Disease?" and "Guide to Environmental Defense: Building a Strategy for the Litigation of Cases before the Inter-American System of Human Rights," available in English, Spanish and Portuguese. With your support, we will provide ongoing assistance to affected communities fighting the dam.