India and Brazil - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 183

in 1979 made that illegal. The environmental damage has been significant.
At the beginning of construction, no attention was paid, but then Brazil
and Paraguay agreed to control logging and protect endangered species.
Far to the north in the Amazon Basin, the government intends to
build a series of dams. The first will be Belo Monte on the Xingu River
in the State of Para. It will be 6 kilometers long, and its capacity will be
11,000 megawatts, making it the third biggest after the Three Gorges and
Itaipú. First proposed in the 1990s, the dam has angered environmentalists
who blocked it three times with lawsuits. They say it will flood 500 square
kilometers and displace 50,000 people, many of them indigenous Indians.
They complain that the dam will be inefficient because for three or four
months each years the water low is low, and it will generate only 10% of its
capacity. Other dams on the Amazon will have this deficiency because the
river does not fall much in elevation once it leaves the Andes Mountains.
Final approval came in 2010. It will be constructed by the state-owned
Companhia Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco
Beginning in 2003 President Lula promoted rural electrification, called
Light for All (Luz para Todas). It is coordinated by the Ministry of Energy
and Mines and run by the huge government-controlled energy holding
company, Eletrobras. Most is supplied by the grid using conventional fuels
on wires strung across the countryside. Slender wires on thin poles from
one small house to another are now a common sight along the Amazon
River. Many regions are too remote, however, so the program is encour-
aging renewable energy like solar, wind, or small hydro. In some areas,
natural gas may be suitable. The government will pay up to 85% of the cost.
The indigenous population of between two and four million at the time
of European contact soon came under attack from disease, conquest, and
enslavement. In 1570 King Sebastian I of Portugal decreed that the Indians
not be enslaved, but many were anyway. In 1755 Indian slavery was per-
manently abolished. Interbreeding with Europeans generated a large
mixed population, but the numbers of pure-blooded indigenous people
has declined to half a million today, less than half of 1% of the total popu-
lation. They are divided into 200 tribes inhabiting multiple sites. Some
have no contact at all with the rest of the population while others have
contact. The National Foundation for Indians (FUNAI) is charged with
their protection. Since 1952 the government has established many reser-
vations. For example, the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation stretches more
than 1.7 million hectares along the Venezuelan border and is home to up
to 20,000 Indians. The oldest one is Xingu National Park, established only