Highlights
– A booming economy has allowed Brazil to propose large-scale development projects in the Amazon region
– Indigenous groups and activists will continue to hold protests in the near to mid-term
– However, protests will likely have little impact on the timeline of the projects’ construction
Thanks to a booming economy, Brazil has found itself with an influx of cash to fund an upcoming series of large-scale development projects located in and around the Amazon jungle. In recent months, the government proposed a number of dams, river diversion projects and cross-country highways, sparking the interest of domestic and foreign investors alike. However, indigenous and environmental groups are critical of these projects, which they believe will add to already growing concerns of deforestation, illegal logging and displacement of local populations. Activists have focused their attention most heavily on the proposed Belo Monte dam project, which if completed as designed, would become the world’s third largest facility of its kind. Contrary to attempts to fund the project in the past, Brazil now maintains the economic power of completing the project as originally planned, leaving little room for international and domestic activist pressures.
The Belo Monte Project
A US$6.7 billion project scheduled for development along the Xingu River in Brazil’s Para state, the dam and accompanying hydroelectric plant plans to supply 11,000 megawatts of power by the year 2014. As Latin American nations, including Brazil, face ongoing energy challenges especially during the winter months, the government has praised the dam as a means to better manage issues of supply and demand in the long-term (Previous Report). Further, the government has lauded the project as means to bring jobs to Para, a state that has historically experienced low employment levels.
This project is a piece of the government’s “Ten Year Plan” characterized by high-level development projects throughout the Amazon. The state-owned dam company, Electronorte, intends to provide 30 percent of the start-up costs, while private investors will contribute the remaining sum required.
Environmental Impact
However, environmental groups have voiced numerous concerns over the magnitude of the project and the negative impact it will have on the region. Activist groups have estimated that flooding portions of the river will harm fish stocks vital to the diets and livelihoods of up to 14 different indigenous tribes living downriver. Also, the new reservoir will flood over 400 square kilometers of agricultural land and forest, home of the Paquicamba reserve of the Juruna indigenous people.
Additional smaller-scale dams will be necessary further upstream to provide constant water into Belo Monte’s turbines. The dam will likely not produce any energy during the three to five month dry season, when rains will be too low to generate adequate water supplies, a fact which environmentalists use to illustrate the inefficiency of the dam.
Indigenous Protests
Indigenous groups and environmental activists have made their position on the new development project known. On May 21, 2008, approximately 1,000 activists and Amazon Indians gathered at a meeting of the national electricity company, Electrobras, in the Altamirea region to protest the dam. Shortly following the arrival of an engineer to a meeting reporting on the dam’s proposal, activists surrounded him and began a ritualistic war dance. During the incident, the engineer was reportedly assaulted, but managed to flee the meeting with minimal injuries.
This incident is similar to a meeting in 1989 when the dam was first proposed. Indians held a machete to the face of an Electrobras engineer in protest of a series of dams to be constructed along the Xingu River. After this incident, the World Bank cancelled loans that were to be granted, leaving Brazil without the funds to begin the project.
Future of the Dam
Unlike the first attempt at construction in 1989, Brazil now has enough capital to finance the dam and other Amazon projects without reliance on international loans or grants. Additionally, Brazil was recently acknowledged by international ratings firms as a safe investment area, which will likely lead to an increase in foreign direct investment in the near to mid-term. While activist groups will likely continue to launch larger protests as the project details continue to be released, the likelihood of their activities halting the project completely will remain low. Though incidents of minor violence have occurred in the past, such as that directed at the state engineers, protests will likely remain largely peaceful.