In: Home > News > Brazil: Stop the Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River!
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Bolzano/Bozen, Göttingen, Bern, December 1, 2010
Xingu River, Yawalapiti, 2010. Photo © Rebecca Sommer.
The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) is deeply concerned
about the indigenous peoples living on reservations along the
Xingu River in the Brazilian state of Pará, who are
acutely endangered by the planned construction of the Belo Monte
dam. Research by STP Representative to the UN Rebecca Sommer in Brazil has shown
that the construction of the mega-dam is set to usher in massive
industrialization in this Amazonian region. Thus the very
existence of the indigenous peoples living near the Xingu is
threatened, including that of one small, isolated community in
particular that lives in close proximity to the mega-dam site.
Furthermore, the reservoir created by the dam will flood an area
of almost 200 square miles - about the size of Lake Constance -
putting not only woodlands but also areas cultivated by the
indigenous peoples under water. The STP, together with the
Brazilian environmental protection organization KANINDE and 12
more non-governmental organizations, filed a collective action
today with the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office
(Ministério Publico Federal) at Pará, seeking to
stop construction of the Belo Monte dam.
The indigenous peoples in the Xingu region are living in fear and
uncertainty. They were not thoroughly informed of the effects
that the Belo Monte project would have on their livelihood, nor
were they asked for their approval of the construction project.
Brazil, however, is obligated to protect the rights of indigenous
peoples, both by the ratification of UN Convention 169 of the
International Labor Organization (ILO) and by the UN Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous People. Since the Brazilian
constitution of 1988 granted a certain amount of protection to
the indigenous people in the country, more than 20% of the Amazon
rain forest has been designated as reservations. This promise of
protection is now slated to be sacrificed to the greed for
natural resources. This development is particularly threatening
for the indigenous peoples still living in isolation, who have
been sighted just 70 km from the planned dam site, as the area in
which they live will be opened up for logging.
Moreover, the Belo Monte project is already awakening the avarice
of mining companies. Geologists surmise that there are vast
amounts of valuable minerals to be found in the area around the
dam. According to the environmental impact report for the Belo
Monte dam project, prepared by the state energy company
Eletrobrás, firms have already applied for authorization
to search for natural resources on more than 63% of the total
area of the reservations. The indigenous peoples themselves have
neither been informed nor have they consented to any future
mining for raw materials in their settlement area.
STP-Switzerland, the branch coordinating this
campaign for STP-International, has the complaint (in Portuguese
and German) that was filed with the Federal Public Prosecutor's
Office in the state of Pará, three maps showing the
consequences of the industrial development as well as the
applications from companies for permission to mine the natural
resources (source: environmental impact report from
Eletrobrás) and a list of the signatory organizations, all
available at their website: www.gfbv.ch.
Auf der Webseite der GfbV-Schweiz - www.gfbv.ch - welche die Kampagne
für die GfbV- International koordiniert, finden Sie die
Beschwerde an die Bundesanwaltschaft des Bundesstaates
Pará (in portugiesisch
sowie deutsche Übersetzung), drei Karten, (Karte 1, Karte
2, Karte 3) welche die Folgen
der industriellen Entwicklung sowie die Anträge von Firmen
zum Abbau von Bodenschätzen in Indigenenreservaten zeigen
(Quelle: Umweltverträglichkeitsbericht von
Eletrobrás) und eine Liste der unterzeichnenden
Organisationen.
See also in gfbv.it:
www.gfbv.it/2c-stampa/2006/060928en.html
| www.gfbv.it/2c-stampa/2006/060807en.html
| www.gfbv.it/2c-stampa/2005/051021en.html
| www.gfbv.it/2c-stampa/03-2/030923aen.html
| DE >
www.gfbv.it/3dossier/ind-voelker/brasil-belo.html
| www.gfbv.it/3dossier/ind-voelker/0608report-en.html
| www.gfbv.it/3dossier/diritto/univ-indig-en.html
| www.gfbv.it/3dossier/diritto/ilo169-conv-en.html
in www: www.kaninde.org.br | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples
| www.ipcc.ch | www.ienearth.org | www.stopdamsamazon.org