Water about the dam repays the other way of life, creating energy to about 60 million people.
Belo Monte’s operating license is now for renewal. The IBAMA’s decision, which began the Roy Project since the first license expired in November 2022, is pending, and this regulatory Limbo has provided a rare opportunity to try to adjust the rules of how much the river community is strengthening the price of the dam and the remaining rules for the ecosystem and people.
Extreme droughts related to climate change and foresting have further enhanced the steak by threatening river health and reducing development. This is the reality faced by many hydro power plants around the world. But Lula’s government is currently attracting attention. He hosts the UN UN Climate Conference (COP30) of the year in Brazil and is in the face of surveillance of environmental and human rights, advocating his campaign for sustainability. The relics of BELO MONTE are based on how his government handles difficult tradeoffs between energy security, environmental protection and indigenous rights.
To build the Belo Monte complex, engineers switched the flow of Xingu into a power turbine through the artificial canal, flooding less than 50,000 acres and replacing about 40,000 people. The project also severely lowered the river level along the 80 -mile stretch with downstream.
Sara Rodrigues, a fisherman who lived in the coastline of the lecture and Volta Grande for a lifetime, quietly watched the hand -drawn graph to show why the local fish stocks are in danger. Suddenly her voice burst and felt frustrated. “The water comes and lays eggs, takes it away, Tracajá [turtle’s] Nest and Breeding, ”she says.
Encoded in the curve of the graph was a key message. The problem was not the amount of water lost in the dam, but in the Amazon winter naturally high and in summer, it interfered with the rhythm of low flow. The fish should go upstream and the water must be soaring to the forest island or the spawning site of the phone. Fruits are cooked and dropped to feed in a timely manner. If the river level falls in the wrong time, the fishing eggs are wasteful in the shallow water and the fruits that fall on the dry ground. When the water is seasonal, the turtle eggs buried on the sand are washed away.
The low tide and flow that once moved to a natural pulse are now indicated by the dam, breaking the cycle of maintaining the aquatic ecosystem and solving the entire way of life. The depleted fish means that they have less healthy food and income. Fishermen who have been deprived of traditional ways of living their livelihoods leave the Altami, one of the most violent cities in Brazil.
Studies show that after the construction of the dam, the damaged fish spawning site, the wood mortality rate, and the precipitation and erosion increases.
Rodrigues, full of emotions, said, “It’s not easy for me to talk to you today.” We wanted to talk about Volta Grande I know here. We have life, have health, and have an ecological system. ”
The water now reminds me of another way of life, thousands of miles away from the Volta Grande. It creates energy to about 60 million people in the south, including cities like Rio de Janeiro. Brazil depends on hydroelectric power to more than 60 % of electricity. Up to 10 %of these are provided by Belo Monte at the maximum capacity. In 2023, the drought year, the plant met only 6 %of Brazilian consumption.
Hydropower will remain a big part of Brazil’s renewable energy mix to meet energy demand and climate goals, even if the investment in the sun, wind and biomass increases. According to Ricardo Baitelo, an engineer and project manager of the Brazilian Energy and Environmental Research Institute, it is the best task of the energy grid to prevent intermittent wind and the difference in power production of the sun. But Belo Monte does not solve the problem because the energy generation plummets in the dry season, he said. “[Variation] Even if the dam works, it’s still a challenge. ”
The community began to monitor the change of territory as the structure of the dam was embodied in 2013, and the war against Norte Energia continues to this day through appeal to Ibama and the court. The energy company, which refused to mention the article, argued that plants will leave water in the river and maintain ecological health in the Volta Grande region. However, residents, scientists, and environmental advocates responded to many years of fellow review and arguments that showed high wood mortality, damaged fish scattering sites, and showing precipitation and erosion increase and risk of sailing.
Ibama admitted that year. The factory agreed to the environmental easing plan with Norte Energia when it was first licensed, but once again in 2021, experts and advisors say that these measures will not make up for damage. In February, the company won the court case where Ibama closed the previous order to temporarily maintain a high level by downstream.
In August 2022, Yudjá utilized the withholding license renewal, and cooperated with the research alliance of the Brazilian NGO Social Environment Research Institute (ISA) and other institutions, and provided the government with its own version of the gate, and provided a technical plan to announce how much water could be announced in many hours of the year. For fiiracemas mathematical names and places and time where fish swim up to the top of the fish to spill, the Union’s plan must release enough water to maintain about 70-80 %of the historical average of the Volta Grande for one year. In addition, it will be more closely imitated by the sudden change of the river flow, which will be more closely imitated.
The conflicting relationship between the power grid and the water for the life of the river was always in the root of the Belo Monte debate.
According to the Felício Pontes Jr., a para federal ministry prosecutor, the ruins were expected until mid -2012. “We still don’t know if the government is seriously accepting the relics. [it] He has not yet decided how much water will be converted into the plant. ”According to André Oliveira Sawakuchi, a professor of earth science at Sao Paulo University, a piracemas mathematically proposed research association has not been seriously considered by government agencies.
In terms of anonymity, a senior official said that there is a discussion of effectively silent conflicts within the government. While the license is being reviewed, the mines and energy departments play a bigger role in monitoring social and environmental conditions related to existing water scientific changes and dam operation. Ibama and the Mining Energy Department refused to request an interview. Meanwhile, Belo Monte can be operated indefinitely with a temporary license.
According to Sawakuchi, the conflict between the lives and the water for life and the water have always been in the root of the Belo Monte debate. But the debate has been very politicized. “When we get [to] The point to make a decision, you have this conflict. [the] “Social and environmental and federal energy sectors,” he said.
It is not clear how intense drought in recent years will affect the determination of artifacts. The Amazon River worked from up to 3 % to less than 3 % during the first three weeks in September 2023, resulting in a new low potential after failing to meet most of the lifespan.
Hydropower output is expected to decrease further in the current trend. The impact of climate change, including heat wave and drought, is said to drop the level of XINGU up to 50 %in the next decades. Modeling study By researchers from Brazil and US institutions. And scientists now see clear evidence that a wide range of foresting that reduces evaporation acid will lead to a point that will lead to a worsening drought and further damaging the damage of the dam.
As BELO MONTE Stalemate is dragged, the hydroelectric complex continues to switch water. Yudjá and Ribeirinhos know that life in the area of Xingu will never be the same again. The goal is to store what’s left, and I think it’s the most realistic opportunity for their pira semi -gram to do so. Rodrigues said, “Look, I will not leave Bolta Grande.” As long as there is a drop of water, I am here. My children know that if something happens to me, I will continue to fight. ”
