HYDROPEAKING OF MADEIRA HYDROELECTRIC COMPLEX: DOWNSTREAM IMPACTS ON LAND USE AND FOREST RESOURCE USE OF WHITE-WATER RIVER FLOODPLAINS

• Grant number: 20/07037-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2022
• End date: September 01, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Emilio Federico Moran
• Grantee: Guilherme de Sousa Lobo
• Host Institution: Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais (NEPAM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/17113-9 - After hydropower dams: social and environmental processes that occur after the construction of Belo Monte, Jirau and Santo Antônio in Brazilian Amazon, AP.SPEC
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/13330-8 - Hydropeaking of madeira hydroelectric complex: downstream impacts on land use and forest resource use of white-water river floodplain (várzeas), BE.EP.DR

Abstract

The Madeira River has a predictable flooding regime, with a wet season and a dry season. The flooding regime is the main phenomenon that determines the ecological and biogeochemical processes of the Madeira River floodplains. In addition to the biophysical processes, riverside communities preserve an intimate knowledge of the flooding regime, in such a way that they manage the use of land and forest resources of the floodplains adapted to seasonality. However, changes in the flooding regime were recorded in the Madeira River after the installation of the Madeira Hydroelectric Complex, it was found that the discontinuous opening of the floodgates causes short-term fluctuations in the water level (hydropeaking). In this context, the present project intends to investigate the impacts of hydropeaking on the use of land and forest resources in the floodplains, integrating spatial analyzes with the perception of riverside communities.