Halt Construction on Belo Monte Dam
- by: Susan V
- recipient: Brazil President Dilma Rousseff
Update: Brazil federal judge Souza Prudente has ordered a halt on construction of the dam until indigeneous peoples are consulted, saying that "Human rights and environmental protection cannot be subordinated to narrow business interests.” However the battle is not over, and Norte Energia could appeal, so please continue to support this action.
If construction on Belo Monte Dam proceeds, over 20,000 will lose their homes as the Xingu River floods miles of the Amazon Basin. Its face will change forever, says Bianca Jagger, whose Human Rights Foundation is pleading with Brazil to stop this insanity.
Brazil claims the project is for energy security, however, says Jagger, it's part of a goal that will, in effect, “destroy vast areas of pristine Amazon rainforest...causing the extinction of many rare species of animals and plants“ and worsening of global warming.
Yet the government has the gall to call it a “green” project.
Tribes closest to the construction - the Arara, Juruna and Xikrin - who depend on the Xingu for survival - were illegally excluded from the decision-making process.
Now members from these and other tribes are occupying one construction site, demanding their needs and rights be honored.
Help support them in their fight to save their homeland. Tell President Dilma Rousseff to stop the Belo Monte Dam.
We, the undersigned, join Bianca Jagger’s and other human rights groups, along with the indigenous tribes of the Amazon Basin in protest of the Belo Monte Dam.
Jagger documents numerous essential reasons why this project should end, and the government has none that outweighs their importance.
In addition to the displacement of over 20,000 indigenous people and devastation of the livelihoods of others and their pristine environment, Jagger says “The decline in fish populations on the Xingu and the Madeira will inevitably have devastating human and environmental consequences.”
Furthermore, damming up and stagnating water that once flowed will create breeding grounds for water-borne diseases like malaria.
Jagger notes that much of what the Brazilian government is claiming to achieve with these megadams can be accomplished with renewable energy that is “not merely the solution to Brazil's mounting energy needs: it is the solution to all our needs.”
We agree, and we support the people of the Xingu in their fight to save their homeland.
This human rights and environmental catastrophe must be averted before it is too late.
We add our signatures with a previous petition requesting that you suspend construction of the Belo Monte Dam and instead open a national discussion on alternatives and “truly sustainable energy development.”
Thank you for your time.
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