The belo monte dam project in the brazilian rainforest is a paradigmatic example of development at any cost. Fearnside is a research professor at the national institute for research in the amazon inpa in manaus, amazonas, brazil since 1978. The br319 road, belo monte dam and juruti mine have large biological negative impact. Belo monte is a municipality located in the western of the brazilian state of alagoas. Estas medidas foram organizadas em planos, programas e projetos ambientais.
Marianna birmoser ferreiraaulu supervisorsohjaajat. Abstract environmental impact assessment eia has the goal of providing decision makers with an indication of the likely environmental consequences of planned actions risking environmental changes and, when necessary, allowing revision of these actions to mitigate adverse impacts. Atores e argumentos na luta sobre a barragem amazonica mais controversa do brasil. Map modified based on instituto socioambiental isa geoprocessing 20, with data from ibge, funai, and the eia rima for belo monte and eia rima belo sun.
The xingu river and its peoples international rivers. Mar 17, 2016 the belo monte dam under construction. Its population is 6,669 2005 and its area is 334 km the municipality was designated a priority area for conservation and sustainable use when the caatinga ecological corridor was created in 2006. The hydroelectric project encapsulates national ambitions, but its time for a debate about the kind of development brazil needs. For the love of physics walter lewin may 16, 2011 duration. Apr 03, 2017 upstream dams were entirely omitted from this first eia, although the viability study for the onedam plan explains that considering only belo monte is the result of political considerations, and that belo montes output would be much greater with upstream dams brazil, eletronorte 2002. The amazon rainforest is often referred to as the lungs of the world and the belo monte dam requires the destruction of over 1500 square km of rainforest for construction. The belo monte project is perhaps the most complicated engineering work in the history of brazilian dam building. Building futures scenarios for the volta grande do xingu in amazonia, brazil. This mass deforestation will result in the eradication of several animal and plant species who the rainforest serves as their natural habitat. Steamrolling belo monte in july 2005, the brazilian congress approved a legislative decree authorizing the construction of belo monte, despite the absence of a dulycompleted and approved environmental impact assessment eia and without conducting free, prior and informed consultations among indigenous communities. There are at least 20 court cases before the federal attorney general related to problems of licensing, nonimplementation of conditions and irreversible impacts, etc.
Instead, the calculations later in the document rely on a cdm procedural clause related to the power density of the dam as the justification for using a. Term for the elaboration of the eis and of the rima of belo monte heps. Whats behind the belo monte dam rodrigo nunes world news. The point of view of artisanal fishermen communities in brazil1 antonio carlos diegues university of saj o paulo 1. Once the initial eia rima documents are approved, public hearings are held in the affected areas, modifications are made in the documents, and the final eia rima is approved. Environmental impact assessment eia was formalized in several countries during the 1990s. The eia further lacks analyses of synergistic effects, environmental effects due to the human population attracted to the area, increase in deforestation, and changes in the flood cycle.
Environmental impact assessment in brazilian amazonia. History of studies on belo monte hydroelectric power plant saracura, vf. It was also not perceived as a worthy position of attention by the supervisory body responsible for the design of the licenses that allowed belo monte. Baixe no formato pdf, txt ou leia online no scribd.
The eia process consists mostly of measures to compensate or mitigate the impacts of dams. If allowed to proceed, belo monte will divert 80% of the flow of the xingu river, flooding an area of 516 square kilometers in the amazon basin, most of which is standing forest. Vale is a shareholder in this hydroelectric project which has been criticized for causing major social, environmental and eco nomic destruction. Further, a report on environmental impact assessment rima is a non technical document but instead serves as a synthesis to public audiences. The belo monte eia is descriptive rather than predictive, and it falls short of proposing mitigating actions appendix 2 in online supplementary material. Brazils proposed belo monte dam formerly kararao and its upstream counterpart, the altamira dam better known by its former. The power generated would place it as the third biggest hydropower plant. Then a preliminary licence must be granted before the contracts are let out for bidding by construction firms. The belo monte dam would divert the flow of the xingu, devastate an extensive area of the brazilian rainforest, displace over 20,000 people, and threaten the survival of indigenous tribes that depend on the river. The main issue raised by the letter is the absence of new social and environmental safeguards by bndes, the first public bank in brazil, which finances belo monte among others. Construction of the belo monte dam began in january 2012. While the dam will be the third largest in the world and provide electricity to industry and citizen, the environmental and social impacts are astounding.
Feb 15, 2011 whats behind the belo monte dam rodrigo nunes. Fearnside teles pires cdm comments international rivers. According to the environmental impact report eia rima, this power plant has the capacity to produce 11,233. A spearhead for brazils dambuilding attack on amazonia. Indication of selected sites for the study of the first eia elaborated in 1988 source. Bndes funded belo monte dam a megaproject with megaproblems. After its completion the mega dam belo monte in brazil, which has been under construction since 2011, will be the third largest dam in the world. Figure 10 state agencies and corporate actors involved in belo monte dam. O escopo do presente estudo compreende as informacoes gerais, caracterizacao do empreendimento, diagnostico ambiental, analise integrada do meio ambiente.
This complexity has resulted over the past two decades in an enormous set of conceptual and technical problems, omissions, and confusion. Philip fearnside comments to pjcers on the teles pires. This is because it was not planned or discussed as a possibility, or the environmental impact study eia, or in their respective environmental impact report rima. New evidence has come forward alleging that the consortium selected to build the dam had made a large contribution to the ruling workers party in order to. Development blind spots and environmental impact assessment. This site is located 40km downstream altamira, where one finds the main dam, whose installation stopped the normal river flow and significantly changed its bed. Introduction coastal and inland wetlands are undergoing a severe degradation in brazil basically due to the construction of large harbours, chemical and petrochemical industries, highly intensive. Eia rima, 2009 so that the alluvial plains can be wetted or, at least, the roots of the plants of the alluvial forests. Here we provide an overview of the efficiency of eia with emphasis on brazilian amazonia and discuss the problems. The letter from the civil society concludes that the current state of the world banks decisions contradicts its operational policy and other standards of transparency.
The most controversial dam project facing brazil today, belo monte is a struggle about the future of amazonia. Topics belo monte amazonia collection opensource language portuguese. It is difficult to understand the belo monte eia unless you look at the history of. If i had to sum it up in one sentence, i see belo monte as a possibility. In 1975 this author was living in one of the transamazon highway colonization areas 50 km from altamira fearnside. No literature is cited here or anywhere in the document to substantiate the claim that amazonian hydroelectric dams such this one are emissions free. History of studies on belo monte hydroelectric power plant. Belo monte esta situado na zona fisiografica do sertao do baixo sao francisco, e possui um clima semiarido, quente e seco. O eia rima da usina hidreletrica belo monte e as populacoes indigenas. A brief history of the belo monte struggle planning for a series of dams on the xingu river began in 1975 during brazils 19641985 military dictatorship. The planned installed capacity of the dam complex would be 11,233 megawatts mw, which would make it the secondlargest hydroelectric dam complex in brazil and one of the worlds largest in installed capacity, behind the three gorges dam.
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