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” [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Dams are never built in a political vacuum. For politicians they mean votes and prestige. To criticise dam projects is thus to face an uphill battle against the power of the state-one that is nearly impossible to win. Time and again we find that dams and other large-scale water projects have been given the go-ahead [...]
Published as Chapter 10 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard « previous chapter · contents · next chapter » Floods: an increasing menace Floods are a serious problem in many river basins throughout the [...]
Editorial article published in The Ecologist Vol 14 No 5–6, June–July 1984. This article was co-authored by Ecologist editor Nicholas Hildyard. Commenting on the Bhopal tragedy, the Wall Street Journal expressed grave concern lest the disaster – which killed, according to unofficial sources, 20,000 people and maimed another 100,000 after a cloud of deadly methyl [...]
