Socio-environmental conflicts on hydropower: The Sao Luiz do Tapajos project in Brazil

Economic expansion and related resource and infrastructure needs provoke an increase of socioenvironmental conflicts worldwide, and methodologies for their comprehensive analysis and understanding are necessary. The present paper suggests a methodology for the analysis of socioenvironmental conflicts on hydropower, developed from a case study on the Sao Luiz do Tapajos project in Brazil. On the basis of qualitative semi-structured interviews, a stakeholder definition and conflict analysis were carried out. The analysis shows that at least five different sub-conflicts, each one with its own characteristics, can be distinguished, and that negotiation on many of these conflicts is difficult. Confrontation processes are therefore likely to occur. The current strategy of conflict treatment falls short of the situation; instead solutions must be sought looking at the underlying conflict causes. A restructuring of the energy policy and the approach to traditional populations is a necessary precondition if robust and comprehensive solutions on the current socio-environmental conflicts on hydropower in the Amazon were to be found. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.