After more than thirty years of planning, permitting, protests and appeals, Norte Energia began infrastructure construction for the Belo Monte Dam project in Brazil last week. The dam will reroute a significant portion of the Xingu River (a major tributary of the Amazon) and is expected to wipe out most or all of the (known) Zebra pleco’s (Hypancistrus zebra) wild habitat. The Zebra Pleco is already considered a threatened species in Brazil and an export ban have been in place since 2005.
“The dam would cause the loss of biodiversity along the Xingu including the possibility of species extinction such as the zebra pleco and sheep pacu fish.” International Rivers
