Twenty years ago, indigenous peoples and their allies rallied against the construction of dams that would have flooded their lands and ruined their livelihoods. They were successful in halting construction of the dam, and today the region remains part of one of the largest mosaics of protected tropical forests in the world.
On Monday, February 1, however, Brazil’s environmental agency issued a provisional license for a new dam, Belo Monte, which though less damaging than the original plans, will still cause extensive environmental and social impacts. Belo Monte would be the world’s third-largest dam, and would serve primarily to furnish energy for industries in the region. A panel of independent experts has found that the dam would affect the land and livelihoods of nearly 40,000 people in the Xingu basin, including 10,000 indigenous people from 18 ethnic groups.