3 June 2011

Last stand against the Belo Monte Dam

The Brazilian government is preparing to give the green light for the Belo Monte Dam to be built on the Xingu River in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. If built, it would be the third-largest dam in the world. The dam complex would divert nearly the entire flow of the Xingu River along 100 kilometers and devastate an extensive area of the Amazon rainforest, threatening the survival of indigenous and traditional peoples and displacing up to 40,000 people. With more than 80 percent of the Belo Monte dam to be funded by BNDES (the Brazilian National Development Bank), Belo Monte is a critical battle in the fight for the Amazon and for Latin America’s future. Belo Monte is the gateway dam for 70 proposed dams throughout the Amazon (from Amazon Watch).

Additionally, a number of distinct species of rainforst fish  face  extinction as a result of this project. Here's a partial list (from AMAZONAS 31, September/Oktober 2010 The Belo Monte project):
links will take you to a photograph at PlanetCatfish, FishBase, KillicoUK, SeriouslyFish, or Hypancistrus.
Aequidens michaeli 
Anostomoides passionis 
Astaynax dnophos
 Moenkhausia heikoi 
Ossubtus xinguense
 Parancistrus nudiventris 
Pituna xinguensis 
Plesiolebias altamira 
Simpsonichthys reticulatus  
Teleocichla centisquama
L013 Peckoltia sp.
L014 Scobinancistrus aureatus
L015 Peckoltia vittata
L017 Hopliancistrus sp.
L018 Baryancistrus sp.
L019 Baryancistrus sp.
L020 Oligancistrus sp.
L046 Hypancistrus zebra
 L047 Baryancistrus sp .
L048 Scobinancistrus sp.
L066 Hypancistrus sp.
L075 Peckoltia sabaji (Xingu Population)
L081 Baryancistrus sp.
L082 Ancistrini sp.
L172 Ancistrini sp.
L173 Hypancistrus sp.
L174 Hypancistrus sp.
L177 Baryancistrus sp.
L236 Hypancistrus sp.
L250 Hypancistrus sp.
L252 Ancistrini sp.
L253 Scobinancistrus sp.
L254 Spectracanthicus sp.
L258 Parancistrus sp.
L315 Spectracanthicus sp.
L333 Hypancistrus sp.
L353 Oligancistrus sp.
L354 Oligancistrus sp.
L399 Hypancistrus sp.
L400 Hypancistrus sp.
Hypancistrus sp. „Unterer Xingu“ Artenkomplex
Leporacanthicus heterodon



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