OAS Human Rights Group Weighs in on Brazil’s Amazon Dam

Matt Palmer
4/8/11


"OAS Human Rights Group Weighs in on Brazil’s Amazon Dam"

http://blogs.forbes.com/kenrapoza/2011/04/05/oas-human-rights-group-weighs-in-on-brazils-amazon-dam/

Construction of the Belo Monte dam in Brazil has encountered criticism from multiple human rights groups over the treatment of the indigenous people affected by the dam's construction. In an odd self-contradiction, the Foreign Ministry of Brazil called a request from The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States to honor indigenous rights "unjustifiable and unequivocal," stating that human rights were being honored.

The site of the planned dam is on the Xingu River, and would affect ~2,500 natives, as well as an area of virgin rainforest. While no tribal lands would be flooded, a tributary of the river could experience levels of drought that would make life difficult for the surrounding plant and animal life, to say nothing of the natives.

With the dam representing the energy progress of Brazil, a difficult question arises. How can Brazil progress in energy production while not taking several steps back in environmental preservation?