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(Reference retrieved automatically from SciELO through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Changing how we build hydropower infrastructure for the common good: lessons from the Brazilian Amazon

Full text
Author(s):
Emilio Federico Moran [1]
Total Authors: 1
Affiliation:
[1] Michigan State University - Estados Unidos
Total Affiliations: 1
Document type: Journal article
Source: Civitas - Revista de Ciências Sociais; v. 20, n. 1, p. 5-15, 2020-07-24.
Abstract

Abstract: Infrastructure projects like roads and hydroelectric dams are meant to help achieve national economic development goals in Brazil and the Amazon. In the case of hydropower dams, they have a very specific goal: that of producing energy from water sources. Unfortunately, that objective is frequently associated with environmental and social damages that result from the construction of dams. In the Amazon these damages are more serious in terms of the impacts on biological and cultural diversity. The research for this paper is based on 5 years of study by an interdisciplinary team using survey and ethnographic methods, both qualitative and quantitative. This history is repeated frequently, and it becomes necessary to ask what types of changes would be necessary to hydropower projects to begin to have social and environmental positive results. This paper explores the causes of the problems posed by dams and suggests solutions in the process of approval, construction and operation of hydropower dams that could lead to better outcomes for the common good of society. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 12/51465-0 - Social and environmental processes that accompany the construction of Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, Altamira, PA
Grantee:Emilio Federico Moran
Support Opportunities: Research Projects - SPEC Program