The Brazilian government has given an environmental license for the one of the worlds biggest hydro-electric dams in the Amazon rainforest (click here for link).
The dam will be built at Belo Monte on the Xingu river, a tributary of the Amazon. Environmentalists fear that the dam will cause devestation to the rainforest, affecting 40,000 people through flooding, damage fish stocks and also threaten the survival of indigenous people (see photo).
The initial project has always faced stiff opposition, and was abandoned in the 1990's. The Brazilian government has said that the new plan has been modified in order to appease the environmental concerns. The winning bidder who gets permission to build the dam will have to pay millions of pounds in compensation to protect the environment.
The new dam will create enough electricity to power 23 million homes, and help meet the demand of the growing Brazilian economy. The dam will be the 3rd biggest in the world, behind the Three Gorges Dam in China and the Itaipu Dam jointly owned by Brazil and Paraguay.
The new dam will continue to cause conflicts between environmentalists and politicians, as well as provide us geographers with a nice case-study!! Naturally we hope that it doesn't go ahead...
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