Amazon tribes fear disaster

The Xingu River

Pavuru (Xingu national park Brazil): Once they were threatened by wildcat gold-miners and a measles epidemic that slashed their population to just 56. But now the Ikpeng, a proud tribe of Amazon warriors, say a new catastrophe looms over their future: the damming of the rivers they depend upon for food.

Across Brazil alarm bells are ringing over plans to build at least 229 small hydro-electric dams, known as PCHs, which the government hopes will generate electricity and drive economic development.

Opponents say they will damage the environment and destroy the livelihoods of thousands of Brazilian tribes people.

There are 346 PCHs in Brazil, with another 70 under construction and 159 awaiting licences. If the construction of dams continues, “the fish will run out and the waters will start to go down,” warned Komuru Txicao, a local tribesman. “Here in the forest we don’t need electricity. We need fish, water and land.”

For Mr. Komuru and his neighbours, the immediate concern is the construction of a network of PCHs around the Xingu national park in Mato Grosso state. Mr. Komuru fears the dams will block the tributaries of the Xingu, itself the largest tributary of the Amazon. According to the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel), four PCHs operate near the reserve; another, Paranatinga I, is waiting for its licence. Aneel says 13 PCHs are being built in Mato Grosso state, while another 19 projects are awaiting licences.

Last March the conflict escalated when eight staff from the electricity company responsible for one PCH spent five days held as “hostage” near Pavuru. They were released only after the President of Brazil’s indigenous agency, Funai, personally intervened. “We didn’t kill them, we ‘arrested’ them,” recalled Mr. Komuru.

Similar battles are raging across the Amazon region. A dispute over the $4 billion Belo Monte dam further north along the Xingu river turned violent in May when an engineer from the Brazilian power company Eletrobras was attacked during a presentation about the plant. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has sought to allay fears over the dam, vowing that it “would not be shoved down anyone’s throat”.

But concerns grew in July when a federal court lifted an embargo on the Belo Monte licensing process, clearing the way for a bidding round later this year.

Having witnessed the Ikpeng’s plight in the 1960s, Melobo, an Ikpeng shaman, fears history may be repeating itself. “The farmers ruin the Indian’s things,” said Mr. Melobo. “They ruin the Indian’s water. They ruin the Indian’s land.”