UK celebrities are backing a campaign to save the Amazon from destructive hydroelectric dams.

Paul McCartney, Sir Roger Moore, Joanna Lumley and Michael Palin are among those who have called for Brazil to recognise the land rights of the Amazonian Munduruku People.

Their territory is threatened by plans to build a complex of five dams across the Tapajos River, the last major undammed tributary of the Amazon.

The Brazilian environment agency (IBAMA) suggested the complex would cause unacceptable environmental damage. Some of the dams would flood Munduruku territory.

Siemens, a main supplier of hydroelectric components, have ignored requests for a discussion, leading Chief Arnaldo Kaba Munduruku and Senior Advisor Ademir Kaba Munduruku to visit the company in person to state that they will not participate in any plans for new projects.

Munduruku Chief, Arnaldo Kabá Munduruku, said: “The river and the forest give us everything we need to survive. They give us our food, our water, our drugs. If they build this dam they will kill the river, they will kill my people, our culture. The future of our children is threatened by the ambition of the companies and the government.”