After hydropower dams: social and environmental processes that occur after the construction of Belo Monte, Jirau and Santo Antônio in Brazilian Amazon

• Grant number: 19/17113-9
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - SPEC Program
• Duration: February 01, 2020 - January 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Emilio Federico Moran
• Grantee: Emilio Federico Moran
• Host Institution: Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais (NEPAM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Alexandre Augusto Cardoso Lobato ; Ana Paula Oliveira Roman ; Carolina Rodrigues da Costa Doria ; Caroline Chaves Arantes ; Evandro Albiach Branco ; Evandro Mateus Moretto ; Gabriela Alves Carreiro ; Guilherme de Sousa Lobo ; Guilherme Prado Alves ; Gustavo Felipe Balué Arcoverde ; Janaína Welle ; Jocilene Dantas Barros ; Leonel Enrique Sánchez Currihuinca ; Lúcia da Costa Ferreira ; Maíra Borges Fainguelernt ; Marcia Grisotti ; Miquéias Freitas Calvi ; Osvaldo Correia Damasceno ; Renata Utsunomiya ; Rivetla Edipo Araujo Cruz ; Silvia Sayuri Mandai
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/06941-3 - Spatiotemporal analysis of land use and land cover changes in rural properties in the Amazon, BP.TT; 20/07037-0 - HYDROPEAKING OF MADEIRA HYDROELECTRIC COMPLEX: DOWNSTREAM IMPACTS ON LAND USE AND FOREST RESOURCE USE OF WHITE-WATER RIVER FLOODPLAINS, BP.DR; 20/07372-4 - Large hydroelectric plants and small hydroelectric plants in the Amazon Region: comparison of cumulative and synergistic impacts, BP.DR; + associated scholarships 20/16378-6 - After hydropower dams: social and environmental processes that occur after the construction of Belo Monte, Jirau and Santo Antonio in the Brazilian Amazon, BP.PD; 20/08197-1 - After hydropower dams: social and environmental processes that occur after the construction of Belo Monte, Jirau and Santo Antonio in the Brazilian Amazon, BP.PD; 20/04803-4 - After hydropower dams: social and environmental processes that occur after the construction of Belo Monte, Jirau and Santo Antonio in the Brazilian Amazon, BP.PD - associated scholarships

Abstract

The broad objective of this project is to examine the impacts that follow the completion of hydropower dams in the Brazilian Amazon and to contribute to the scientific area known as Human Ecology or Human-Environment Interactions. This study builds on the findings from a SPEC led by the PI between 2013 and 2018 that examined the impacts during the construction of Belo Monte on the Xingu River Basin. In this proposed second phase, we follow up with an examination of the impacts 5 to 10 years after completion of dams and expands the scope of the study by including the impacts at Jirau and Santo Antonio dams in the Madeira Basin, and we delve more deeply into the impacts felt by the fisheries sector. The latter was not part of the earlier SPEC and is a new component. We can do so with the help of colaborators from fisheries ecology in both the Xingu and the Madeira included in this project. The themes to be investigated represent important scientific and policy challenges: how to respond to the post-construction loss of population; how to respond adequately to the changing labor market; changes in land use; the loss of capital investments after construction is completed; to examine the decline of fisheries and the nature of recovery of the fishery; and last but not least, whether lasting regional economic development was achieved, or whether the gains were only in terms of kilowatts of energy produced for the nation. The project will make use of methods such as advanced modeling using remote sensing, multivariate regression in spatially explicit models, and use the Rural Environmental Register (CAR) data to analyze land use and cover changes in small properties in the influence area of dams. Collaboration with faculty at NEPAM/UNICAMP and with faculty at the Federal University of Para (UFPa) was built in the earlier SPEC, we expand the collaboration now to Federal University of Rondonia (UNIR) and University of Sao Paulo (USP) to further strengthen the team and the breadth and scope of the project. This thematic project is being formulated in response to the call for proposals from FAPESP's Sao Paulo Excellence Chairs (SPEC), envisioning a long-term commitment of the PI to collaborate with NEPAM/UNICAMP faculty. During the previous collaboration under SPEC the PI contributed to UNICAMP by offering courses each year to graduate students, advising several students and postdocs from Unicamp, and publishing a substantial body of work, in many cases jointly with them and often in international journals. (AU)

Scientific publications

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(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FIGUEIREDO GALLARDO, AMARILIS LUCIA CASTELI; APARECIDA DA CONCEICAO DOS SANTOS, CINTIA; BOND, ALAN; MATEUS MORETTO, EVANDRO; MONTANO, MARCELO; ATHAYDE, SIMONE. Translating Best Practice Principles into criteria for evaluating the consideration of biodiversity in SEA practice. IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND PROJECT APPRAISAL, v. N/A, p. 13-pg., 2022-06-15. (19/17113-9, 19/18988-9, 21/12252-0)

ATHAYDE, SIMONE; FONSECA, ALBERTO; ARAUJO, SUELY M. V. G.; GALLARDO, AMARILIS L. C. F.; MORETTO, EVANDRO M.; SANCHEZ, LUIS E.. Viewpoint: The far-reaching dangers of rolling back environmental licensing and impact assessment legislation in Brazil. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REVIEW, v. 94, p. 7-pg., 2022-01-29. (19/18988-9, 19/17113-9)

MORAN, EMILIO F.; LOPEZ, MARIA CLAUDIA; MOURAO, RACHEL; BROWN, ERIK; MCCRIGHT, AARON M.; WALGREN, JUDITH; BORTOLETO, ANA PAULA; MAYER, ADAM; JOHANSEN, IGOR CAVALLINI; RAMOS, KARINA NINNI; et al. Advancing convergence research: Renewable energy solutions for off-grid communities. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. 119, n. 49, p. 12-pg., 2022-11-28. (19/17113-9)

ARANTES, CAROLINE C.; LAUFER, JULIANA; MAYER, ADAM; MORAN, EMILIO F.; ANNA, IGOR R. A. SANT'; DUTKA-GIANELLI, JYNESSA; LOPEZ, MARIA CLAUDIA; DORIA, CAROLINA R. C.. Large-scale hydropower impacts and adaptation strategies on rural communities in the Amazonian floodplain of the Madeira River. Journal of Environmental Management, v. 336, p. 10-pg., 2023-03-02. (19/17113-9)