Brazil awards rights to develop Belo Monte dam (BBC

News)
Who :


Where :

When :

What :



Why :
The Brazilian government and a consortium of nine companies

The Xingu River in the state of Par, Brazil

April, 2010

A consortium of nine companies has won the right to build a
hydroelectric dam on a tributary of the Amazon in Brazil.



By building a hydroelectric dam, 11 to 17 million dollar dam
will provide energy to 23 million homes.


The place. The regions high levels of rainfall, diverse
topography and meandering rivers sustain its amazing
variety and abundance of life. The Amazon contains
vast stores of carbonits rain forests are key to
stabilizing local and global climate.

The species. Containing nearly 40,000 plant species,
the Amazon sustains the worlds richest diversity of
birds, freshwater fish and butterflies. One of the
worlds last refuges for jaguars, harpy eagles and pink
dolphins, its thousands of tree species are home to
southern two-toed sloths, pygmy marmosets,
saddleback and emperor tamarins and Goeldis
monkeys.

The people. More than 350 indigenous and ethnic
groups have lived in the Amazon for thousands of
years, tapping nature for agriculture, clothing and
traditional medicines. Today, more than 30 million
people live in the region. Although most live in large
urban centers, all residents remain dependent on the
Amazons ecosystem services for food, shelter and
livelihoods.



Market forces, population pressure and infrastructure advances are continuing to pry open the
Amazon rainforest. As pressures on the region grow in intensity, there are loss of biodiversity and
habitat, but also a decreasing quality of life for people.


Pollution
The Amazon forest is affected by air and water pollution, produced from
industrial and commercial activities. The dumping of trash and human waste
into tributaries from overcrowded cities has resulted in serious pollution.

Urbanization
Urban and residential area expansion cause significant forest loss, both in the
consumption of building materials and as a source of land.

Tourism
Has negative environmental and social effects. The growing interest in travel to
Amazon has spawned a boom in the construction of resorts and hotels on
rainforest. Some hotels lack proper waste management and send sewage and
trash a few hundred yards offshore.

Hunting/Poaching and Wildlife trade
The remote borders between Amazon countries are ideal places for traffickers
to export wild animals. This can cause damage to the rainforest ecosystems by
removing species key to the system's functioning. The loss of a certain single
species can mean extinction for many others.

Today deforestation in the Amazon is the result of several
activities, the foremost of which include:

1. Clearing for cattle pasture
2. Colonization and subsequent subsistence agriculture
3. Infrastructure improvements
4. Commercial agriculture
5. Logging
Cattle ranches 65-70%
Small-scale, subsistence agriculture 20-25%
Large-scale, commercial agriculture 5-10%
Logging, legal and illegal 2-3%
Fires, mining, urbanization, road
construction, dams
1-2%
Selective logging and fires that burn under
the forest canopy commonly result in forest
degradation, not deforestation. Therefore
these factor less in overall deforestation
figures.

Deforestat
ion
[sq mi]
Deforestatio
n
[sq km]
Change
[%]
1988 8,127 21,050
1989 6,861 17,770 -16%
1990 5,301 13,730 -23%
1991 4,259 11,030 -20%
1992 5,323 13,786 25%
1993 5,751 14,896 8%
1994 5,751 14,896 0%
1995 11,220 29,059 95%
1996 7,012 18,161 -38%
1997 5,107 13,227 -27%
1998 6,712 17,383 31%
1999 6,664 17,259 -1%
2000 7,037 18,226 6%
2001 7,014 18,165 0%
2002 8,260 21,394 17%
2003 9,748 25,247 19%
2004 10,588 27,423 9%
2005 7,276 18,846 -31%
2006 5,447 14,109 -49%
2007 4,490 11,631 -18%
2008 4,984 12,911 11%
2009 2,705 7,008 N/A
1. Clearing for cattle pasture

According to the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR),

"between 1990 and 2001, the percentage of Europe's processed meat imports
that came from Brazil rose from 40 to 74 percent, and by 2003,
the growth in Brazilian cattle production80 percent of which was
in the Amazonwas largely export driven."

Factors :

CURRENCY DEVALUATION
The devaluation of the Brazilian real against the dollar effectively doubled the price of beef in reals and created an
incentive for ranchers to expand their pasture areas. The weakness of the real also made Brazilian beef more competitive
on the world market.

INFRASTRUCTURE
Road construction gives developers and ranchers access to previously inaccessible forest lands in the Amazon.
Infrastructure improvements can reduce the costs of shipping and packing beef.

LAND TENURE LAWS
In Brazil, colonists and developers can gain title to Amazon lands by simply clearing forest and placing a few head of cattle
on the land.

2. Colonization and subsequent subsistence agriculture

- Caused by the subsistence activities of poor farmers who are encouraged
to settle on forest lands by government land policies.

- These farmers use fire for clearing.
- Frequently escape agricultural plots and pastures.
- Forest degradation and drought make it dangerously
flammable.

3. Infrastructure Improvements

Brazil's Trans-Amazonian Highway was one of the most ambitious economic
development programs ever devised, and one of the most spectacular failures.

In the 1970s, Brazil planned a 2,000-mile highway that would bisect the massive
Amazon forest, opening rainforest lands to;

(1) settlement by poor farmers from the crowded, drought-plagued north,
(2) development of timber and mineral resources.

4. Commercial agriculture

Recently, soybeans have become one of the most
important contributors to deforestation in the
Brazilian Amazon. A new variety of soybean
developed by Brazilian scientists to flourish in
rainforest climate, Brazil is on the verge of supplanting
the United States as the world's leading exporter of
soybeans.



5. Logging

In theory, logging in the Amazon is controlled by strict
licensing which allows timber to be harvested only in
designated areas. However, there is a significant
evidence that illegal logging is quite widespread in
Brazil.


Extinction of species



Loss of biodiversity



Broken food chain



Starvation
Change in soil
quality



Crop failures
Desertification



Starvation/
financial problem
Loss of trees and
destruction of
vegetation



Loss of oxygen



Climate change




Project Finance
The project would be funded largely by the Brazilian Development
Bank, Brazilian pension funds, private investors and energy companies.
Originally proposed in the 1970s, however, the bidding had been
halted 3 times before a final appeal by the government.

Project's Impacts
The project is strongly criticized by indigenous people and
environmental organizations.
After fighting the construction of the dam for nearly 30 years,
indigenous groups are beginning to preparing for war.

Projects Inefficiency
It will only 10% of its 11,233 MW (1,123 MW) installed capacity
between the months of July and October and an average of only
4,419 MW throughout the year.
As such, the government would need to construct additional dam
reservoirs upstream to guarantee a year-round flow of water.

Environmental Impacts

Dams in the Amazon are generally ecologically inefficient because large
tracts of forest are flooded due to the flatness of the basin.

- Inundates large tracts of rainforest and submerge homes
- Kills off local wildlife, destroys aquatic habitats
- Displace indigenous peoples
- Increase global greenhouse gases

The reduced water flow downstream affects floodplain farmers who rely on
seasonal floods for nutrients to enrich to soil and kill pests.
- Farmers may turn to pesticides and artificial fertilizers
which on negative environmental effects.

Hydroelectric projects are also of concern from a health standpoint because
they provide opportunities for the spread of disease.
- Carrying organisms including snails and mosquitoes
which can cause fever or malaria.

During its first 10 years, the Belo Monte dam would emit 112 million metric
tons of Carbon dioxide, and an additional 0.783 million metric tons of CO
2

during construction.
WWF - The Madeira River Life Before the Dams
Should Brazilian government implement the
dam project? And should they allow people to
keep deforest the Amazon in order to
economically and socially developed?
Agree Develop the Amazon
- Brazilian government
- Capitalist

Disagree Conserve the Amazon
- Environmentalist
- Indigenous group & people
- Other countries
To feed the booming population and economy

Hydroelectric plants are vital way to ensure power
supplies

Clean form of energy and the best option

Create jobs

More income to improve infrastructure

Low price land

People will be displaced

Will only generate 10% capacity in low-
water season

Alternative source of energy

Release methane gases from burning and
decaying vegetation.

Ecosystem will be damaged, eventually on
human-being

Threatens the indigenous group and their
culture

Cheap price = Competition

The Brazilian President, Lula da Silva, once said,
The Amazon belongs to Brazilians.

Some say the Brazilian government, multinational/global companies, core
countries and international businesses should pay the people of the
Amazon jungle as
providers of environmental services for contributing to the fight against
climate change by not destroying the
lung of the earth.

Do you believe the Amazon should be globalized, and should we,
as Canadians, take responsibility of what is happening in the
Amazon?