Tag: Belo Monte Dam

7 tribes re-Occupy Belo Monte Dam site

Xingu rising

Indigenous Peoples Launch New Occupation on Belo Monte Dam Site

 

By: International Rivers, Amazon Watch and CIMI   Friday, May 3, 2013

Seven tribes from the Xingu and Tapajós rivers protest violations of right to prior consultation in construction of Amazonian dams

Altamira, Pará, Brazil: Approximately 200 indigenous people affected by the construction of large hydroelectric dams in the Amazon launched an occupation yesterday at one of the main construction sites of the Belo Monte Dam complex in the municipality of Victoria de Xingu.

They demand that the Brazilian government adopt effective legislation on prior consultations with indigenous peoples regarding projects that affect their lands and livelihoods. Until then, they are demanding the immediate suspension of all construction, technical studies and police operations related to dams along the Xingu, Tapajós and Teles Pires rivers. Shock troops of the Military Police were awaiting the indigenous protestors when they arrived at the Belo Monte Dam site, but they were unable to impede the occupation. Continue reading “7 tribes re-Occupy Belo Monte Dam site”

Greedy politicians to auction Amazon to Oil Criminals

Peru and Ecuadcanna_5or Set to Auction Off More Amazon for Oil

Posted by Darrin Mortenson on Monday, 29 October 2012 in Environmental Justice and Human Rights

Even as indigenous people struggle to cope with current levels of contamination and illness caused by years of oil production in the Amazon, the governments of Peru and Ecuador are preparing to sell off even more Amazonian territory to the oil industry in coming months.

Starting in November, Peru’s state-run leasing agency Petroperu plans to start auctioning licenses to 36 new oil blocks for exploration, 19 of them in the northern region of Loreto. Just across the border, Ecuador is set to lease at least 13 blocks on or near waterways that eventually flow south into Peru and join the Amazon River.

Many of the blocks overlap or abut protected areas and indigenous territories and threaten the forests and rivers that indigenous people and other river people depend on for their lives.

Indigenous groups are rallying to stop their governments’ plans, and some talk of making a stand for a total moratorium on all exploration until both countries come up with a regional environmental plan. Continue reading “Greedy politicians to auction Amazon to Oil Criminals”

Tribes hold 3 engineers in Belo Monte struggle

 Brazil to Open Indigenous Lands to Dams, Mining, and Military Bases in “National Interest”http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0726-brazil-indigenous-directive.html

 inShare print

Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
July 26, 2012

   

Three engineers are being held hostage by the Juruna and Arara indigenous tribes as tensions rise over the on-going construction of the Belo Monte dam in Brazil, reports the Indigenous rights NGO Amazon Watch. The company building the dam, Norte Energia, has confirmed that three of its employees were being held against their will. Tribal groups in the region say the massive dam will upend their way of life, and that construction is already making travel along the Xingu river difficult.

The $11 billion Belo Monte is expected to flood more than 40,000 hectares of rainforest, displacing 16,000 people according to the government and 40,000 according to critics. Eighty percent of the Xingu’s flow will be rerouted, impacting fish migrations and perhaps even sending some species into extinction. If completed, the dam will be the world’s third largest. Continue reading “Tribes hold 3 engineers in Belo Monte struggle”

Amazon warriors occupy Belo Monte

Amazonian Indigenous Peoples Occupy Belo Monte Dam Site

Date:
Saturday, June 23, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Altamira, Brazil – Indigenous peoples affected by the controversial Belo Monte Dam complex now under construction along the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon have occupied the Pimental coffer dam that cuts across channels of the river since last Thursday, June 21. Warriors from the Xikrin and Juruna indigenous groups arrived from the Bacajá River and Big Bend of the Xingu River in order to occupy one of Belo Monte’s main dams and work camps, expressing dissatisfaction with the blatant disregard of their rights and the dam building consortium’s non-compliance with socio-environmental mitigation measures. The groups independently organized the action and are demanding the presence of the Norte Energia (NESA) dam-building consortium and the Brazilian government.

The occupiers come from a region of the Xingu downstream of Belo Monte that would suffer from a permanent drought provoked by diversion of 80% of the river’s flow into an artificial dam to feed the dam’s powerhouse…. Continue reading “Amazon warriors occupy Belo Monte”

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