As the United Nations’ Rio+20 conference on sustainable development takes place in Rio de Janeiro this month, a prime example of the environmental and social tensions that accompany development will be playing out in northern Brazil. There, on the Xingu River in the Amazon basin, a consortium of companies is building the Belo Monte dam complex, which will be the world’s third-largest hydroelectric project, generating abundant electricity for Brazil’s rapidly growing economy.
Conservationists and local indigenous people contend the Belo Monte project will exact a significant environmental and human toll, flooding 260 square miles of rainforest and displacing more than 20,000 people who depend on free-flowing rivers for their livelihoods. Environmentalists also warn that the $16 billion Belo Monte project is the vanguard of more than 100 dams and hydroelectric projects planned throughout the Amazon basin in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia. Should these proposed dams be built, critics say, rapid development and resource extraction will soon follow, leading to a major loss of the Amazon’s forests and the transformation of its great rivers into a series of reservoirs.
Multimedia journalist Charles Lyons traveled to the site of the future dam complex, scheduled to begin producing electricity within several years, and produced this video report that lays out both sides of this controversial project.
video
Belo Monte Dam: Conflict in the Amazon
The Belo Monte dam, now under construction in the Amazon, is heralded as an abundant power source for Brazil’s burgeoning economy. But critics contend the project’s benefits are outweighed by the environmental and social costs. In a Yale Environment 360 video report, Charles Lyons explores both sides of this controversial project.
More From E360
-
Oceans
Why the Market for ‘Blue Carbon’ Credits May Be Poised to Take Off
-
Analysis
Are Huge Tree Planting Projects More Hype than Solution?
-
Policy
In Europe, a Backlash Is Growing Over Incinerating Garbage
-
Energy
The Oil Well Next Door: California’s Silent Health Hazard
-
Indigenous Lands
Why a Big Mining Project Could Wipe Out Rural Villages in Indonesia
-
Climate
Despite Pledges to Cut Emissions, China Goes on a Coal Spree
-
Interview
Stealth Chemicals: A Call to Action on a Threat to Human Fertility
-
Analysis
EV Turning Point: Momentum Builds for U.S. Electric Vehicle Transition
-
Climate
Is the ‘Legacy’ Carbon Credit Market a Climate Plus or Just Hype?
-
Essay
How the Loss of Soil Is Sacrificing America’s Natural Heritage
-
Energy
On U.S. East Coast, Has Offshore Wind’s Moment Finally Arrived?
-
Analysis
Why Drilling the Arctic Refuge Will Release a Double Dose of Carbon