Belo Monte is a controversial hydropower plant that is being built in the Xingu River, one of the largest rivers in the Amazon basin. For 20 years indigenous groups, rural communities and environmentalists have fought against its construction. President Dilma authorized the building after a highly controversial licensing process.
Greenpeace has shot aerial images in the area where the dam will be built (known as Volta Grande) and Altamira, the city that is the base for the building project, showing that deforestation has already increased in the region. These images show massive construction and considerable environmental destruction which have not yet been documented and shown either within Brazil or internationally. They are some of the first compelling images to be circulated of the impacts of the construction.