Award for hero bishop
An Austrian priest will receive this years Right Livelihood Award for his courageous work with native Indians in the Brazilian rainforest, it was announced today (Thurs).Erwin Kräutler has been bishop of the Xingu prelature the biggest diocese of the South American country since 1981. The 71-year-old has been under permanent police protection since 2006 after receiving several death threats for refusing to give up his fight to protect the natives habitat.Roman Catholic Kräutler, who moved from the Austrian state of Vorarlberg to Brazil in 1965, has been working for around 30 years to try and prevent the construction of the third-biggest dam in the world at the Xingu River.More than 30,000 people would be displaced by the construction of the Belo Monte project. Styrian technology firm Andritz has been attacked by Austrian and international NGOs for its possible participation. Opponents of the construction recently received support from Oscar-winning film director James Cameron (“Titanic”, “Avatar”).The Right Livelihood Award, which was set up in 1980, has been labelled the alternative Nobel Prize. This years ceremony will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, on 6 December.