Amazon tribes gather to fight hydroelectric dams

Cid_Yama

Indigenous Peoples in Brazil will hold a mass 5-day rally next week, dubbed “the Xingu Encounter,” to protest against a series of hydro dams planned for the Xingu river and its tributaries.

The sacred lands website explains, there are a total of 70 large dams and dozens of smaller ones planned throughout the central and northern parts of the country. “One of these is the proposed Paranatinga II dam. Located on the Culuene River, a tributary of the Xingu, Paranatinga II would destroy an area sacred to 14 tribal groups. The same tribes also oppose the much larger proposed dam downstream, Belo Monte, which would displace indigenous communities.” If completed, Belo Monte would be the world’s third largest hydro dam.

The encounter, which will take place from May 19 to 23 in the town of Altamira, Para, is expected to gather over a thousand People from the Kayapo, Ikpeng and other tribes, along with riverbank dwellers and small farmers… to oppose the project,” notes Survival International in a recent press release.

“Also taking part in the five-day meeting will be international organizations, technical experts, and Brazilian public officials,” according to International Rivers. “The gathering could mark a decisive moment for the alliance of indigenous people, environmentalists and social movements who oppose damming the Amazon.”

They go on to say, “the Xingu Encounter is a long overdue follow-up to an historic gathering in Altamira in February 1989 when the Kayapo and other indigenous groups from the Xingu Basin mobilized to reject the Brazilian government’s plans for a series of six hydroelectric dams on the river. That gathering led to the cancellation of a World Bank loan for the dams and plans to dam the Xingu were suspended for more than a decade. In recent years, Brazil’s energy planners have once again focused on damming the rivers of the Amazon, with 70 large dams being planned for the Amazon Basin by the year 2030″.

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