A massive hydroelectric dam project in the heart of the Amazon would trigger "unforeseeable consequences" among the region's indigenous people, according to Erwin Krautler, the Bishop of Xingu in Brazil.
"These people will cry, they will shout, they will rise up," Bishop Krautler, who is also the head of the church's Indian missionary council, was quoted as saying in the Irish Times.
To be built in the jungle state of Pará, the Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River will be the third largest in the world with a capacity of 11,000 megawatts, as Brazil seeks to meet rising demand for electricity from its expanding economy.
The country's environmental protection agency has approved the damt despite objections from environmentalists and indigenous people who live in the area.
Environmentalists argue that the dam will upset the region's delicate ecosystem, while local indigenous groups fear its construction will draw thousands of outsiders seeking work to one of Brazil's remotest regions.
In 2008, local Native Americans attacked an engineer from Brazil's state electricity company after he gave a lecture to them on the proposed dam, ripping off his shirt before cutting him with machetes.
Brazil's environment minister Carlos Minc, announcing approval of the €12 billion dam (AUD 18.9 billion), admitted there was deep hostility to such projects, telling reporters: "Every hydroelectric plant is a war. The government wants them all [approved] and environmentalists want none."
The minister also said the original plan for a string of four dams flooding an area of 1,500sq km had been scaled back on environmental grounds: "This would have made life in the region unviable. Now it will be one dam flooding 500sq km."
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€12bn dam in Amazon jungle gets go-ahead (Irish Times)
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