Xingu River

Kayapó warriors (Terence Turner)

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The Xingu River flows from the tropical savanna of central Mato Grosso, Brazil northward to the Amazon for 1,979 km (1,230 miles). Some 14,000 indigenous people, from nine distinct ethnic groups, live along the Xingu. In 1989, an international mobilization, led by the Kayapó Indians, stopped state electric company Eletronorte´s plans to construct a six-dam complex on the Xingu and its tributary, the Iriri.

Map of Rivers of the Amazon Highlighting the Xingu (Wikipedia commons)

Now, Brazil is planning the construction of a huge dam on the Xingu, called Belo Monte. Belo Monte would require diverting nearly the entire flow of the Xingu through two artificial canals to the dam's powerhouse, leaving indigenous communities along a 130 km stretch of what is known as the Xingu´s Big Bend without water, fish, or a means of river transport. The dam would be highly inefficient, with its turbines grinding to a halt for three or four months every year during the river's lowest stream flow. Facing this reality, it is likely that the electric sector will have to build additional dams upstream to store water during the dry season, as well as to generate electricity. Original plans for dams on the Xingu would have meant the flooding of more than 18,000 sq km (8,300 sq mi) of the rainforest. The latest dam plans would cause severe impacts to indigenous villages and areas considered of extreme importance for conservation of biodiversity, as well as irreversible impacts to the Xingu´s fish stocks.

Belo Monte´s estimated cost has skyrocketed - officially projected to cost $4 billion, Eletrobrás´ latest budget is $9.3 billion. Industry analysts have estimated the eventual cost of the project to be more than $16 billion.

International Rivers is working with the Kayapó and other indigenous groups and environmental and social activists to protect the Xingu River Basin from large dams. Indigenous peoples and their allies organized a huge gathering in 2008 to voice their opposition to dams on the Xingu.

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