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Passive revolution in the green economy: activism and the Belo Monte dam

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Abstract

The paper offers an analysis of the historical, material, and ideational factors involved in shifting socio-environmental activism dynamics in Brazil, with a focus on the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project located on the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon. Relying on qualitative research at a variety of levels, the paper seeks to answer the question: What does the Belo Monte case portend for our understanding of the capacity of green economy to facilitate a greater environmental sensitivity in a national context? The case study illustrates how green activism has been weakened by a combination of self-interested calculations by activists and strategic maneuvers by the state. Critically for environmental policymaking, the case study reveals how the state and its international allies can use the green economy discourse as a hegemonic tool to isolate opposition, break alliances, and further resource-extraction-oriented economic policies.

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Notes

  1. It is forecast to produce around 11,000 GW of energy when it is running at full capacity. The first and second-largest dams, respectively, are the Three Gorges dam in China and the Itaipú dam, jointly run by Brazil and Paraguay.

  2. The MDTX worked largely through a formal NGO known as the Foundation for Life, Production, and Preservation (FVPP).

  3. Run-of-river dams typically involve a smaller reservoir than storage dams, and their electricity generation is proportional to the flow of the river.

  4. Sister Dorothy Stang was an American-born nun who was 73 years old when she was killed by hired gunmen because of her activism for land reform and environmental protection in the region. Her assassination made international news. The government’s creation of the Xingu conservation areas, which occurred only a week after her death, was widely recognized as a gesture aimed at quelling outcry over the lawlessness in the region. Death threats against Dom Erwin Krautler, the Bishop of the Xingu prelacy, continue, so that he wears a bullet-proof vest under his vestments while leading mass and has 24-h security guards.

  5. His predecessor, Roberto Messias Franco, also left the position in 2010 over differences of opinion surrounding the Belo Monte dam.

  6. Adding such conditions in environmental licensing procedures is a relatively new legal development. Legal precedents for establishing pre-conditions began in 2003, and their use continuously expanded, so that dam construction projects could remain on fast-paced timetables. In the Belo Monte case many of these pre-conditions remain unmet, although later licenses, such as those for installation, have been granted.

  7. The impacts of the dam do involve greenhouse gas emissions and forest and biodiversity losses. The project will displace nearly 40,000 people, although most are urban residents and non-indigenous riverine peasants, and the dam will harm indigenous livelihoods by reducing the water supplies for indigenous communities, which currently rely on fishing and river-based transportation.

Abbreviations

BNDES:

Brazilian Development Bank (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social)

CCBM:

Belo Monte Construction Consortium (Consórcio Constructor Belo Monte)

FVPP:

Foundation for Life, Production, and Preservation (Fundação Viver Produzir e Preservar)

MAB:

Movement of People Affected by Dams (Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens)

MDTX:

Movement for the Development of the Transamazon and Xingu (Movimento pelo Desenvolvimento da Transamazônica e Xingu)

PT:

Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores)

IBAMA:

Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis)

IACHR:

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to The School of International Service at American University for their generous support of this research.

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    Eve Bratman

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Bratman, E. Passive revolution in the green economy: activism and the Belo Monte dam. Int Environ Agreements 15, 61–77 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-014-9268-z

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