Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Joint Assessment of Amazon Hydropower Dams Demanded

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 6 2012 (IPS) - There is an urgent need for an in-depth analysis of the impacts of the construction of 30 hydroelectric dams in the Amazon region given the scale of public and private investment involved, maintains the Amazon Investment Observatory of Brazil. The government claims that the dams are strategic for economic expansion and increased electricity production, but their social and environmental costs have not been effectively measured and incorporated into the real cost of energy, states a technical note from the Observatory, run by the non-governmental Institute for Socioeconomic Studies.

Among the numerous potential impacts of the construction of these dams, one of the most significant is migratory flow, “which will affect the infrastructure of cities and increase deforestation, among other consequences,” Alessandra Cardoso, the coordinator of the Observatory, told Tierramérica.

More than 45 billion dollars are to be invested in hydroelectric dams in the Amazon region by 2014.