The World

Damming the Amazon River

Brazil plans to build dozens of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon basin to prevent power outages when hosting the World Cup and the Olympics. But dams can disrupt sensitive ecosystems like those in the Amazon rainforest, and environmentalists and some indi

The Brazilian government is planning to build dozens of new hydroelectric dams in the Amazon river basin. It wants to develop the interior, and prevent power outages during the upcoming World Cup and the Olympics. Living on Earth’s Bobby Bascomb visited a dam project on the Madeira River and reports on the environmental repercussions of hydropower in the Amazon.