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Belo Monte Blog
"It is a monster"
Meeting in Brussels, Wednesday 17th July 2013
Last day in Altamira, Friday 12th July 2013
Altamira, Thursday 11th July 2013
Altamira, Wednesday 10th July 2013
Belem, Tuesday 9th July 2013, Arrival in Belem
Brasilia, Monday 8th July 2013 - Meetings with Government & NGOs
Brasilia, Sunday 7th July 2013 - Arriving at a sensitive time
Last day in Altamira, Friday 12th July 2013
Altamira, Thursday 11th July 2013
Altamira, Wednesday 10th July 2013
Belem, Tuesday 9th July 2013, Arrival in Belem
Brasilia, Monday 8th July 2013 - Meetings with Government & NGOs
Brasilia, Sunday 7th July 2013 - Arriving at a sensitive time
Meeting with Ambassador to the EU, Brussels, Wednesday 17th July 2013
Last day in Altamira, Friday 12th of July 2013
Altamira, Thursday 11th July 2013
Altamira, Wednesday 10th July 2013
We arrived this morning in Altamira. First stop: an overview of the project. The river is still flowing. But for how long?Belem, Tuesday 9th July 2013
Arrival in Belem
Press Conference by Green MEPs (Left to Right) Ulrike Lunacek (Austria) Eva Joly (France) and Catherine Greze (France) in Belem, Brazil
Meeting with Experts
On arrival in Belem, a meeting was held with 6 experts at the Federal University of Para, who had computed different studies on the consequences of the Belo Monte dam. The independent expert panel is composed of 40 experts researching for 15 different Brazilian universities. In October 2009, these experts presented their studies to IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) which, however, argued that they did not have the time to evaluate the studies and swiftly proceeded to grant the general licence to the Belo Monte dam early.Meeting with Judges
Meeting with 3 judges from the First Federal regional Tribunal
We met the former, current and the future judges working on Altamira. The current judge has 13 cases on Belo Monte, mostly related to indigenous and other affected people not having been consulted properly throughout the process. Eva Joly and Ulrike Lunacek informed them about the WWF study on renewables and energy efficiency, which was new to them and resulted in a fruitful dialogue. Top ______________________________________________________Brasilia, Monday 8th July 2013
The first official day of the delegation started with an intense programme: In the morning we had a briefing with Ambassador Ana Paula Zacarias at the EU delegation, who stressed that the current demonstrations are the outcome of the huge imbalances which exist in Brazil (e.g. the discrepancy between the legal framework and its implementation, rhetoric and action).Meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
Meeting with 2 NGOs CIMI (Conselho Indigenista Missionario) and ISA (Instituto Socio Ambiental)
- legitimising a process in which indigenous peoples' rights as inscribed in the constitution and also in ILO Convention 169 (consultation procedures) have been denied;
- denying people the ability to deal with land in their own way and allowing companies to take over and rule the land. e.g. gold mining by international companies, contracts for aluminium companies;
- creating external dependence and a loss of autonomy - the consortium has been delivering food, motors, fuel and other means of everyday life to the villages affected. That means making people's existence dependent on external factors, which makes them very vulnerable;
- deforestation and thus much higher vulnerability as regards climate change in the long-run