Brazil: Construction of Dam will affect approximately 20,000 people on the banks of the river Tocantins

More than 5,000 peasant families, approximately 20,000 people, amongst them rural workers, Afro-Brazilians and indigenous people, will be affected by the construction of the Estreito dam, on the River Tocantins, between the municipalities of Estreito and Aguiarnópolis. The destruction will extend to the municipalities of Aguiarnópolis, Babaçulândia, Barra do Ouro, Darcinópolis, Filadélfia, Goiatins, Itapiratins, Palmeiras do Tocantins, Palmeirante e Tupiratins, in the state Tocantins, and Carolina and Estreito, in the state of Maranhão.

Beyond the impacts on the families, who will be deprived of their access to land, the Estreito dam will provoke irreversible social, environmental and scenic alterations. Such impacts will harm the development of the ecological tourism in the region, one of the best economic alternatives for the local population. Please, send this letter to the President of the IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and the Natural Renewed Resources), Marcus Barroso Barros, as soon as possible, with a copy to the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva. Please inform the Land Commission of Araguaia Tocantins, too.