Brazilian court suspends Voltalia wind project over endangered parrot

A court has suspended environmental licenses granted to Voltalia’s 407.4MW Canudos wind complex in the northern state of Bahia over concerns that the project would impact the endangered Lear’s Macaw.

by Tom Azzopardi 19 April 2023

There are fewer than 2,000 Lear’s Macaw in the wild, almost all of which live in northern Bahia (image credit: tane-mahuta/Getty Images)

Voltalia is currently building the Canudos 1 & 2 wind farms with 99.4MW of capacity.

The suspension will remain in place until a new environmental impact study is presented and approved by the relevant authorities, prosecutors said.

Federal and state prosecutors sought the suspension after local farming communities warned about the impact turbines could have on local flora and fauna. The Canudos complex is located between where the birds roost and their feeding areas 170 kilometres away.

There are estimated to be fewer than 2,000 of the deep blue Lear’s Macaw living in the wild, almost all of which live in the Raso de Catarina, an arid sandstone plateau in northern Bahia.