In two rainforests on either side of Earth, indigenous people are taking action to stop dam projects from eradicating their traditional way of life. The Penan people are blockading the Murum dam in Sarawak, Malaysia to prevent construction supplies from reaching the construction site. The blockade started with 200 people on September 26th, now it has grown to 300 participants. Both the main route and an alternative one used by China's Three Gorges Project Corporation are occupied. According to the Sarawak Conservation Alliance for Natural Environment
[photo: SCANE]drivers are abandoning their trucks on the roadside, while blockade participants have set up camps nearby. The Penan are protesting the 900MW project that will flood 24,000 hectares of native land (95 square miles) and the forced resettlement of seven native villages. The Penan claim they have not been properly consulted about the details of the resettlement plan. Sarawak already produces more energy than it can use. The recently completed Bakun dam produces double the amount consumed by the state of Sarawak during peak energy demand. The 200MW Bakun dam forced the resettlement of 10,000 people. The energy surplus leads critics to allege the projects are not about producing energy, but producing graft for government officials.
In the Amazon, construction of the Belo Monte dam has been halted after local people occupied the earthen cofferdams at Pimental, Brazil. Indigenous people and local fishermen have been protesting the dam for 24 days straight. Protesters believe the dam will destroy the Xingu River and with it their lives. About 900 workers have been sent home. This is the second occupation in six months. The first attempt this summer ended with little progress in two days of talks with Norte Energia, the dam builder. Belo Monte dam is actually a complex of two dams and, if completed, would be the world's third largest flooding 40,000 hectares of rainforest and displacing an estimated 16,000 native people. An estimated 80% of the river's flow would be redirected. Despite the devastating impacts on the environment, the dam is supported by Brazilian President, Dilma Rousseff, and
legal challenges to the dam have been unsuccessful.
Hydroelectric projects are often seen as green solutions for energy production. But in the tropics dam projects produce huge amounts of methane gas as flooded forests decompose. For example, the Balbina Reservoir near Manaus, Brazil flooded some 920 square miles of forest land. Vegetation decays in low oxygen conditions at the bottom of the reservoir and submerged soil releases carbon. Dam turbines draw water from the lower levels of its reservoir allowing the methane and carbon dioxide to escape to the atmosphere. Critics note that dam builders such as ELECTROBAS underestimate greenhouse gas emissions by 300% or more. It is calculated that Balbina released 23,750 tons of carbon dioxide and 140,000 tons of methane in its first three years of existence.
