Brazillian Artists Ask the Government to Stop Belo Monte Dam

About two weeks ago a few Brazilian artists got together to advocate an important cause: the construction of Belo Monte Dam. The movement, called “Gota D’Água” (Drop of Water), has been launching a few videos asking the attention of the country for the government project for energy generation to be built in the coming years. When (if) finished, the dam will be the second biggest in the entire world (just after a Chinese one) – what in thesis is good, of course.

On the other hand, what is not told is the impact of such construction. First of all, it will not be able to generate as much energy as it was planned to due to the river flow in which the dam is installed. Yet, a huge amount of money will be spent (billions of dollars), and as usual there is also the risk of not finishing it.

Then, there is the social and environmental impact – the most serious aspect. Belo Monte Dam impacts on the life of thousands of (poor) people – mainly indigenous people, fishermen, etc -, but also in the Amazon Forest. The forest is located not only in Brazil, but in eight more Latin-American countries!

For that reason, it is our duty, as Latin-American citizens, to join forces and put pressure for political will to stop Belo Monte.

I kindly invite you all to subscribe the online petition and also the Avaaz petition on the same subject. It has already reached more than 1 million signatures, but we can do better.

You can also share the video above, with subtitles in English, Spanish and French.

For further information on Belo Monte construction, please click here (in portuguese).