Amazon is in danger: dam destroys the forest and its people
Elysângela Pinheiro
Shaji Thomas
“The water will dry and the Red –Indians will not have what to fish"
Luiz Xipaio, a Red-Indian from Amazon
The Amazon is situated in the Northern part of Brazil and is cut by the Equatorial line. It occupies about 2/5 of the continent and more than half of Brazil. The region of Amazon with an area of 7.584.421 km² includes 6 South American countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela). The Brazilian Amazon covers about 5.033.072 Km², that is, 60% of the country.
Brazil is a privileged country with regards the quantity of water. It has the largest reserves of freshwater on Earth, that is, 12% of total in the world. However, its distribution is not uniform throughout the national territory. Amazon, for example, is a region that has the largest river basin in the world. The volume of water of the Amazon River is the largest in the universe and it is being considered as an essential river for the survival of the planet. At the same time, the Amazon Region is also one of the least populated regions of Brazil.
On the other hand, largest concentration of the population of the country is in urban areas, far distant from large Brazilian rivers such as the Amazon, the San Francisco and the Paraná. The big problem of shortage of water for long periods is still in the Northeast which has contributed to the abandonment of land and large migration to urban centers such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, aggravating the problem of water scarcity in these cities.
In addition, Brazilian rivers and lakes are being compromised by low quality water for human consumption. Some very important rivers in the Amazon region have contamination by mercury, heavy metal used in illegal gold mining, and the use of agrochemicals in farm land. In big cities, this problem is caused by domestic and industrial garbage dumping in to the rivers
In spite of all this richness of water, cultures and nature, Brazil has not yet awakened to take care of all this in a sustainable manner. It is paradox that the country is trumpeting itself as defender of sustainability. It is very clear in the political decisions of the many recent governments.
It has passed 35 (thirty five) years since 1975, the state owned company ELETRONORTE, created by the Brazilian Government, began studying the possibility of constructing a dam in the Xingu River basin, which is located in the municipality of Altamira, State of Pará, in the Brazilian Region of Amazon.
At that time, Brazil was ruled by a dictatorship, initiated by a military coup (1964/1985). One of the priorities of the Government was the economical development of Brazil with industrialization and exploiting hydroelectric potential of Amazon, which represents 60% of the total energy capacity of the country.
A consortium of National Consultants Engineers S.A. together with the member of the private group Camargo Côrrea Construction, was hired by ELETRONORTE to map the rivers to set the points which are more favorable for building dams. In 1980, this mapping is completed and predicted seven dams for generating 19 thousand megawatts (MW) capacity, which was half of the Brazilian hydroelectric power that time. According to this report, the construction of these plants would represent the utilization of Rio Xingu basin. With this information the Eletronorte spent researching technical and economic viability complex of hydroelectric plant of Altamira, which includes the Babaquara plant (6.6 thousand MW) and Kararaô plant(11 000 MW). These designed plants had indigenous village names that would be affected by their constructions. The result of this construction would be flooding over 18 thousand km2 and would reach seven thousand Red-Indians, 12 indigenous lands, apart from isolated groups in the region.
In 1988, the final report of the studies of Hydroelectric basin Rio Xingu was approved by the Regulator Board of the electricity sector in Brazil.
Aware of this fact, the indigenous leaders in the Region articulated the 1st Meeting of Indigenous peoples of Xingu, to protest against the decisions taken by the government in their land without their participation and to protest against the construction of the Hydroelectric Complex of Xingu. This meeting was held in 1989, in the municipality of Altamira/PA, which was marked by the presence of national and foreign media, including approximately 150 journalists, three thousand participants, including several Brazilian authorities, the Red-Indian leader Cacique Raoni and English singer Sting, many Red Indians from various parts of the country, environmental authorities and members of other social movements. During this event, the then Director of ELETROBRAS, José Antonio Muniz Lopes defended the KARARAÔ plant's construction, when the Red Indian lady Tuíra, arose from the audience and leant his long knife blade in the face of the Muniz warning him, expressing her indignation of the future dam project. This scene was reproduced in newspapers from many countries and became history. Because of this fact, Muniz Lopes announced that because of the cultural aggression to the Red Indians, the plant KARARAÔ (means scream for war in Kaiapó language) would receive another name and would no longer be adopted indigenous names. This event ended with the launching of national campaign in defense of the People and the Amazonian forest, demanding a review of development projects in the Amazon Region, along with the Indigenous Declaration of Altamira and a message of greeting from the Brazilian popular singer Milton Nascimento. The meeting of Altamira is considered a landmark for socio-environmentalism in Brazil.
However, the plan of Government for the construction of hydroelectric dams in Rio Xingu continued in the decade of 90s. The old design was remodeled in order to convince environmentalists and foreign investors that this was viable. The power plant's reservoir, for example, was reduced from 1,225 km2 to 400 km2, minimizing flooding of Indigenous Area and assumed the new name of Belo Monte.
Already in 2000, the Brazilian Government's medium-term planning actions contemplated Belo Monte and that same year the Government contracted the Research team linked to the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) to prepare Environmental Impact Studies (EIA) of Belo Monte Hydroelectric Complex. This project is also known as Volta Grande of Rio Xingu in Pará and to be considered the third largest hydroelectric plant in the world, second only to the Three Gorges in China, and Itaipu plant, the frontier of Brazil and Paraguay.
The Socio-environmental movements and protection of indigenous interests reacted the government decision and calling the Federal Public Prosecutors, which defend legality and the interests of society. Thus, from 2001 until 2009, the Federal Prosecutors entered with 9 (nine) lawsuits pointing illegalities in process for environmental license grant for the project execution stage, the lack of specific public hearings for the Red Indians, questioning environmental impact studies carried out by construction companies, in addition pointing out errors in the initial study which authorized the construction was not based on scientific criteria.
The Government insists that the plant will have a total installed capacity of 11,233 megawatts (MW), but with a guaranteed 4,571 MW generation. The total cost of the work is estimated at US $ 10 billion. However, there are estimates that the works can cost up to US$ 18 billion. The Government is offering tax benefits (75% discount on payment of income tax) for the partners in the construction project, as well as loan (80% of the work will be financed by the Nacional Bank for Economic and Social Development of Brazil ) for the work.
In March 2008, the Government of President Luis Inacio Lula appointed former President of Eletronorte, José Antonio Muniz Lopes, to the Presidency of Eletrobrás. It is interesting to note that Mr. Muniz was the Director of ELETROBRÁS in the occasion of the 1st Meeting of Xingu Indigenous people, when the Brazilian Government was ruled by then President José Sarney, who had chaired a political party in support of the military dictatorship. Muniz Lopes was indicated by political group in the current Workers Party government of Lula which is supported by Senator José Sarney.
The Camargo Corrêa Construction company, which held the preliminary studies of Complex Kararaô, and the Odebrecht Construction company, the major civil constructor in Brazil had desisted to participate in the auction of Belo Monte Hydroelectric in April 2010, now joined the consortium of the construction of the plant.
According to Eletrobrás total three indigenous areas will be directly affected by the construction of Belo Monte and indirectly will be affected 1,982 (thousand, nine hundred and eighty-two) people. The population totally, directly and indirectly, affected is 317,472, covering eleven municipalities, as well as 350 families of traditional riverside population and 21 traditional african Quilombola communities (source: Environmental impact report/Eletrobrás)
According to the National Institute for space research (INPE), the rate of deforestation in municipalities affected directly and indirectly (2008) is thus distributed:
Extension (km2) Deforestation (km2) Percentage (%)
Vitória do Xingu 2 969 1 728 58,22
Altamira 159 701 6 113,8 3,33
Sen. José Porphyry 14 388 631,5 3,87
Anapu 11 909 1 891,1 15,88
Brasil Novo 6 370 2 411,5 37,86
Gurupá 8 550 89,3 1,04
Medicilândia 8 271 1 798,6 21,75
Pacajá 11 852 4 565,2 38,52
Boards 7 174 1 597,6 22,27
Porto de Moz 17 429 773,1 4,44
Uruará 10 704 2 788,1 25,83
(Source: Inpe/Prodes)
Professor Dr. Sonia Magalhães, department of postgraduate in Environment Studies of the Federal University of Pará, says that "there will be a genocide". She coordinated in the last year a team of 40 independent researchers and came to the conclusion that the construction work of hydroelectric plant is destructive. If the Government keeps the project, must meet at least the 40 environmental restrictions imposed by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama).
If fulfilled, evaluates Magalhaes, could reduce somewhat the impact in the area. "Would return to the rule of law, because the auction of Belo Monte, without hearing communities, the Government ran over the democratic State of law."
Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant is the largest work of Economic Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC) of the government of Lula. In mid-2009 IBAMA received the new Environmental Impact Assessment Study (EIA), which predicted the reduction of the artificial lake of 1.2 thousand to approximately 600 square kilometers. In February of 2010, the IBAMA has granted preliminary license for the construction and was made the auction.
Social movements, led by Non Governmental Organizations, such as the Movement of Dam Affected People (MAB), Institute of Socioambiental (ISA), CIMI, an organizations linked to the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB), the Red Indian Communities and the Pastoral Land Commission of Brazil (CPT), claim that the social and environmental impacts were not sufficiently studied.
Despite all the questions, the NATIONAL RED INDIAN FOUNDATION, the government agency for the defense of indigenous interests, reported that, on the part of it, everything was fine with the hydroelectric project of Belo Monte, because there would be no impact on indigenous communities.
For Luiz Xipaio, a Red Indian from the Amazon, indirectly all suffer consequences because 80% of water of the Rio Xingu, called the Volta Grande, will be diverted to artificial canals. "The water will dry and the Indians will not have what to fish," he says.
"The impact is widespread because messes in the root of all the functioning of the region's ecological cycle. Between the Volta Grande of Xingu and Belo Monte, the water level will go down well below the largest historic drought and in the upper side of the river will be permanently filled over the largest flood ever known. So, we will have both parts of Xingu under extreme hydrological conditions and diametrically opposed, and all the region's ecological regime is conditioned on droughts and floods”, explained Jansen Zuanon, National Institute for Amazon Research (Inpa) in an interview to Institute of Socioambiental, in 2002.
He notes that there are trees, that are adapted to survive for some months underwater. With the flood some standing trees will resist a few months, but after going to die, with the drowning of roots. "These trees serve as diet for many fish, for example, what generates impact on fauna and consequently for the whole cycle ecological area. In addition, many fish synchronize spawning with flood and therefore, the area which is very dry there may be decline of several species. These impacts are expected to cause a search for new areas of commercial and ornamental fishing and, which probably will be spread by excerpt upstream from the town… " For Zuanon, in addition to influence food stocks, at the low navigability should be problem. "Another point is that the life of the Red Indians and the caboclo (local people) is directly related to these seasonal cycles, when you change this cycle changes the motor system which will have immediate and serious repercussions for the population", he analyzes.
Past that condemns
Constructed in the Uatumã River (AM) and partially opened in 1988, the hydroelectric plant Balbina is considered one of the worst investments of country economically, environmentally and socially. Flooded area covers 2.3 thousand km2 to produc only 250 Mega Watt energy. Among the immense environmental liability of Balbina Plant is the flooding of 30 thousand hectares of indigenous land of TIWaimiri-Atroari Tribe, which forced the relocation of two villages. To compensate them, Eletronorte financed the demarcation of TI Waimiri-Atroari 2.5 million hectares of land, and the program Waimiri-Atroari, involving actions in the areas of health, education, environment, production support, monitoring thresholds, administration and documentation during 25 years. But the destruction of culture of people can never been compensated by economic means.
Ministry of Federal Public Prosecutors assesses that in Brazil, lack a serious discussion about alternative energy production. There is a tradition of hydroelectric power production and a tradition of engineering in this area which ends up in searching solutions always focused primarily on this energy matrix. According to the Prosecutor Ubiratan Cazetta, the Government disregards the other potential sources of energy, renewable, as both the electric, wind, solar and bio-fuels, as well as improvement in the utilization of the maximum capacity of already installed hydroelectric power stations. He quotes two examples in this regard: the issue of reduction of energy losses in the transmission and distribution, and another, is the possibility of repowering and modernizing of older plants.
The issue of discussion of the electricity sector in Brazil is so focused on hydroelectric plant and thus, cannot see other alternatives. This is a historic mistake because the large water potential areas are in the Amazon. The government is planning to construct many plants, such as four or five dams in the River Tapajós, in the river Madeira, others in the Araguaia-Tocantins (all are in Amazon) will definitely will destroy any effort to build a sustainable development that can be ideal for the Amazon and for the world. And this will not be a model that includes diversity of the Region because this model is geared to attracting labor, a reproduction of occupation of another area that is not the Amazon. For us this is a historic mistake because you do not give room for discussion of other vocations to Amazon.
The Federal Public Prosecutor, Felício Pontes Junior, reported to national press that Federal Prosecutors moved nine judicial actions against the construction of Belo Monte since 2001, of which eight actions still await judicial decisions. Seven of these writs can prevent the plant's construction. "Irregularities in these nine lawsuits have not been remedied and many irregularities, such as water quality, energy potential that will be generated are still not resolved. This rush, as you never saw, to build the power plant, is proof that the Government is working with the theory of the fact that when the juridical verdicts come, the work will already be ready”, said the Prosecutor.
"If you build a work of 18 billion dollar and it shows economically unsustainable by this change in flow of river, this can be used in future as justification for a successive construction of dams in River Xingu, to justify the past investment”, argues Cazzeta.
Samuel Barreto, Life Water Program Coordinator for WWF Brazil, highlights another point. "The impact of climate change is not placed such analyses. And some studies show that we're developing this type of dam construction, which can cause the low flow of water, insufficient for the volume needed to generate energy – considering hydrological variation on the Xingu River basin. "
Indigenous culture threatened
Ubiratan Cazzeta reveals that there are serious disagreements with the Brazilian Government regarding indigenous areas affected by the project. The federal Administration does not consider the power plant's area as Red Indian protected area. For prosecutors, there is no doubt about the Red Indian areas. "We understand that Yes. And this generates a concrete effect that the communities entitled for some sort of royalty, some kind of remuneration that for using their water resources, which has never been discussed. "
Initially, the Government had recognized that it was an Indian reservation, but backtracked – which generated impasse and judicial proceedings.
Human impact on the region
Belo Monte should attract a intense migratory flow. It is estimated that 85 thousand new residents to install themselves in the area. According to the Prosecutor Cazzeta, this implies a far from sustainable development: already there are companies like Alcoa and the Vale of eye in the production of energy from Belo Monte, in order to build steel plant from their bauxite exploration.
"This model in the region is not clearly being discussed. This electro plants, strong mineral activity, ends up attracting to the migratory flow, a model that for the Amazon Region, the Brazilian Government has already shown several times haven't manageability ", criticizes Cazzeta.
Brazilian energy challenge
The Brazilian tradition in building dams – what makes a strong base in the country be seen as "clean" – places the Government an ambiguous position. For Christina Stolte, researcher of the Department of Hispanic Studies of the German Institute of Global and regional Studies (Giga), Brazil has a big challenge ahead of them.
"We need to distinguish between internal and external energy policy. Internally, the Brazilian Government's main goal is to provide the maximum possible power for the booming economy. In foreign policy, Brazil tries to position themselves as green power, unlike other emerging countries such as China and India, who bet on traditional energy sources, like coal and oil. Brazil stood by announcing it wishes to receive almost 50% of its energy from renewable sources, and hydropower has an impact on the environment especially small, "he said.
Energy matrix
WWF says that it is not contrary to the construction of dams, but defends more critical criterion to define where they are to be installed. "We need to have a look at the energetic matrix. And in that sense there are alternatives such as wind energy, for example, which decreased the pressure on the construction of dams, even though recognizing that Brazil still has a very large hydroelectric potential,” ponders Barreto.
For the WWF Brasil, the licence could have been granted later: the Xingu basin would need deeper analyses their environmental and biological importance, in addition to the social features.
Pedro Bignelli, from IBAMA, rebate. "The question of time, the technical analysis was too big. For the entrepreneur, for example, we spend too much time, for some Non Governmental Organization, we were very fast. But the technical maturity of this analysis was quite clear, and came out on the date that it was possible to exit. "
Currently, the Brazilian Government is experiencing an impasse. The Union Advocacy of the Government, which protects the public interest, i.e. those resulting from governmental choices, is in a showdown with the Federal Public Ministry, which defends the primary public interest, i.e. those of society. Both are government entities, underpinning completely opposite orientations in relation to the construction of Belo Monte.
In addition, the lawsuits that have relationship with environmental issues were redistributed of Subsection Judicial in the municipality of Altamira/PA for Judicial Section of Belém. Interestingly, it was not created environmental section of judiciary in that municipality, and the federal judge was granting decisions in favor of federal prosecutors to prevent the construction of the plant.
The document delivered to the United Nations Thursday, April 1/2010, claims that flaws in the environmental licensing process for the controversial Belo Monte Dam in Brazil were overlooked due to political pressure from the government. The complaint documents the illegal and arbitrary nature of project approval, and how political pressure was brought to bear on licensing staff who questioned the irregularities in the licensing process.
More than 100 social movements, organizations and unions representing more than 40 communities in 11 cities signed the complaint, which also highlights the human rights violations that have and will occur if the project is built. The complaint states that opponents of the project have received death threats and drives surge as a result of their opposition.
Unfortunately, analysis of the data available on the construction of hydroelectric Belo Monte, forcing us to conclude that the Government of Brazil, governed by a President who was worker, with regard to the questions of the environment and the indigenous and traditional people is still following the same orientation that of the past military governments. Despite Brazil have a fairly advanced environmental legislation in comparison with many of the developing countries, its concern for the environment perception that the future growth will depend on ecological conditions preserved, the Government itself breaks this legislation because the government does not suspend the execution of works whose environmental impacts have not been properly studied. The existence of dispute within the government entities attest to this fact (Central Government versus Federal Prosecutors). Agents who will benefit from the construction of a power plant of exorbitant spending, which is being funded largely by the Government itself, are the same people who defended this project still in the era of military dictatorship. The Government propaganda, which included is being broadcast abroad, that Brazil defends the use of clean energy, because less polluting, in relation to the construction of Belo Monte, disregards other environmental variables like socio-economic factors which are also important. After all, there is no mention of other possible economic vocations for areas intended to flood.
The municipality of Altamira in Amazon is already facing a swelling of people, in anticipation of the generation of jobs that would be created by the construction of the plant. However, this place has no minimum structures to meet the needs of health, education, sanitation and housing of their own residents. There is no forecast of social harm resulting from this disordered occupation.
Therefore, there is an immense and unfortunate contrast between what the Brazilian democracy intends to do and what it actually does.
What appears, from the historical context articulated above, is that the current Government in the country, despite having a worker as President, maintains the same projects of supremacy of the past military government in the Amazon region: putting the public finances for the satisfaction of their political interests and interests of large economic groups, to the detriment of the well-being of the Brazilian population, using astronomical public resources for large and inacceptable anti-ecological projects. It seems that the government of Brazil is still slave of big multi-nationals, who control the economic and political scenery of the country, by not respecting the human rights of minorities and ecological values.
