Political Diamonds

A five day long protest, from May 19th to May 23rd, took place this week by more than 600 Brazilian Amazon Indians and environmental activists over a proposed hydroelectric dam on the Xingu River, in the Brazilian Amazon.

The protesters gathered to attempt to keep the Belo Monte Dam from being developed.  The dam would directly impact hundreds of indigenous people on the Xingu and Bacajá rivers, and displace more than 16,000 people.

A video from the Real News Network provides more details:

15,000 to be displaced by proposed Amazon dam

It would also likely require the building of additional dams upstream, affecting thousands more people.

The protest was held in the Amazonian city of Altamira, and is the largest to happen since a protest twenty years ago which saw the musician Sting visit the area, and the formation of the Rainforest Foundation Fund.

The government of Brasil is pushing the hydroelectric dam project as a sustainable energy solution, detailed in Amazon Indians lead battle against power giant’s plan to flood rainforest

A post at MetaEfficient describes efforts by Costa Rica (Costa Rica Is 99% Powered By Renewable Energy) to be the first completely carbon neutral country.

The effort isn’t completely without controversy. In reaching that goal, new damns may need to be constructed. MetaEfficient tells us:

Costa Rica is a country rich with renewable energy. In fact, it gets about 99% of all its electrical energy from clean sources, and it’s aiming to be the first country to become carbon neutral (more about that below). Some of Costa Rica’s energy sources include geothermal energy, the burning of sugarcane waste and other biomass, solar and wind energy. However, the largest source of energy is hydroelectricity — its hydroelectric dams provide more than 82% of the country’s electricity.

But the electric needs of Costa Rica are increasing, and the government now wants to build new dams that would displace indigenous villages and flood valuable habitats. Local environmental groups are opposing the construction of new hydroelectric dams.

The cost of the new damns seems pretty high, and perhaps illegal under international treaties involving the rights of indigenous people that have been signed into law by the government of Costa Rica. From Intercontinental Cry, we get some news of the hydroelectricity project, Indigenous Groups Opposed to El Diquis Hydro Project, and the impact of one of that project:

Read: The Cost of Costa Rica’s Carbon Neutral Ambitions

A story in the Lohasian tells of a legal battle between an Aboriginal community in Australia and government and mining sources that want to develop land which holds an incredible amount of rock engravings.

Archaeologists estimate that the rock art of the area comprises anywhere between 500,000 and 1 million engravings – encompassing the worlds largest collection of engravings and petroglyphs. The site and the engraving pre date both Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. While Mr Garrett acknowledges the economic potential of industry in the area, which generates thousands of jobs and billions for the Australian economy, he said that environment and heritage values must be considered at the “front end” of any development proposals to minimise further destruction.

The Aboriginal community set up a corporation that might give them some ability to control any development that happens, but they face quite a battle against corporations that have much more resources to back their efforts.

It would be a sin to see the history and heritage of the land overcome by developer’s interests.