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A controversial plan to build an immense dam in Brazil's rainforest endorsed this week has attracted a formidable bloc of opponents: ecologists, indigenous Indians and Sting.

The facility, in Belo Monte in the northern state of Para, will be the third-biggest hydroelectric dam in the world once built, after the Three Gorges dam in China and Brazil's existing Itaipu dam.

It will produce 11,000 Megawatts of energy for Brazil's rapidly growing economy, with the project's total cost estimated at 11 billion dollars.

Critics have lashed out at the move, warning it will leave vast environmental devastation in its wake.

Some 500 square kilometers (190 square miles) of land will be inundated, and indigenous communities living along 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the Xingu River feeding it will be displaced from their traditional territories.

hydroelectric dam Belo Monte brazil rainforest indigenous people indigenous Xingu River

In a speech given at the “Beyond Sport Summit” in London on Thursday July 9, 2009, Australian Olympic legend Ian Thorpe dove head first into Australia’s failure to address the problems in its indigenous communities.
A shocking indictment of the neglect of Australia's Aborigines

ian thorpe australia indigenous people aborigines greenmonktv