Belo Monte dam

There have been legal seesaws over whether to build a dam in the Amazon where a bunch of indigenous tribes are located.    To build this Mega dam, builders will have to excavate two huge channels larger than the Panama Canal, to divert water for the power plants.  This will flood 160 sq-mile stretch of the forest, while drying up a 60-mile stretch of the Xingu River.  Non-governmental groups having come up with figures saying this construction of the dam, will displace over 20,000 people from indigenous communities. 

                The reason behind this Mega dam is to provide the fast growing Brazilian economy with energy.  Large cities like San Paulo are in huge demand for energy, and with the economy doing so well, they fear if the dam isn’t constructed it will hurt the economy.  There other options are dirtier, nuclear power plants, or expensive renewable energies like wind and solar.  The country has struggled to find a balance between the push to develop and the demand to protect the delicate ecosystems and indigenous peoples of the Amazon.

                The indigenous peoples have the least to say over the decision because they have very little to do with the economy,  they aren’t making money for anyone, but rather being taking advantage of as they have been for years all over the world.  I thought Brasil was one of the only countries to protect their indigenous peoples, but as the rich get greedy and more desperate its only a matter of time before the extinct the Indigenous peoples as we have here in the states, for a few extra bucks in the Bank account.  At least Brasil is a place where the tribes still can assemble and deal with the government and protest for their rights.  Because the drying of the Xingu would change life as they know it.  At the last meeting with leaders from 13 tribes made an unusual decision; The created a new tribe of 2,500 and then  stationed it directly on the construction site, with plans to occupy it for years to be.

                This gives hope to me, because these people have nothing really to begin with, expect fish.  And they are protecting their own rights, by taking on hardships for the better of the land, the culture and the future