Environmentalist, Author, Philosopher
The construction of the Belo Monte dam is one of the most controversial developments ever seen in Brazilian history. The issues raised by its construction go beyond environmental, cultural and social impacts. The approval of a gigantic development in the heart of the Amazon forest, among indigenous lands, has raised alarming concerns. The independent film [...]
Learn about the harmful impacts of (and alternatives to) the massive Belo Monte Dam Complex on the Amazon’s Xingu River in the videos below. Read Edward Goldsmith’s and Nicholas Hildyard’s groundbreaking study The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams on this website. Find out more at— amazonwatch.org internationalrivers.org xinguvivo.org.br “Belo Monte—Announcement of a War” [...]
Water Whisperers: Tangaroa is a film that celebrates ten communities facing serious water issues, who come up with amazingly simple solutions. Filmed in stunning locations around Aotearoa (New Zealand), Water Whisperers: Tangaroa take us into the world of Golden Bay dairy farmers and shell fishermen. Together they restore the Aorere River. In the Far North, [...]
This is one of a series of six talks by Edward Goldsmith, broadcast on the World Business Report programme of the BBC World Service, 15-19 December 2003. See Related Articles on the right for others in the series. The world is facing a very serious water crisis. Already about one billion people are short of [...]
Letter published in The Guardian on Saturday 3 July 1999. Brian Wilson (“Dam Cheek”, the Guardian, 1 July 1999) refuses to publish the facts on the Ilisu dam – the excuse being commercial confidentiality. If it is the law that the interests of any large company has precedence over social, ecological and moral imperatives, then [...]
Modern irrigation schemes in tropical areas are, almost without exception, social, ecological and economic disasters. They necessarily lead to the flooding of vast areas of forest and agricultural land, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and the spreading of waterborne diseases like malaria and schistosomiasis. In addition, they are badly run, poorly maintained [...]
John Boorman’s prescient tale of the Brazilian Amazon, where the construction of a giant dam threatens more than the indigenous tribes whose lands will be overwhelmed.
The World Bank has suspended, on environmental grounds, a loan of $256 million for the Polonoroeste Project in Brazilian Amazonia. But the Bank’s President, Alden W. Clausen, continues to “worship at the altar of economic pragmatism”. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 15 No. 4, July–August 1985. The World Bank has agreed to suspend, on environmental [...]
