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Photos: Dams rising across Brazil's Amazon

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Brazil's biggest infrastructure project -- the $11 billion Belo Monte dam -- is also its most controversial, and one showcased at the international summit on June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro held 20 years after the Earth Summit.

Opponents, among them Sting and other celebrities, thought they had defeated Belo Monte in 1989 but construction is now well under way as this photo from June 15 shows.

Proponents tout Belo Monte as a way to make clean electricity for Brazil's booming economy. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
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This woman is among the 20,000 or so who will have to relocate when Belo Monte's reservoir floods out existing homes. Seen on June 15, these homes in the outskirts of Altamira are built on stilts to protect against seasonal flooding. Brazil says residents will be compensated; dam opponents are skeptical the locals will come out ahead. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
This bar is among the businesses in Altamira, a city of 130,000, that stand to benefit from the jobs, and spending money, brought in by Belo Monte. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Tribesmen living near the dam site were among those who on June 15 occupied an area along the Xingu River in protest.

Some 90 miles of river, which includes 2 indigenous tribes and numerous riverside settlements, will become a "dry stretch", says Philip Fearnside, a researcher at Brazil's National Institute for Research in Amazonia.

"Since the impact on these people is not the normal one of being flooded by a reservoir, they were not classified as 'directly impacted' in the environmental study and have not had the consultations and compensations to which directly impacted people are entitled," Fearnside noted in a recent discussion paper he wrote for the Global Water Forum. "The human rights commission of the Organization of American States (OAS) considered the lack of consultation with the indigenous people a violation of the international accords to which Brazil is a signatory, and Brazil retaliated by cutting off its dues payments to the OAS." (Lunae Parracho / Reuters) Share Back to slideshow navigation
A woman prepares food on June 14 near the Belo Monte construction site along the Xingu River. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
A cyclist in Altamira on June 15 passes graffiti calling Belo Monte, which translates to Beautiful Mountain, a "beautiful mountain of lies". (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Part of the Belo Monte construction site near Altamira is seen on June 15. Up to 230 square miles of rainforest will be flooded by the dam's reservoir.

"What is most extraordinary," wrote Fearnside, "is the project’s potential impact on vast areas of indigenous land and tropical rainforest upstream of the reservoir, but the environmental impact studies and licensing have been conducted in such a way as to avoid any consideration of these impacts." (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
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Construction of Belo Monte, part of it seen here on June 15, is just the start of Brazil's plan to build more than 60 dams in the Amazon.

Fearnside, who expects five smaller dams to be built around Belo Monte to make it more economically feasible, says Brazil has trampled over its environmental laws in a rush to build its energy infrastructure. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
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Belo Monte opponents march through Altamira on June 15. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
The June 15 occupation of part of the dam site included opponents forming the words "Stop Belo Monte" and digging a breach in an earthen dam across part of the Xingu River. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
A worker repairs a power line in Altamira on June 17. The benefits of Belo Monte -- cheap electricity -- make it an easier sell among residents of Brazil's urban cities. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
The Juruna indigenous people live along the Xingu. Children attend class on May 30 at a school on the riverbank. (Evaristo Sa / AFP - Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
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Cristiane Rodriguez stands with her children Gleciane, bottom, and Rodrigo on June 15 at their home in the Altamira neighborhood that will be flooded out by Belo Monte. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Indigenous people from the Kuruaia and Xipaia tribes protest against Belo Monte on June 13 in Santo Antonio. Near Altamira, the town will be expropriated for the dam's construction. Around 60 families originally lived in Santo Antonio, but now only about 10 families remain. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
These men were among the protesters at Santo Antonio on June 13. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Dam opponents breach an earthen dam on the Xingu on June 15 as part of their symbolic takeover. (Atossa Soltani / Amazon Watch via AFP - Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Opponents celebrate on June 15 after having breached the earthen dam near Altamira. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
A girl waits at Santo Antonio's church on June 13 for the start of the protest there. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Tribesmen rest on June 13 ahead of the protest in Santo Antonio. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
A stretch of the Xingu River near the dam site is seen on June 15.

"Most of the river’s flow will be detoured from the main reservoir through a series of canals interlinking five dammed tributary streams," wrote Fearnside, "leaving the 'Big Bend' of the Xingu River below the dam with only a tiny fraction of its normal annual flow." (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Tire tracks on June 15 reflect an area cleared for construction of the dam near Altamira. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
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Hundreds used Rio de Janeiro's Flamengo Beach as a canvas on June 19 to protest the dam and urge "Rivers for life". The rally was led by an association of indigenous peoples. (Spectral Q / Chico / Paulo) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Supplies are shipped along the Xingu River on June 14. Delivery men like these are among those seeing more work from the dam project. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Farmer Joao Volveriso poses on June 17 at the Altamira market where he sells produce. Many farmers are among those being forced to relocate, and it's not clear yet whether they'll win or lose with the dam. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation

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Altamira has grown as Brazilians made their way into the Amazon, clearing rainforest to do so. It's still largely ramshackle, as this commercial street on June 17 attests, but 130,000 people call it home. A quarter of the city will be flooded by the dam project. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
Signs that Altamira has matured as a city include these music students practicing in the streets on June 14. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
This tributary to the Xingu is a playground for Altamira residents, including this high-flying young man on June 16. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
The first stage of Belo Monte's construction is seen on May 30. The dam should start producing electricity in 2015 and will be the third largest in the world when it does. (Evaristo Sa / AFP - Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
This area, seen on May 30, is also part of the dam's first stage of construction. (Evaristo Sa / AFP - Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
This bar along the Xingu, seen on June 14, is among the Altamira properties that will be flooded by the dam's reservoir. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation
There's no question that locals -- including these Altamira residents enjoying the water on June 16 -- see the Xingu as a river with assets. The question dividing folks is what kind should be exploited -- a dam that provides jobs and electricity, or a naturally flowing river that generations have fished on and lived from. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation