Tuesday

Indigenous leaders from six Amazon tribes have asked the Brazilian government to immediately suspend the installation license for the controversial Belo Monte dam, reports Amazon Watch, an activist group that is campaigning against the project.

In a letter addressed to President Dilma Rousseff and other government authorities, sixty leaders from the Xikrin, Juruna, Arara, Parakanã, Kuruaya and Kayapó tribes demand a halt to work on the dam until the government puts into place "effective programs and measures to address the impacts of the dam on local people."

The letter says there are strong grounds for canceling Belo Monte's installation license, including failures to fully assess the social and environmental impacts of the dam.

The letter states that preliminary dam work has already damaged downstream water quality, affecting communities dependent on the Xingu as a source of water and livelihoods.

The Belo Monte dams is among the most controversial of dozens of dams planned in the Amazon region. Belo Monte will divert the flow of the Xingu river, one of the Amazon's mightiest tributaries, displacing some 20,000 people and flooding up to 40,000 hectares of land. Scientists warn the project could disrupt important fish migration routes and trigger substantial emissions methane, a greenhouse gas with more than 20 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Belo Monte is thought to be the first of at least three major dams planned for the Xingu basin.

SOURCE

Responses to "Indigenous leaders demand suspension of Belo Monte dam"

  1. Alice215 says:

    amazing photo....determination and demanding respect. Stop the corporations!

  2. Anonymous says:

    Let these people have their land and water.

  3. Damn, can own anything!?!

    I love the strength she shows in this photo. Beautiful.

  4. Anonymous says:

    BEM SELVAGEM! BAH!
    RCGDELB

  5. Anonymous says:

    Are you fecking kidding me??? More crap about water powered hydro electric dams.....is everyone ignorant of the fact that solar power and wind power dont require the displacement of precious resources including land. I am getting sick in reading about the corrupt companies being associated with greedy governments. What happened to the government controlling the businesses, not this way round. Talk about wussy governments.

  6. Anonymous says:

    This will ruin the rainforest and eventually our whole environment. Have we not learned anything over the years? Leave these people alone, they have been surviving like this for thousands of years, they are some of the last real native people that still have all their culture. Big wig corporations only care about $ in their pockets, not people or the land. This would be detrimental to all life not just in Brazil.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Look at the smug faces of the men in this picture. Surely they think nothing of what this native leader is saying. May the people of the land triumph over the corporate pigs! Money is not the most important resource there is. Save our planet, it's people, and the beauty in nature!

  8. Anonymous says:

    These sick bastards want to build more than 70 dam around the Amazon. This will kill our planet. Look in youtube for this documentary. Defending the Rivers of the Amazon, with Sigourney Weaver http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-seAAIsJLQ

  9. Anonymous says:

    KEEP FIGHTING FOR THE FOREST AND YOUR HOME!!!!!

  10. radfax says:

    We as free people must not pull back from seeking the truth and consistency in any plans concerning our race, the planet and its species.
    If we look at the world, we are all sharing it as the whole, the one, and, at present, there is no other.
    The bottom line is, you cannot get off.

    It is each and everyone's responsibility to ensure that industry, Governments and corporate's do not destroy the environment and species any more.
    There are no excuses for the wanton destruction of the planet, it's species and habitats to date.

    You/we/I have only to look to see the massive environmental damage that big companies and governments have already created with their insatiable greed and their need for cash, control of people, energy and resources.
    The truth is they must be stopped from destroying any further.

    Alternative energy is not a fantasy, there is an inexhaustible amount of information readily available.
    Conservation of energy must also be fully realized, utilized and practiced.
    Do not be fooled into thinking bio fuels, or hydro electric dams are an answer.
    They serve no sustainable purpose, resulting once again in the destruction of habitats and the displacement of wildlife and indigenous people's.

    As a race, we must not allow any to destroy our environment.
    We must not allow corporate, industry, or regimes to force us to be separated from interacting with our environment.

    Nuclear power is a demon seed with nuclear waste having a half life of 25,000 years.
    This means that it will still be 100% toxic to all forms of cellular life in 25,000 years time.
    Chernobyl in Russia and Fukushima in Japan has shown that no nuclear power plants are 100% safe, and once an accident happens, the species and environmental impact is both far reaching and devastating.


    People must pluck the sickness of greed and corruption from their Nations
    You only get one chance, make that chance, one of a future for all People, species and planet.

  11. Anonymous says:

    Look closely. This is not just greed, it is much much deeper. These companies have everything they need already, including global domination and control over the masses. I just DO NOT understand this. There is NO apparent reason why they seem to be purposefully trashing our planet. Anyone care to speculate?

  12. Unfortunately most humans are diggers and takers not gardeners and nurturers.

  13. Anonymous says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLfh3H3ObSA
    wish you to stop this madness and save your homeland
    to save maybe the greatest forest in the world

  14. Anonymous says:

    Those men look truly uncomfortable like they want to run lol they should just go away.Leave the Natives and their grounds alone. I love how she is all in their personal space she makes them look cowardly. May the Creator stop the dams from being built.

  15. Anonymous says:

    My Father,Great Grandfather,Great,Great Grandfather,live on a Reservation, so none native can prosper and my Mother put into residential School. You are going to do the same thing to these people. Different time mine you, still the same thing!

  16. DONNA says:

    THAT PRESIDENT AND ALL INVOLVED IN TRYING DESTROY LIVES,ENVIROMENT NEED TO BE SHOT.GET RID OF THOSE MAGETS FROM HELL

  17. Anonymous says:

    Elementary my dear watchdogtoo ... It was agreed by the vile plutocrats a long time ago that trashing the planet was of no consequence, and that rapid global warming was a very good thing, since it would would melt the arctic ice and make it so much simpler to suck the last few drops of oil from the planet.

  18. caroline says:

    Hi Watchdogtoo,
    There has been a relentless and deliberate genocide against indigenous people and cultures for as long as our current world history has been. Europeans earth mother worship tortured burned out of existence to the point where a couple of generations later they did the same thing that was done to them only to American Indians I feel there is a great trauma in the human psychic that has people scared of the earth and nature or anything still connected to it. Yes take a closer look it is not just greed but a deep fear of the Earth.

  19. love528hz says:

    Please...if we all think pure positive loving thoughts of strength and hope for the native people, we can stop this...people all around the world, tap into the global crystalline grid and help and make a difference. visualise fresh running water for all, pure fresh air, love and light, dolphins and all animals and humans living in harmony. we have the power to stop this.. tap into powers that we used a long time ago... simply think, pray , visualise, and direct positive future and present.... We have the power.. lets take it back and show em who we really are. who we were meant to be.. Peace love and light to you all!

  20. Anonymous says:

    Seemo - Shoshone

    The Prayers & Prophecy foretold.
    Is underestimated by the GREED of these Corporations.
    The CREATOR/GREAT SPIRIT/GRANDFATHER/GOD.
    Will not let this HAPPEN AGAIN.

  21. Unknown says:

    BASTA DE ATROPELLO A LAS COMUNIDADES ORIGINARIAS, LA VIDA ESTA POR SOBRE TODAS LOS INTERESES ECONÓMICOS.

  22. Unknown says:

    LLAMAMOS A LA REFLEXION A LA SRA. PRESIDENTE DE LA NACION DE BRASIL, NO DEBE ATROPELLAR A LAS COMUNIDADES ORIGINARIAS, AVANZAR SOBRE ESOS PUEBLOS ES UN VERDADERO HOLOCAUSTO. NOS OPONEMOS EN NOMBRE DE LA VIDA, AL PROYECTO MEGAHIDROELECTRICO QUE SEPULTARÁ BAJO AGUA A TODOS LOS PUEBLOS QUE ALLI VIVEN. NO AL HOLOCAUSTO, NO AL ASESINATO DE LOS PUEBLOS....EN NOMBRE DE DIOS.

  23. Anonymous says:

    NECESITAMOS MAS INFORMACION SOBRE ESTOS TEMAS Y TRADUCCIONES POR FAVOR !!

  24. Unknown says:

    mas que reflexión es estar alertas, es mejor morir de pie, que vivir de rodillas

  25. Anonymous says:

    GOOD FOR YOU EVERYONE, GLAD TO SEE THAT THERE IS SOME DECENT PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.

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