“>Teles Pires dams, which together would flood an area of 3,971 square kilometers, or almost twice the area of Tokyo, the world’s largest city. The twelve dams would illegally directly flood the Mundurucu, Apiaká de Pimental, Akaybãe, Remédio, Sai Cinza, São Martinho, and Boca do Igarapé Pacu indigenous territories, among others.
However, Lobão and Dilma are racing to take advantage of the “economic window” provided by high world commodity prices in order to invest in mega-dams in the Amazon. In the licensing of dams, expected returns on commodity investments and the corrupt promises of patronage politics are at stake; hence the frequent attacks on IBAMA officials and the Ministry of the Environment, and the heavy reliance on public coffers to subsidize BNDES loans for mega-dams such as Belo Monte.
Defenders of the Amazon, hide your children. Here comes Brazil’s big bad wolf.
