Large scale development in the Amazon

1
Large scale development in the Amazon
Large scale development projects started in the
Amazon after most of the area became part of
Brazils territory in 1967. The Brazilian
Governments Polamazonia Plan in the 1970s aimed
to open up the Amazon to development. This
included encouraging and funding the following
large scale development projects

• Road and rail development
• Logging
• Ranching
• Hydroelectric Power (HEP)
• Mining
• Settlement

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Developments in the Amazon
Carajas Project
Belem
Sao Luis
Tucurui
rail link
iron ore, copper, manganese, nickel, bauxite,
gold, tin, lead, zinc
Carajas
TransAmazonian Highway
0
100km
3
Mining

• There are two types of miners in the Amazon
• miners that work in the official mines which are
  regulated by the Brazilian government
• illegal miners such as the gold prospectors
  (garimpeiros).

Both sets of miners have caused damage to the
ecosystem by cutting down large areas of forest
and by using chemicals to purify their metals.
However, the official mines have made some
efforts to repair some of the environmental
damage they have caused. For example, at a large
bauxite mine on the Trombetas River in the state
of Para, the mining company has stopped dumping
their tailings (sludge from washing the ore) into
the river and they have started a reforestation
project. The garimpeiros are more difficult to
monitor. They use enormous amounts of mercury to
purify the gold and this toxic metal is released
into the rivers and is absorbed into the food
chain.

• Why is mercury poisoning becoming a major illness
  for those who live in the Amazon?

4
Slash and burn is used to clear the land for
settlement and ranching.
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Logging
6
Tucurui Dam
Tucurui Dam was built between 1976 and 1984, on
the Lower Tocantins River in the state of Para,
approximately 300km south of Belem. The reservoir
created upstream of the dam is over 2000km2. The
dam will produce more than 4000 MW of
electricity.
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Tucurui Dam cost 5 billion
Describe the dams impact on the landscape.
Road
Tucurui Dam
River Tocantins
HEP plant
flooded an area 5 times the size of the Isle of
Wight
Amazonian Indian villages
Before Tucurui Dam
After Tucurui Dam
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Road building

• Why was road building such as the TransAmazonian
  Highway vital to all these large scale
  development projects?

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The Transamazon Highway