People of Amazon… Photo source: ©© Neil Palmer/CIAT/CIFOR.
A series of dams are being planned for the Tapajós River, also a major Amazon tributary. The dams would flood national parks, reserves and indigenous lands. Captions: ©© International Rivers.
Excerpts;
Mundurukú Indians made the trek to the capital of Brazil to demand the right to prior consultation in order to block the Tapajós hydroelectric dam, which could flood several of their villages.
The Brazilian government, which is already building the Belo Monte mega-dam on the Xingú river in the northeastern Amazon state of Pará, also wants to construct another huge hydropower complex on the Tapajós river, in the same state…
Tapajós Basin, International Rivers
The Tapajós Basin is a jewel of the Amazon, home to an incredible array of plant and animal biodiversity. A mosaic of protected areas and indigenous lands, the basin is home to approximately 820,000 people, including 10 indigenous groups. The Tapajós and its major tributaries – the Teles Pires, Jamanxim and Juruena rivers – are threatened by an unprecedented series of massive dams and associated industrial waterways (hidrovias) that would flood national parks, indigenous lands and other protected areas, accelerating the destruction of the Amazon Basin…
Yale 360 Video: Belo Monte Dam Controversy, A Yale E 360 Video (Uploaded 07-17-2012)
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, the flooding of 260 square miles of rainforest and the displacement of more than 20,000 people…
Sediment Trapped Behind Dams Makes Them ‘Hot Spots’ for Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Science Daily
The large reservoirs of water behind the world’s 50,000 large dams are a known source of methane. Methane has a warming effect 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. That knowledge led to questions about hydroelectric power’s image as a green and nonpolluting energy source…
The Problems With Dams
Dams block sediments going to the ocean, which implies accelerated erosion…
