Comments on: NO to Dams in Brazilian Amazon: Report from “Encontro Xingu”

By: J. Doherty

J. Doherty — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:44:49 +0000

The World Bank estimates that forcible “development-induced displacement and resettlement” now affects 10 million people per year. According to the World Bank an estimated 33 million people have been displaced by development projects such as dams, urban development and irrigation canals in India alone.

India is well ahead in this respect. A country with as many as over 3600 large dams within its belt can never be the exceptional case regarding displacement. The number of development induced displacement is higher than the conflict induced displacement in India. According to Bogumil Terminski an estimated more than 10 million people have been displaced by development each year.

Athough the exact number of development-induced displaced people (DIDPs) is difficult to know, estimates are that in the last decade 90–100 million people have been displaced by urban, irrigation and power projects alone, with the number of people displaced by urban development becoming greater than those displaced by large infrastructure projects (such as dams). DIDPs outnumber refugees, with the added problem that their plight is often more concealed.

This is what experts have termed “development-induced displacement.” According to Michael Cernea, a World Bank analyst, the causes of development-induced displacement include water supply (dams, reservoirs, irrigation); urban infrastructure; transportation (roads, highways, canals); energy (mining, power plants, oil exploration and extraction, pipelines); agricultural expansion; parks and forest reserves; and population redistribution schemes.

By: The Understory » Belo Monte dam in Brazil being “shoved down our throats”

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:46:35 +0000

[...] Having attended the Encontro Xingu: Vivo Para Sempre” or “Xingu Encounter: Alive Forever” gathering in Altamira, Brazil in May 2008 with thousands in opposition to the Belo Monte dam, including my friends Zachary Hurwitz, Scott Fitzmorris and the late Glenn Switkes, I know the struggle is not over. I commit to doing everything I can to supporting communities in Brazil to stop this dam. Please join me and my friends at Amazon Watch and International Rivers today! Sunrise on the Xingu River taken by Scott Fitzmorris [...]

By: Singulair anemia.

Singulair anemia. — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:40:54 +0000

Singulair….

Singulair. Singulair adverse side effects. Is it better to do singulair or advair for asthma….

By: Dancing for the Xingu River « Nuclear and Indigenous Items of Interest

Dancing for the Xingu River « Nuclear and Indigenous Items of Interest — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:27:47 +0000

[...] sent to the hospital and received 6 stitches from the wound he received on his arm,” explains a report by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). “People cheered! Then the station ran an interview of a FUNAI (Bureau of Indian Affairs) [...]

By: indy

indy — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:06:02 +0000

“Fighting for the Amazon”
ALTAMIRA, Brazil—In this sweltering urban outpost on the banks of the Xingu River, one of the major tributaries of the Amazon River, a large official-looking billboard looms over one of the main streets downtown. Two hands are clenched in a friendly handshake, next to a colorful sketch of an unobtrusive dam traversing the crystalline waters of the river. “United For Progress,” it reads, “United for Belo Monte Dam.” Despite the cheerful propaganda, not everybody in town appears to be as optimistic. “Out Belo Monte!” and “Death to the Monster Dam!” are just a few of the slogans splashed as graffiti across the city that tell a very different story.
For five days at the end of May, thousands of indigenous Brazilians, riverbank dwellers, fishers and environmental and social movement activists, along with religious leaders and sympathetic local government officials, came together for the Xingu Forever Alive Encounter, a historic gathering to oppose a hydroelectric project that, as conceived, would be the third-largest dam in the world. The Brazilian government, along with a number of massive construction conglomerates, calls the dam an essential component of Brazil’s energy policy and necessary to keep the fast-growing economy humming. Activists and indigenous Brazilians call it a reckless project that will displace tens of thousands of people who depend on the river for their livelihood, will destroy migratory fish stocks and will channel energy primarily to the aluminum mines and the growing number of multinational extractive industries that are setting up shop in the Amazon.
To view the rest of this article, see http://www.indypendent.org/2008/07/17/fighting-for-the-amazon/

By: daniel lucio

daniel lucio — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 01:26:57 +0000

what a beautiful opportunity to be a part of this gathering! the thought of so many indigenous tribes coming together from so far, sharing of their cultures, and uniting in the resistance is inspiring. thank you for sharing of your experience, leila!