River dwellers resist hydroelectric dams in the Amazon and study reveals consequences of works

Fabyo Cruz – From Cenarium

BELÉM (PA) – The Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant on the Xingu River continues to be one of the most controversial and debated issues in the Amazon. Since work began on the complex located near the municipality of Altamira (PA), the environmental and social impacts caused by the project have been widely denounced by local communities and scholars in the field. Among the most active voices in the fight for justice is the Ribeirinho Council of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Reservoir, founded in 2016 to defend the rights of affected families.

Initially made up of 28 members, the council now faces a scenario of reduced resistance, with only 12 active members. Among them is 54-year-old Maria Francineide Ferreira dos Santos, one of the main voices in the quest for dignity and reparations for the river dwellers displaced by the dam.

In an interview with CENARIUM, Maria Francineide expressed the cry of the riverside families for a dignified territory. “We never asked for a hydroelectric plant and we never accepted a hydroelectric plant. We were born and raised on the banks of the Xingu River, on the islands, on the banks of the Igarapé. So we were displaced by this big company”, he vented. The statement reflects the deep relationship that the ribeirinhos had with the environment, a way of life that has been disrupted by the arrival of Belo Monte.

Francineide is from the Paratizinho community, one of the most affected by the construction. Since 2012, the residents have been forced to abandon their homes and are still waiting for the promised resettlement. According to her, the changes to the ecosystem are devastating.

“We didn’t have many bacteria, today we do. We didn’t have much grass in the river, today we only have grass. We used to have a lot of fish, now we don’t”, she said. The loss of biodiversity and severe environmental changes have made it difficult for riverside families to make a living.

Research into impacts

The consequences of the construction of Belo Monte are not an isolated case. Research that has been going on for more than a decade offers a bleak picture of the impacts of large hydroelectric dams in the Amazon. The study is led by Emilio Moran, a professor at Michigan State University (USA) and the University of Campinas (Unicamp). Started in 2013, the research initially focused on Belo Monte, but was expanded in 2020 to include the Jirau and Santo Antônio dams, all on the Madeira River.

The results indicate that these megaprojects have left a predominantly negative legacy for local populations, who see themselves as “sacrifice areas” in the name of national development. Among the main problems are the loss of traditional ways of life, environmental degradation and social challenges such as the lack of basic infrastructure, including water supply and sewage collection, as well as a significant increase in energy costs.

Fishing activity, for example, has been hit hard, with fishermen reporting the need for more effort to catch less fish, with the species caught being of smaller size and economic value. Land use has also undergone significant changes, with the loss of forests and the expansion of pastures, damaging floodplain agriculture and intensifying deforestation, including in protected areas.

Read more: Tuíre Kayapó, icon of the resistance against the Belo Monte Dam, dies