About 25,000 indigenous people from 24 ethnic groups live along the Xingu River. These people are a living symbol of Brazil's cultural diversity and defenders of some of the last intact forest in the Amazon. Yet their lives and culture are under threat from the enormous Belo Monte Dam.
This mega-project would leave indigenous and traditional communities along a 100 km stretch of the Xingu known as the "Big Bend" without water, fish, or a means of river transport.
http://acao.dilma.com.br/page/s/emcontato (This is the official contact page of the President, feel free to contact her on this matter, please be polite and respectful).
The building of the dam would:
• Destroy (flood) 668km² of land of which 400km² is pristine rainforest.
• Force up to 1,000 indigenous Indians off the land they have been on for centuries. Up to 40,000 more people will be displaced.
• Even when complete only run at a maximum of 39% installed capacity. To run nearer to 100% it would require many more dams to be built on the river with further destruction of forest and wildlife. The Barbaquarra Dam if built would flood an area, predominantly rainforest, more than 12 times the size of Greater London!
• Encourage further destruction of neighbouring forest as the dams attract “development” to the region.
We must as human being protect our planet at all costs, protect mother nature... No matter the language you speak we all understand each other and the fact that we need to save and protect what loves us and keeps us alive... Our Governments and world leaders do NOT understand what we say, they only understand, money, power and greed. We need you to stand to protect the Amazon, Mother Nature - Life itself...
I ask you all to sign, share, mail the petition to friends, post on Facebook, groups, tweet it, get the word out, I thank you all. Keep up the good work, stay safe and fight the good fight.
With respect always, James Howie...
