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No More Catfish in the Madeira?

Tue, 01/24/2012 - 3:43pm
By: 
Zachary Hurwitz
Fish are dying at an alarming rate because of the Santo Antônio Dam. (Instituto Rio Madeira Vivo)

Fish are dying at an alarming rate because of the Santo Antônio Dam. (Instituto Rio Madeira Vivo)

This blog in Brazil caught our eye recently: catfish are now disappearing at an alarming rate from the Madeira River, thanks to the reservoir of the Santo Antônio Dam.

When the environmental license for the Santo Antônio Dam was approved against the findings of fish experts, Lula controversially claimed that the dams would not be stopped because of "some catfish." Now, the catfish are disappearing. Don't say we didn't warn you. 

 

Environmental Flow Policies: Moving Beyond Good Intentions

Eloise Kendy and Tom Le Quesne
Calfornia’s dammed Trinity River is flowing more naturally this year, thanks to an agreement to restore environmental flows. (© Conservation Lands Foundation)

Calfornia’s dammed Trinity River is flowing more naturally this year, thanks to an agreement to restore environmental flows. (© Conservation Lands Foundation)

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Dr. Margaret Palmer

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Rivers are the planet's lifelines, but the double threat of human interventions combined with climate change is already seriously compromising their health – and, by extension, ours. A major study last year found an overall decline in total discharge of most of the world's major rivers – changes that could affect up to a billion people. Here we interview Dr. Margaret Palmer, director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory at the University of Maryland and a leading expert on how climate change impacts rivers.

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Map of Area Directly Impacted by Belo Monte Dam (from Belo Monte EIA)

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What would be the true environmental, social, and economic costs of Belo Monte Dam? New studies by a group of independent experts have highlighted the serious consequences the dam would have for the region, its inhabitants, and ecosystems of the Amazon rainforest.

Belo Monte, which with an installed generating capacity of 11,231 MW would be the world's third largest dam, and its complex array of two powerhouses, artificial canals, huge dykes, two reservoirs, spillways, ports, roads, and work camps would devastate more than 1,500 sq km of the Xingu River region of the central Brazilian Amazon.

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Independent Review Highlights the True Costs of Belo Monte Dam

 

The true costs of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Project, planned for the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon, have been revealed in a new independent review by a panel of 40 specialists. The panel found that the dam would have serious consequences for the region, its inhabitants, and ecosystems of the Amazon rainforest.

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Panel of Experts

The true costs of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Project, planned for the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon, have been revealed in an independent review by a panel of 40 specialists. The panel found that the dam would have serious consequences for the region, its inhabitants, and ecosystems of the Amazon rainforest.

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Análise Crítica do Estudo de Impacto Ambiental Belo Monte

Painel de Especialistas

 

Especialistas vinculados a diversas Instituições de Ensino e Pesquisa identificam e analisam, de acordo com a sua especialidade, graves problemas e sérias lacunas no EIA de Belo Monte.

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Environmental Flows

Talking with an Expert on Rivers' Needs for Water

Originally published in World Rivers Review, June 2003

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