Brazil: Belo Monti dam a "fait accompli," activist concedes
ALTAMIRA, Brazil, Aug 10, 2010 (IPS) - "It's a fait accompli," acknowledges André Villas-Boas, head of the independent SocioEnvironmental Institute (ISA), resigned to the fact that the legal actions and protests have failed to block the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in Brazil's Amazon jungle region.
But the battles lost against megaprojects harmful to the environment and to indigenous peoples and other local communities have not discouraged activists from mobilising.
However, they have made social organisations and experts question the government's decision-making mechanisms when it comes to mega-projects like dams.
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been required in Brazil since 1986 for any project with potentially harmful effects on wildlife and local populations -- a requirement that was incorporated into the constitution in 1988.
The aim was to prevent a repeat of disastrous infrastructure projects like the Balbina hydropower dam in the northern state of Amazonas.
Hoping for a job
Marinaldo Rodrigues, who lost his job of eight years in an Altamira sawmill when it was shut down in 2002 for operating illegally, hopes to find work on the dam.
It is widely believed that the crackdown on illegal logging in the Brazilian Amazon began after the 2005 murder of U.S. nun Dorothy Stang, who spent more than 30 years fighting for the land rights of the poor, near the city of Altamira in Pará state. But Rodrigues told IPS that the government's efforts to curb the illegal clearing of the jungle had already been stepped up before the high-profile murder.
Since then, environmental authorities have closed down 10 of the 12 sawmills that processed wood in Altamira. As a result, some 5,000 people lost their jobs -- a major blow in a city of 100,000 people where formal sector work is hard to come by.
Most of the former sawmill workers turned to casual work in fishing and agriculture, Rodrigues said.
Although the company where he used to work eventually reopened, he decided on a change of track, and underwent training to drive the heavy machinery used in building embankments.
Although he worked for four different companies, the father of two is once again unemployed at the age of 37. But he hopes to find work in the paving of the Trans-Amazonian highway, a project that is just getting underway.
And with his training and experience, he is confident that he will find a steady job when work begins on the Belo Monte hydropower project, which will include two large dams and two canals entailing the removal of a similar amount of earth and rocks as the Panama canal.
As a result, it is not surprising that Rodrigues supports the project, even though the area where his home is located will be flooded by the waters of the Xingu river, as will the homes of all of his neighbours in the low-lying portion of Altamira, once the dams are built.
In that case, 2,600 square kilometres of rainforest were flooded in exchange for a small amount of energy and a high level of greenhouse gas emissions.
But the progress represented by the requirement of an EIA has fallen short of the expectations of environmental and social movements, because the studies have rarely led to a decision by the authorities not to approve a project.