Sting restarts fight against Brazil’s Amazon dam

The campaigning singer Sting has spoken out against Brazil’s renewed plan for a huge dam in the Amazon that he helped halt two decades ago, saying the project would destroy a river and the lives of thousands who depend on it.

The British music star voiced opposition to the Belo Monte dam saying: “I stand in solidarity with the indigenous people who are trying to stop it.”

The former Police frontman is among a growing list of celebrities, including film director James Cameron and actress Sigourney Weaver, who have joined activists in lobbying against Brazil’s plan to build the world’s third-largest dam on the Xingu River.

Sting helped put a temporary halt to the Belo Monte dam in 1989 when he protested alongside Brazilian Indians in an event that helped persuade international lenders not to finance the project.

But buoyed by a strong economy, the Brazilian government is now moving ahead with the hydroelectric dam on its own, insisting it is an indispensable energy solution for the country.

“All of the reasons I fought against it 20 years ago are still there. It will destroy an entire river system and destroy the lives and culture of the people who live there and have lived there for thousands of years,” said Sting, who was in Venezuela for a concert.

“The dam is too far away from Sao Paulo to be any use to ordinary Brazilians,” he said. “The plan is for it to be the first of six or seven dams, with even more destruction.”

Environmentalists and indigenous groups say the dam would lay waste to wildlife and ruin the livelihoods of those who live in the area to be flooded. They also say the dam wouldn’t be financially viable unless several more dams were built upstream to add to the reservoir storage capacity.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva insisted the dam was essential for the country’s future and will produce clean energy to support its expanding economy. He said it would displace 16,000 people but activists claim that 40,000 will be forced to move.