Source: Sydney Morning Herald
BRAZIL'S environmental agency has approved a giant hydroelectric power plant in the Amazon rainforest that has been at the centre of a protracted battle between the government and environmentalists over the fate of indigenous people.
After three decades of planning, the agency Ibama granted a licence to a consortium for the dam, which will be the world's third largest.
Opponents said they would not give up the fight against the Belo Monte dam, which they said would flood a large part of the Xingu River basin, affecting local fishing and forcing tens of thousands of indigenous people from their native lands.
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''We will not cede an inch,'' said Antonia Melo, the coordinator of Xingu Vivo Para Sempre, a group based in Altamira, a city that will be partly flooded. ''Our indignation and our strength to fight only increases with every mistake and every lie of this government.''
Belo Monte became a priority for the previous government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who said it was critical to Brazil's energy needs. His successor, President Dilma Rousseff, is committed to the project.
The North Energy consortium will pay $US1.9 billion ($A1.77 billion) for ''social-environmental measures'' to help people affected by the dam's construction and to offset environmental effects, an agency spokeswoman said. The government has committed $US314 million, she said.
Conservationists have become increasingly critical of Brazil's efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest. The country's deforestation numbers have risen sharply over the past nine months, and the lower house of Congress last week approved a revision of the Forest Code that would open protected areas to deforestation. The Senate has yet to vote on the measure.
The $US17 billion dam, which is expected to start producing electricity in 2015, would divert the Xingu River along a 100-kilometre stretch in Para state. Environmental groups say it will flood more than 49,000 hectares of rainforest and settlements, displacing 20,000 to 40,000 people and releasing large quantities of methane. The Ibama spokeswoman said no indigenous people would be removed from their lands.
Atossa Soltani, executive director of Amazon Watch, said: ''This is a tragic day for the Amazon … this dam is going to spell disaster for the local people.''