UPDATE: The Brazilian Government cancelled the license for the dam on August 4, 2016. Read more here.
Indigenous allies in the Amazon celebrated an incremental victory last month as Brazil suspended plans to build the country’s second largest mega dam (after Belo Monte). This is a big win for our grantees, Movimiento Ipereg Ayu, a grassroots organization that is helping local Munduruku people protect their traditional lands.
The proposed 8,000 megawatt São Luiz do Tapajós mega dam would flood the Tapajós Basin, which is the size of New York City and home to incredible animal and plant biodiversity, as well as 820,000 people. About 10,000 Munduruku people would be displaced.
And this is where indigenous and environmental activists recognized an opening: Brazil’s constitution protects indigenous communities from being forcibly removed from their lands. However, for the Munduruku to qualify for protection, their land rights need to be officially recognized by the government—something the government has refused for a decade.
With a Greengrant, Movimiento Ipereg Ayu organized thousands of community members and activists to march. Together, they raised awareness of the potential risks associated with the mega-dam project and demanded the government recognize Munduruku rights to their ancestral territory. Their direct action and international pressure worked: Brazil’s Agency on Indigenous Affairs defined 170,000 hectares as indigenous land and put a hold on the dam’s license.
This is a big step forward, but the fight continues: the dam has yet to be cancelled, and the fate of the Munduruku lands has yet to be decided. We stand with Movimiento Ipereg Ayu, Amazonian activists, and the Munduruku in the push to fully cancel the São Luiz do Tapajós dam project and ensure indigenous people’s constitutional right to their traditional lands.