Brazil is preparing to build the third largest hydroelectric dam in the world

Brazil is preparing to build the third largest hydroelectric dam in the world on the Xingu River, a major tributary of the Amazon. Critics of the plan say the $17 billion Belo Monte dam would displace more than 20,000 people and threaten the unique cultures of indigenous people in the region including the Kayapo, a native group that depends on the Xingu and its tributaries for food, water, and transportation.

The most controversial dam project facing Brazil today, Belo Monte is a struggle about the future of Amazonia. The Brazilian government has plans to build more than 60 large dams in the Amazon Basin over the next 20 years. Many Brazilians believe that if Belo Monte is approved, it will represent a carte blanche for the destruction of all the magnificent rivers of the Amazon.

An earlier plan to dam the Xingu was abandoned in the 1990s in the face of local and international protest, in some cases led by the Kayapo. The new Belo Monte plan, however, appears to be moving forward, despite criticism that it will fail to generate the amount of electric power its backers expect.

The project’s extremely high cost and the river’s large seasonal variations in flow have led many to believe that after completing Belo Monte, Brazil will build other dams upstream with greater storage capacity to guarantee there will be enough water for Belo Monte to generate electricity year-round. 

Sources:
nationalgeography

International Rivers

Belo Monte dam

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