Inspirational struggle

Antônia Melo, long-time environmental defender of Xingu, wins Alexander Soros Foundation Award

Antônia Melo da Silva, a Brazilian environmental activist known for her work as general coordinator of the Xingu Forever Alive Movement, received the Alex Soros Foundation award for environmental and human rights activists this Tuesday, October 10.

The award is a homage to her inspirational role leading campaigns to prevent the construction of the Belo Monte dam and other infrastructure projects that cause damage to the Amazon region. Now that the construction of the dam is underway, she is pressuring the authorities for reparations for the communities driven from their lands by the project in the Xingu region – located in the state of Pará.

“The Belo Monte complex is a project of destruction,” said Antônia Melo da Silva. “The plant is causing the death of flora, fauna and countless cultures of traditional and indigenous peoples that live in the Xingu river basin. Our community faces increased violence, unemployment and misery as a result of the greed of the government and a group of businesspeople who want to exploit our lands and rivers for profit. I dedicated my life fighting this project and even though it is going ahead, I will continue to fight against what Belo Monte represents: a model of development that is destructive, unsustainable and unviable.”

Two decades ago, Antônia Melo, a mother five children, founded the Xingu Forever Alive Movement, a group of environmental and social organizations located in Altamira – the region of Brazil impacted by the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant project. The movement is formed by people who are united in their opposition to the hydroelectric dam, including riverside and fishing communities, agricultural laborers, indigenous peoples and religious and women’s organizations.

It has also forged partnerships with movements from other parts of the Amazon and from neighboring countries. These alliances helped the Munduruku indigenous community successfully suspend the government’s plans to build a major hydroelectric dam on the Tapajós river.

Belo Monte

The Belo Monte project was first proposed in 1975, but the license to build the complex – the third largest hydroelectric plant in the world – was only granted in June 2011. When construction is completed, in 2019, the complex will consist of three dams and several dykes, creating the Calha do Xingu Reservoir that will have the capacity to hold more than 2 billion cubic meters of water over an area of approximately 336 square kilometers. However, the complex will flood an area of approximately 389 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest, decimate fishing areas that feed and sustain riverside communities, and cause the displacement of some 40,000 people.

In towns near Belo Monte, levels of violence, sexual exploitation of children and human trafficking have risen exponentially as the region was not prepared for the large influx of workers for the construction of the plant.

According to Caio Borges, coordinator of Business and Human Rights at Conectas, “Antônia Melo is a leader for indigenous peoples and traditional communities. She has faced threats, losses and resistances of all kinds and yet has remained firm in her struggle that has already lasted decades”.

“As a result of the struggle she led against Belo Monte, there has been enormous public awareness and debate in Brazil on the environmental, social and economic consequences of building large power plants in the Amazon – and the enormous corruption schemes involved in the construction of these plants. She is a heroine of environmental and human rights and I can’t think of anyone who deserves the award more than she does”.

The Award

The Alexander Soros Foundation Award for Environmental and Human Rights Activism, which annually recognizes activists working in the field of environmentalism and human rights, is chosen by a nominating committee formed by the co-founder of Global Witness Patrick Alley, the president of Human Rights First Elisa Massimino, the human rights scholar Aryeh Neier, the executive director of Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth and the attorney William Zabel. Antônia is the sixth person to receive the award.