Strategic environmental assessment for the Brazilian hydroelectric planning sector

• Grant number: 15/20228-1
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: August 01, 2017 - July 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Urban and Regional Planning - Methods and Techniques of Urban and Regional Planning
• Principal Investigator: Amarilis Lucia Casteli Figueiredo Gallardo
• Grantee: Amarilis Lucia Casteli Figueiredo Gallardo
• Home Institution: Universidade Nove de Julho (UNINOVE). Campus Memorial. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Carla Grigoletto Duarte ; Davi Wilkson Furtado Sozinho ; Evandro Mateus Moretto ; Guilherme Leite Gaudereto ; Heidy Rodriguez Ramos ; Maria Do Rosário Sintra de Almeida Partidário

Abstract

The practice of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), institutionalized in many countries since the 1990s, has expanded, while in Brazil the experience is limited. The Brazilian electricity sector has a strong dependence on hydroelectric projects and its planning is direct to the Amazon region where the majority of these initiatives are located and has a historical environmental liabilities associated with them. Two impact assessment instruments - Integrated Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment - are usually applied in the national hydroelectric planning however these allow limited approach if compared to that provide by the SEA. The objective of this research is to discuss contributions and to propose guidelines for the integration of SEA in the framework of environmental governance for planning of the hydroelectric sector in Brazil. This exploratory research is subsidized by bibliographic and documentary survey, case studies and research diagnosis. In the context of national hydropower planning this research aims at (i) assessing the scope and limitations of impact assessment tools; (ii) evaluating the current practice of SEA applied to Brazilian energy cases compared to international best practice; (iii) expanding the knowledge about the practices of SEA; (iv) presenting an overview of the benefits of SEA for the framework of environmental governance; (v) identifying tiering in environmental governance; (vi) increasing the number of scientific publications; and (vii) contributing with technical evidence for a potential change in the paradigm of environmental planning practices with regarding to environmental governance and planning of hydroelectric energy in the Brazilian context. (AU)

Scientific publications

(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)

ATHAYDE, SIMONE; DUARTE, CARLA G.; GALLARDO, AMARILIS L. C. F.; MORETTO, EVANDRO M.; SANGOI, LUISA A.; DIBO, ANA PAULA A.; SIQUEIRA-GAY, JULIANA; SANCHEZ, LUIS E. Improving policies and instruments to address cumulative impacts of small hydropower in the Amazon. ENERGY POLICY, v. 132, p. 265-271, SEP 2019. Web of Science Citations: 2.

MARIA CRISTINA MENDONÇA VIEIRA; AMARILIS LUCIA CASTELI FIGUEIREDO GALLARDO; ALEXANDRE DE OLIVEIRA E AGUIAR; GUILHERME LEITE GAUDERETO. Plano de gestão integrada de resíduos sólidos de São Paulo na perspectiva da avaliação ambiental estratégica. urbe, Rev. Bras. Gest. Urbana, v. 11, p. -, 2019.

NADRUZ, VERONICA DO NASCIMENTO; CASTELI FIGUEIREDO GALLARDO, AMARILIS LUCIA; MONTANO, MARCELO; RAMOS, HEIDY RODRIGUEZ; RUIZ, MAURO SILVA. Identifying the missing link between climate change policies and sectoral/regional planning supported by Strategic Environmental Assessment in emergent economies: Lessons from Brazil. RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS, v. 88, p. 46-53, MAY 2018. Web of Science Citations: 6.