INDIANS GET NERVOUS WHEN ENGINEER TRY TO TELL THEM WHY THEY WILL CONSTRUCY THE HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER STATION OF BELO MONTE, THAT WILL INUNDATE AND SUBMERGE THEIR TERRITORY. IF IT WERE THEATRE IT WOULD BE A TRAGICOMICAL SCENE,TRAGICOMEDY, BUT IT HAPPENED!

 

This is about the proposed Belo Monte dam, which the Brazilian government is driving through the licensing process with reckless haste. The Belo Monte dam would be the third largest in the world. As much earth moving would be required to build it as was needed to build the Panama Canal. Yet the Brazilian government has been trying to railroad the scheme through on a very tight timescale, riding roughshod over the tatters of Brazilian environmental legislation and ignoring the requirements of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Brazil voted to endorse less than a year ago. A development of this size, with the potential to reverse much of the progress Brazil has made in the last few years in reducing the rate of deforestation, should be fully discussed, with all its ramifications explored in detail to reach a balanced and reasoned decision about its environmental, social and financial viability before deciding if it should be built or if it should be abandoned forever. This video includes footage from the demonstration and attempts to highlight the problems the scheme will bring to this so-far well preserved area of the Amazon. For anyone who has problems viewing the Vimeo embeds, the two videos are available on YouTube here: Belo Monte Heart of Brazil

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