What’s more valuable: Generating an estimated annual average 4,500 megawatts (MW) of renewable hydroelectricity from a mega-dam project or conserving a 1,500-square kilometer area of threatened tropical rainforest ecosystem that has supported tremendous biodiversity and thousands of people for millennia? Brazil’s government made its choice on June 1, approving construction of what would be the world’s third-largest hydroelectric dam system, the Belo Monte, on the Xingu River in the central Amazonian Para district, but local residents, conservationists and others continue to oppose the decision and are continuing efforts to halt construction from moving forward.
What’s more valuable: Generating an estimated annual average 4,500 megawatts (MW) of renewable hydroelectricity from a mega-dam project or conserving a 1,500-square kilometer area of threatened tropical rainforest ecosystem that has supported tremendous biodiversity and thousands of people for millennia? Brazil’s government made its choice on June 1, approving construction of what would be the world’s third-largest hydroelectric dam system, the Belo Monte, on the Xingu River in the central Amazonian Para district, but local residents, conservationists and others continue to oppose the decision and are continuing efforts to halt construction from moving forward.
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The government’s decision to go ahead with the Belo Monte hydroelectric system begs several questions that come with all mega-infrastructure projects. "Are there alternatives to achieving the same or similar ends that would not result in environmental destruction and the loss of traditional ways of life on such a massive scale? Who benefits and who pays?," and "What are the true, total costs?"
Brazil has been on a hydroelectricity, dam-building binge of late, thirsty for electrical power to sustain rapid economic growth. Belo Monte is one of 60 dams the government is planning to build over the next 20 years, according to Belo-Monte.com. Hence, Belo Monte is viewed as ‘the thin edge of a wedge,’ that will see the Amazon’s rivers largely drained and the tropical rain forest ecosystem severely degraded, resulting in staggering losses of freshwater fish, amphibians and terrestrial wildlife, as well the traditional ways of life of thousands living in the region.
For further information: http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/08/opposition-making-last-stand-against-brazils-belo-monte-dam/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TriplePundit+%28Triple+Pundit%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
