Brazil’s Belo Monte license renewal and the need to recognize the immense impacts of dams in Amazonia

Abstract

Lula’s presidency in Brazil offers great hope for the environment but plans for hydroelectric dams in Amazonia represent an area of concern. The Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant that Lula promoted in his previous administrations and still defends illustrates the contradictions. In 2015 Belo Monte diverted water from the Xingu River through a canal that, since 2019, has left a 130-km river stretch with less than 30% of its natural annual discharge. This has compromised the food security of three Indigenous groups and of traditional non-indigenous river-dwelling people dependent on the river’s fish and turtles. Endemic (and threatened) species and unique ecosystems are now being eliminated. The pending renewal of Belo Monte’s operating license poses a test for the Lula administration’s socioenvironmental commitment. We offer suggestions for improved governance for existing dams like Belo Monte but conclude that no more large dams should be built in Amazonia.