[E-rundbrief] Info 1004 - Brasilien: Kontroversen um Belo Monte Damm

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 1004 - Mario Osava (IPS): BRAZIL: Belo Monte Dam 
Faces Endless Hurdles and Controversies.

Bad Ischl, 11.4.2011

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BRAZIL: Belo Monte Dam Faces Endless Hurdles and Controversies

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 9 (IPS) - The Xingu river flows around small isles
and islands and across rapids and waterfalls in Brazil's Amazon jungle,
and has a dramatically reduced flow during dry season. Navigating it
presents constant hurdles and risks.

The project to build the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam along the Xingu in
the northern state of Pará, in the eastern part of the rainforest, is
facing a similar variety of obstacles.

The opposition is not limited to the usual complaints by local
environmentalists and social activists. A noisy coalition is taking
shape, and energy experts are also questioning Belo Monte's economic
viability and the magnitude of the benefits it will provide.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) recently urged the
Brazilian government to "stop the licensing and construction of the Belo
Monte Dam project" to protect the rights of local indigenous communities
that will suffer the effects of the dam.

On Apr. 1, the IACHR granted precautionary measures for the
indigenous communities, in response to a petition filed by 40
Brazilian NGOs in November.

The IACHR asked the Brazilian government to undertake a "free, prior,
informed, of good faith and culturally appropriate" consultation process
with the indigenous communities; grant them access to the social and
environmental impact study, translated into native languages; and adopt
"vigorous and comprehensive measures" to protect the "lives and personal
integrity" of isolated indigenous peoples in the Xingu river basin
threatened by the dam, including effective measures to prevent the
spread of disease by the influx of outsiders.

The government of Dilma Rousseff announced that it would not heed the
IACHR request. On Thursday, Defence Minister Nelson Jobim said the
request to halt construction on the dam "will be returned just as it was
received…without processing."

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton (1993-2001) spoke out in defence of
indigenous rights and biodiversity and suggested alternatives to
hydropower dams in the Amazon, when he addressed the Mar. 26 Global
Forum on Sustainability in Manaus, the capital of the northern Brazilian
state of Amazonas.

Oscar-winning Canadian filmmaker James Cameron, director of the
blockbuster "Avatar", has become a champion of the campaign against the
Belo Monte dam.

In March, he visited indigenous communities in the Xingu river basin for
the third time, accompanied by actor and former California governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger, who did not speak out against hydroelectricity
but praised alternative energy sources. They visited the Big Bend region
of the Xingu river, the site of the proposed dam, before taking part in
the Global Forum on Sustainability.

The controversy over the dam, which will be the third biggest in the
world, is eroding Brazil's image abroad.

But while opponents have tried for years to block the project by means
of legal challenges and other initiatives, many see it as a fait
accompli, since the dam already obtained a provisional environmental
permit that allowed the auction to go ahead on Apr. 20, 2010. The
contract was awarded to a consortium led by Brazilian state-owned power
companies.

Nevertheless, the prosecution service still has a number of lawsuits
pending against the licencing and tendering processes, which according
to public prosecutor Felicio Pontes were illegal, among other reasons
because the rights of indigenous people were not respected, such as the
right to free, prior and informed consent as established by
International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169 concerning
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, to which Brazil is a signatory.

Infrastructure work on the dam officially began a month ago, starting
with the clearing of 238 hectares of rainforest and the construction of
access roads.

In order for the work to begin, Brazil's environment institute, IBAMA,
granted a "partial installation licence" – which does not exist in the
country's environmental legislation.

Before breaking ground, the 18-company consortium that won the contract
was ordered to meet 40 conditions, under the provisional environmental
permit it was awarded in early 2010.

Once it met the 40 conditions outlined by IBAMA on the basis of the
environmental impact study, to mitigate the dam's social and
environmental impacts, it was to be granted an "installation licence."

But prosecutors and environmentalists point out that the requisites have
not been fulfilled, including basic sanitation and other conditions
making it possible for nearby cities to receive as many as 100,000
outsiders – construction workers and people looking for jobs – without
suffering health epidemics or the collapse of existing services.

The irregularities have piled up, triggering the resignation of
several high-level IBAMA officials, and making Belo Monte vulnerable
to legal action.

But based on past experience in Brazil, initial setbacks caused by
challenges from prosecutors like Pontes end up being overcome by rulings
by appeals or higher courts.

It is the economic aspects that are decisive in such cases. Belo Monte
will have a capacity to generate 11,233 MW, which planners say is
necessary to sustain the annual GDP growth of four to five percent that
is projected for years to come.

But power generation will average just 40 percent of that potential
because during the dry season in the Amazon, the Xingu river's flow
drops to just 1,000 cubic meters per second, compared to 20,000 or even
30,000 during the rainy season.

And the dry season, which typically runs from June to November, could
last even longer and become more intense as a result of climate change,
experts predict.

With the technique selected for the project, a "run-of-river" or
"streaming hydro" system, the river continues to run instead of being
held back by a large dam, as with the traditional reservoir system.

But using the run-of-river technique will aggravate a negative aspect of
the power supply system in Brazil, which depends on hydroelectricity for
80 percent of domestic energy consumption. During the dry season, the
country's coal, oil and natural gas-fired thermal power stations are
relied on to ensure electricity supplies, leading to a "dirtier" energy
mix and driving up the cost of electricity.

The new turbines that will be used at Belo Monte do not require a huge
reservoir, as needed in the past.

An earlier version of the dam, known as Kararao in the 1980s, would have
flooded 1,220 square kilometres of land. But the area to be flooded has
been reduced to 516 square kilometres, with the hope of neutralising
pressure from environmentalists and preventing the flooding of protected
indigenous land.

However, the smaller reservoir and run-of-river technique mean Belo
Monte would have little to no capacity for energy storage, to meet
demand during the low water season.

But the country's energy authorities argue that by operating at peak
capacity during the rainy months, Belo Monte will make it possible to
save water in other reservoirs, ensuring hydropower supplies for a
longer period of time.

Nevertheless, in the face of the controversy surrounding the Belo Monte
dam, some energy experts have begun to defend the larger reservoirs
created by traditional dams, ignoring environmental and indigenous
pressures, as a solution to Brazil's growing demand for energy.

They also argue that the dam and power plant will cost at least 50
percent more than the projected price tag of 12 billion dollars.

The mega-project will also include the diversion of most of the river's
flow in two channels that will entail the removal of a similar amount of
earth and rocks as in the construction of the Panama canal, according to
environmentalists.

The diversion channels will reduce the flow along a 100-km curving
stretch of the Xingu river known as the Big Bend. That will hurt
biodiversity and fishing, affecting the living conditions and
transportation of two indigenous groups made up of over 200 people, and
of riverbank communities, ecologists, biologists and even the
environmental impact study agree.

But Brazil's energy and environmental authorities claim the indigenous
people will not suffer "direct impacts." The aim of such assertions is
to avoid more complex legal hurdles arising from the constitutional
protection enjoyed by the country's native people.

Meanwhile, the controversy rages on, in Brazil and abroad.

*****
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Hi-Resolution Pictures for this Story
--
+ A poor neighbourhood in Altamira, Brazil that floods during high 
season will be left permanently under water by the Belo Monte dam. 
Credit: Mario Osava/IPS 
(http://www.ipsnoticias.net/fotos/Belo_Monte_crecida_normal_de_las_aguas_en_Altamira_Mario_OsavaIPS.jpg)

---------------------------------------

Related Links
+ IACHR precautionary measures for the members of the indigenous 
communities of the Xingu river basin 
(http://www.cidh.org/medidas/2011.eng.htm)
+ Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre - in Portuguese 
(http://www.xinguvivo.org.br)
+ BRAZIL: Belo Monte Dam Means Floods for Some, Drought for Others 
(http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52021)
+ BRAZIL: Electricity Trumps Biodiversity for Xingu River 
(http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52151)
+ BRAZIL: Environmental Impact Studies on Dams Count for Little in 
Amazon (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52443)
+ BRAZIL: Belo Monte Dam Will Change Way of Life on Xingu River 
(http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51985)
+ BRAZIL: Environmental Impact Studies on Dams Count for Little in 
Amazon (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52443)


(END/IPS/LA IP EN DV AZ MD MB NR TW/TRASP-SW/MO/DCL/11)

Visit this story at http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55194

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