Brazil: Don’t shove Belo Monte dam down our throats!
Earlier this week, the Brazilian environmental agency (IBAMA) issued the first environmental license for the Belo Monte dam. By doing this, IBAMA gave the first green light for the construction of the world’s 3rd largest dam and ignored 25 years of resistance by the Indigenous and riverine communities of the Xingu river basin. Read Zachary Hurwitz’s article below.
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!
Brazilian Government Shoves Belo Monte Down Our Throats Ahead of Campaign Season
By Zachary Hurwitz
In July 2009, Lula da Silva promised his personal friend and Bishop of the Xingú Dom Erwin Krautler, as well as Professor Celio Bermann of the University of São Paulo, and representatives of affected indigenous and riverine communities that “we will not force Belo Monte down anyone’s throat,” But on February 1st, the Brazilian environmental agency IBAMA did just that, releasing the first of three environmental licenses required to build the Belo Monte mega-dam on the Xingu River.

