The heart of the Amazon: destroyed?

Posted by India Thorogood — 30 June 2016 at 11:40pm - Comments

 

The Amazon: the threat of illegal logging, cattle ranching and soya farming are enough - but now a series of vast hydroelectric dams could flood an area around the Tapajos river, an area bigger than Greater London.

The Amazon is one of our most beautiful and fragile eco-systems. Yet this dam would see pink dolphins, turtles and fish all powerless to stop bulldozers destroying their Amazonian habitat. Undiscovered species could stay undiscovered forever.

The Munduruku, Indigenous People who’ve lived in this area for thousands of years, have asked us to stand with them to protect this beautiful, biodiverse home of theirs. The Munduruku people share similar values to Greenpeace supporters - they're warriors who believe in protecting our planet. Munduruku Chief Saw says "The fact is that there is only one earth and nature provides everything" 

In order to stop this damaging dam, already 700,000 Greenpeace supporters have signed a petition calling on the Brazilian government to back out of the dam. Activists have also headed to the Tapajos region to begin the process of formally recognising the Indigenous land. Greenpeace volunteer and activist Janet, who usually lives in rural Wales, has been there two days so far. She says:

“...the thought of this small village, including 400km of rainforest, being flooded by the dam construction is so blatantly wrong on the most basic level of human decision making. I've already spotted colourful butterflies and massive crickets...I can't wait to see what lies beyond.”

The animals can’t stop the bulldozers. The 12,000 Indigenous People living in the area can’t do it alone either - that’s why they’ve asked for our help. But hundreds of thousands from across the world will prove just how unpopular this plan is and make it a PR disaster for those involved.

The bigger the number of us backing this campaign, the more the Brazilian government and the companies involved in this dam will take us seriously. They’ll see us as a huge risk to their reputation, knowing that our voices can drown out theirs. As the Olympics head to Brazil, lets show the government that they should be seen as world leaders not world destroyers.

Let’s show them their planet-destroying plunder will be never be any match for our people powered movement of millions. Sign the petition and join the campaign to protect the heart of the Amazon!

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