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Brazil is moving forward with a controversial dam project in the Amazon. Brazil's government says it needs the dam to generate electricity for the country's fast growing economy.
NPR's Juan Forero reports.
JUAN FORERO: Brazil's environmental agency, Ibama, yesterday gave its approval for construction of the Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River - a project that, when completed, will be the world's third largest dam. President Dilma Rousseff's government said Brazil - now the world's seventh largest economy -is in dire need of the electricity the dam will produce. But many are concerned about the dam's impact on the Amazon's ecosystem, including environmental groups like Amazon Watch.
(Soundbite of chanting)
FORERO: Indians who live along the river chant for Hollywood director James Cameron in a film produced last year by Amazon Watch.
Mr. JAMES CAMERON (Film director): I came here to learn more about the Belo Monte Dam, so that I could understand it better, so that I could go back and communicate with other people on the world, what's happening here.
FORERO: Cameron is just one of several celebrities who've joined the fight against the dam. But the Ibama's decision is a major step forward in the construction of the 11,200-megawatt project, which is to be completed by 2015.
The Indians who live along the Xingu, say as many as 40,000 of them will be displaced. They also say part of the river will dry up and much of the forest will be flooded.
Juan Forero, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.