"Proponents, including Brazil’s president, hail development as an irresistible opportunity. Scientists warn that the area is on the precipice of an environmental crisis."
"ALTAMIRA, Brazil — Isolated indigenous tribes, three-toed sloths and stealthy jaguars still populate this corner of the Amazon rain forest. But now, it is also the home of something else.
The Whopper.
Burger King is just one of many new arrivals since an enormous dam project brought a population surge, shopping malls with food courts and U.S.-style subdivisions to civilization’s edge. As the Belo Monte dam complex — envisioned to be one of the world’s largest by power capacity — approaches completion, experts call the outcome here an example of the kind of massive development that could critically wound the world’s largest rain forest — even though Belo Monte is among the less environmentally damaging mega-projects of its kind.
Scientists believe the Amazonian ecosystem is far closer to an existential tipping point than previously thought, with potentially grievous results for the region and the planet. Yet under Brazil’s new far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, the Belo Monte plant, which harnesses power through environment-altering dams, is a harbinger of the region’s future. Reversing a decision by the previous administration, Bolsonaro’s government has signaled its intention to put both large- and small-scale dams in the Amazon basin back on the table."
Anthony Faiola, Marina Lopes, and Chris Mooney report for the Washington Post June 28, 2019.
