Xingu River

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Kayapó warriors (Terence Turner)

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The Xingu River flows from the tropical savanna of central Mato Grosso, Brazil northward to the Amazon for 1,979 km (1,230 miles). Some 14,000 indigenous people, from nine distinct ethnic groups, live along the Xingu. In 1989, an international mobilization, led by the Kayapó Indians, stopped state electric company Eletronorte´s plans to construct a six-dam complex on the Xingu and its tributary, the Iriri.

Now, Brazil is planning the construction of a huge dam on the Xingu, called Belo Monte. Belo Monte would require diverting nearly the entire flow of the Xingu through two artificial canals to the dam's powerhouse, leaving indigenous communities along what is known as the Xingu´s Big Bend without water, fish, or a means of river transport. The dam would be highly inefficient, with its turbines grinding to a halt for three or four months every year during the river's lowest stream flow. Facing this reality, the electric sector is now planning to build four additional dams upstream to store water during the dry season, as well as to generate electricity. Original plans for dams on the Xingu would have meant the flooding of more than 18,000 sq km (8,300 sq mi) of the rainforest. The latest dam plans would cause the flooding of indigenous villages and other protected areas, as well as irreversible impacts to the Xingu´s fish stocks.

International Rivers is working with the Kayapó and other indigenous groups and environmental and social activists to protect the Xingu River Basin from large dams. Indigenous peoples and their allies are planning a huge gathering in 2008 to voice their opposition to dams on the Xingu.

LATEST ADDITIONS:

With Rings on Their Fingers

Amazon Tribes Fight to Keep the Xingu Alive

NPR: Brazilian Tribes Say Dam Threatens Way of Life

Brazilian Tribes Say Dam Threatens Way of Life

Document of the Indigenous Peoples of the Xingu Basin

More information: 

Xingu Encounter 2008 - May 19-23

Heart of Brazil Expedition, photo gallery and blog on the Xingu by Sue and Patrick Cunningham

Eletronorte, Brazilian Amazon region state electric company.

 

CONTACT US:

Glenn Switkes
glenn [at] internationalrivers [dot] org
+55 35-3332-6809