Socioeconomic impact assessment during the stages of building and operating hydropower plants in the Legal Amazon Region

Abstract

Hydropower plants (HPPs) play an important role in the Brazilian energy matrix, largely in the Amazon region where the largest amount of hydropower generation potential is found. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze socioeconomic impacts caused in the stages of building and operating a large HPP in the Legal Amazon region. For such a purpose, the socioeconomic impacts detected in environmental studies of five projects (Belo Monte, Jirau, Peixe Angical, São Manoel and São Salvador) were analyzed. Socioeconomic impacts were sorted out according to the stage of their life cycle (construction and operation); these impacts were compared using a matrix and a descriptive analysis of data. Many similarities and correlations between the socioeconomic impacts were found in five studies. During the analysis, it was found that numerous impacts were improperly mitigated in these studies. Furthermore, social costs, such as population relocation, are typically underestimated, and gains brought by operating the HPP are overestimated. It is expected that an assessment of socioeconomic impacts caused by HPP in the Legal Amazon is going to allow broadening discussions about these constructions in areas of socioenvironmental sensitivity. Moreover, it is found that socioeconomic impacts in assessed studies are associated with multiple conflicts between the population affected by the project, government, and enterprise.