For the indigenous communities, the river is a way of life, and something their whole existence stems from - washing, fishing, cooking, transport, without the Xingu all of these would be impossible. A third of Altamira in the state of Para, Brazil will be flooded to make way for the Belo Monte dam, nearly all the people affected are the poorest in society or indigenous communities that will have nowhere to go if they were made homeless, and the Government payoff for their properties is low therefore making it difficult to find new accomodation. At present, the Arara land is protected from development, sale or new residents as it has been their ancestral land for hundreds of years, this is now one of the key areas under threat
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