Corruption

From December 2010 World Rivers Review "We're going to build all the dams we possibly can in the Amazon, given the current legislation, and then we're going to revisit the other potential sites that involve impacts on indigenous lands and protected areas, and see how we may exploit that hydroelectric potential as well. Brazil's energy future is in the Amazon." This statement by the head of energy planning at the federal Ministry of Mines and Energy makes it clear that the dam-building business in Brazil is booming. Two huge hydroelectric dams on the Madeira River, the largest tributary of

From World Watch Magazine, Jan/Feb 2010, Volume 23, No. 1Big dams have a serious record of social and environmental destruction, and there are many alternatives. So why are they still being built? Big dams have frequently imposed high social and environmental costs and long-term economic tradeoffs, such as lost fisheries and tourism potential and flooded agricultural and forest land. According to the independent World Commission on Dams, most projects have failed to compensate affected people for their losses and to adequately mitigate environmental impacts. Local people have rarely had a me

"Acho que engenharia é uma coisa muito séria para ser praticada por pessoas que são mentirosas como este grupo que inventou e está tocando o projeto de Belo Monte há vinte anos. São mentirosos e agora estas mentiras estão começando a vir à tona, felizmente". A afirmação é do professor Oswaldo Sevá, que faz, nesta entrevista que concedeu à IHU On-Line por telefone, uma crítica à construção da hidrelétrica de Belo Monte. Entre as consequências que a obra gerará, Sevá destaca que um lugar belíssimo conhecido como Volta Grande será completamente modificado. Ele indaga: "Po