Contesting hydropower in the Brazilian Amazon

Research output: Book/ReportAuthored book

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Abstract

This book focuses on how local, national and international civil society groups opposed the Belo Monte and São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric projects in the Brazilian Amazon. In doing so, it explores how contemporary opposition to hydropower projects demonstrate a form of ‘contested sustainability’ that highlights the need for sustainable development agendas to take more into account than merely greenhouse gas emissions.

The assertion that society must look to successfully transition away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable energy sources often appears assured in contemporary environmental governance. However, what is less certain is who decides which forms of energy are deemed ‘sustainable’. Contesting Hydropower in the Brazilian Amazon explores one process in which the sustainability of a ‘green’ energy source is contested. It focuses on how civil society actors have both challenged and reconfigured dominant pro-dam assertions that present the hydropower schemes explored as renewable energy projects that contribute to sustainable development agendas. The volume also examines in detail how anti-dam actors act to render visible the political interests behind a project, whilst at the same time linking the resistance movement to wider questions of contemporary environmental politics.

This interdisciplinary work will be of great interest to students and scholars of Sustainable Development, Environmental Justice, Environmental Governance and Development Studies.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationAbingdon
PublisherRoutledge
Number of pages236
ISBN (Print)9780367333409
Publication statusPublished - 15 Nov 2020

Publication series

NameRoutledge Studies in Sustainability
PublisherRoutledge

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