Assessing the Evolution and Impacts of Brazilian Hydropower
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- For over a century, hydropower has represented the largest source of Brazilian electricity, supplying more than three-quarters of power today. This paper traces Brazil’s reliance on hydropower over the 20th century alongside a growing concern for the impacts of industrialization on the environment, which culminated in the implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in 1988. The adoption of the EIA was a defining moment for Brazilian environmental regulation. It required detailed analysis of proposed projects and allowed officials to make informed decisions regarding environmental and social impacts. This paper conducts a review of the EIA system, including both its global and Brazilian implementation, its influence on hydropower projects, and the fundamental challenges it faces as a regulatory tool. The theoretical evaluation of the EIA is expanded on through the comparison of Brazil’s largest Amazonian hydropower projects, the Tucuruí Dam, constructed before the EIA, and the Belo Monte Dam, constructed after. This comparative analysis demonstrates that the EIA has significantly altered the planning of hydropower dams, while also highlighting flaws in the EIA process that undermine its ability to mitigate environmental and social impacts. Although it is possible to reduce certain impacts associated with hydropower, this study suggests that issues such as deforestation, flooding, mass-displacement, loss of ecosystems, greenhouse gas emissions, and impacts on indigenous peoples are virtually unavoidable when constructing mega-dams within the Amazon region. These results recommend a renewed focus on alternative energy sources and necessitate careful consideration of hydropower’s role in Brazilian sustainable development.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date modified | December 5, 2022 |
| Publication date | August 27, 2021; August 27, 2021 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Harrison, David |
|---|
Subjects
| Subject | Hydropower |
|---|---|
| Subject | Brazil |
| Subject | Environmental Impact Assessment |
| Subject | Sustainable development |
| Genre | Text |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND).
Preferred citation
- Preferred citation
- Harrison, D. (2021). Assessing the Evolution and Impacts of Brazilian Hydropower. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/qd316hw8356
Collection
Stanford University, Center for Latin American Studies, Masters Degree Thesis
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- davidh7@stanford.edu
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