ACTION
ALERT
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FOREST
CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY
Amazon
Rivers, Forests and Activists Threatened
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Forest
Networking a Project of Forests.org, Inc.
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Portal
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Conservation Links
11/25/01
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by Forests.org
The
Amazon river basin is being assaulted by major "development"
projects
including dams, roads, mines, oil and gas development and
industrial
logging. A major dam, likely the first
of many, is to be
constructed
on the Xingu River. Environmental
activists and
indigenous
communities that advocate for ecologically sustainable
development
options and ending large-scale projects are being
harassed
and even murdered. Please take the time
to respond to this
important
alert from Global Response.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: GR Action #5/01 Protect Amazon Rivers, Forest and
Activists / Brazil
Source: Global Response
Date: November 19, 2001
Dear
Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
This
Action Alert is doubly urgent; it seeks to protect not only the
magnificent
Amazon forest and rivers, but also the safety of local
activists.
Death threats, imprisonment and murder are being used to
silence
opposition to major "development" projects, including dams,
roads,
mines, oil and gas development and industrial logging. Please
speak
out for the rights of indigenous communities and environmental
activists,
and help stop the construction of the Belo Monte dam.
GLOBAL
RESPONSE ACTION #5/01
PROTECT
AMAZON RIVERS, FOREST AND ACTIVISTS / BRAZIL
Nov-Dec
2001
"What
will be left of the Xingu River for the people of Xingu?" --
Ademir
Alfeu Federicci, opponent of the Belo Monte Dam, murdered Aug.
25,
2001
In the
late 1980s, the Kayapo people forced the Brazilian government
to
abandon plans to build 6 huge dams on the Xingu River. The
international
uproar over environmental and human rights concerns was
enough
to persuade the World Bank to suspend financing for all dams
in the
Amazon Basin.
Now
Eletronorte, the state-owned electrical utilities company, is
back on
the Xingu River with plans to build a first dam, the Belo
Monte,
with a smaller reservoir than the original design. Since Belo
Monte
won't have enough water to generate electricity during the 4-
month
dry season, critics feel certain that more dams will be built
upstream
to increase efficiency. These will have huge reservoirs that
will
double the amount of submerged rainforest in Brazil.
While
Eletronorte's PR team touts the Xingu dams as "a blessing from
God,"
the battle between different development models for the Amazon
has
turned bitter and bloody. Since June, 5
grassroots activists
have
been murdered and hundreds jailed. They and their organizations
denounce
the government's $40 billion top-down plan to build 6,000
miles
of highway, dams, mines, power lines, gas and oil fields and
logging
concessions throughout the Amazon.
MDTX, a
coalition of 113 organizations representing farmers, women,
indigenous
peoples, youth, scientists and religious groups, argues
for a bottom-up
model of sustainable development, land reform,
indigenous
rights and environmental protection.
"Why
sacrifice the Xingu River by building dams, when its basin
represents
one of the country's most important sites of ecological
capital
in its natural state?," wrote
murdered activist Ademir Alfeu
Federicci
in an MDTX letter.
Indeed,
the earth's most biologically diverse region hangs in the
balance.
One-third of all the world's species live in the Amazon
River
Basin; one-third of the world's tropical woods (2,500 tree
species)
occur only in the Amazon. The Amazon River and its
tributaries,
including the Xingu, supply 20% of the earth's fresh
water
and have the highest diversity of freshwater fish.
Brazil
receives 93% of its electricity from large dams. One million
Brazilians
have already lost their lands and livelihoods because of
dam
construction. Indigenous peoples are especially vulnerable since
their
survival depends on their knowledge of specific ecosystems.
Dams on
the Xingu River would flood parts of the Xingu Indigenous
Park,
threatening the survival and cultural integrity of at least 15
indigenous
tribes, including the Kayapo.
REQUESTED
ACTION: MDTX is calling for international support to
pressure
the Brazilian government to bring the murderers of community
leaders
to justice, and to require community participation and
consent
for dam construction projects in keeping with the
recommendations
of the World Commission on Dams (see box).
**********************
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
**********************
MURDER
IN THE AMAZON - The Belo Monte dam's most prominent critic was
Ademir
Alfeu Federicci, known to his neighbors as Dema. In addition
to
voicing environmental and human rights concerns, Dema denounced
corruption
among Xingu government officials who stand to gain from
Eletronorte's
compensation payments. Instead of opening serious
democratic
debate about the project, Eletronorte has intimidated
opposition
groups. In a letter to the president, Dema wrote, "All
public
meetings against the dam have been filmed by police and
intelligence
forces. This is unacceptable in a debate over the future
of the
Amazon."
At dawn
on August 25 in his home, 36-year-old Dema was shot in the
head in
front of his wife and children. More
than 3,000 people
attended
his funeral the next day. MDTX leaders
have no confidence
in
local authorities who are unlikely to investigate the powerful
interests
behind the murder. Indeed, they are investigating it as a
robbery-homicide,
although nothing was stolen from Dema's home.
Intimidation
and fear reign in the region, where a newspaper recently
printed
a death list of 24 activists.
WORLD
COMMISSION ON DAMS - The World Commission on Dams was convened
by the
World Bank to review the performance of large dams and make
recommendations
for future planning of water and energy projects
worldwide. Twelve Commissioners from industry,
financial
institutions,
environmental organizations and dam-affected
communities
produced a final report (www.dams.org) which found that
large
dams do not produce as much electricity, provide as much water
or
control as much flood damage as their backers claim. They
regularly
suffer huge cost-overruns. Worldwide, large dams have
forced
40-80 million people from their homes; people living
downstream
of dams suffer increased disease and loss of sustenance.
Environmental
damage includes the extinction of many fish and other
aquatic
species, huge losses of forest, wetland and farmland.
Based
on these findings, the World Commission on Dams recommends
that: *
governments should maximize the efficiency of existing water
and
energy systems before building any new dam; * no dam should be
built
without the agreement of the affected people.
The
International
Rivers Network and dam-affected peoples are urging
governments
worldwide to adopt and implement these recommendations.
See:
www.irn.org.
INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES IN BRAZIL - Through conquest, colonization and
"development,"
dozens of Brazil's indigenous cultures have been
exterminated. An estimated indigenous population of 6
million in the
1500s
has been reduced to barely 300,000 today.
Over 30 years of
struggle,
Brazilian Indians have won official recognition of their
land
rights to 20% of the Amazon Basin. Still, indigenous lands are
often
invaded or threatened by large-scale development schemes. See:
www.socioambiental.org;
http://forests.org/brazil/
****************************
REQUESTED
ACTION: Please write a polite letter to
the president of
Brazil.
* Express your concern about the atmosphere of
intimidation in the
Amazon
region, and ask him to guarantee full protection of the rights
of free
speech and personal safety for community activists there.
* Demand a full investigation into the August
25 murder of Ademir
Alfeu
Federicci to identify the real authors of this crime and bring
them to
justice.
* Ask him to order Eletronorte to immediately release
the
feasibility
studies for the Belo Monte dam, for independent review.
* Urge him to suspend construction of the Belo
Monte dam in order to
first
adopt and implement the recommendations of the World Commission
on
Dams, specifically:
-give
priority to maximizing the efficiency of existing water and
energy
systems before building any new dam;
-build
no large dam without the informed consent of the affected
people.
* Express your support for the 130 local
organizations that form the
Amazon
Working Group(GTA) in their petition for a Moratorium on all
high-impact
development projects in the Amazon; the Moratorium should
be
enforced until consensus is reached with all communities that
would
be affected by these projects.
YOUR
LETTER WILL BE MOST EFFECTIVE STAMPED AND MAILED.
SECOND
BEST: FAX
THIRD
BEST: EMAIL
MOST
IMPORTANT: DO ONE OF THESE!
PLEASE
SEND YOUR LETTER TO:
Exmo.
Sr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Presidente
da Rep£blica
Praa
dos Tres Poderes
Palacio
do Planalto - 3o Andar
BrasĦlia
- DF 70150-900
Brazil
(Postage
from US is $.80)
FAX:
Int'l Code+55 (61) 411-2222
EMAIL:
presidencia@planalto.gov.br; pr@planalto.gov.br
********************************
This
Global Response Action was issued at the request of and with
information
provided by the Movimento Pelo Desenvolvimento da
Transamazonica
e Xingu (MDTX); Amazon Watch (www.amazonwatch.org);
Environmental
Defense (www.environmentaldefense.org); and
International
Rivers Network (www.irn.org).
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
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