False Shades of Green: The Case of Brazilian Amazonian Hydropower

Abstract

Abstract:The Federal Government of Brazil has ambitious plans to build a system of 58 additional hydroelectric dams in the Brazilian Amazon, with Hundreds of additional dams planned for other countries in the watershed. Although hydropower is often billed as clean energy, we argue that the environmental impacts of this project are likely to be large, and will result in substantial loss of biodiversity, as well as changes in the flows of ecological services. Moreover, the projects will generate significant greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and decay of organic matter in the reservoirs. These emissions are equivalent to the five years of emissions that would be generated by gas powered plants of equivalent capacity. In addition, we examine the economic benefits of the hydropower in comparison to new alternatives, such as photovoltaic energy and wind power. We find that current costs of hydropower exceed alternatives, and the costs of costs of these alternatives are likely to fall substantially below those of hydropower, while the environmental damages from the dams will be extensive and irreversible. OPEN ACCESSEnergies 2014, 7 6064

Land-use and climate change risks in the Amazon and the need of a novel sustainable development paradigm

“…inescapable: Over 50 y of a deforestation-based development model have not resulted in wealth creation or better quality of life for those living in the Amazon-the Amazônidas (28,29). Moreover, in terms of development policy pathways for the Amazon, two modes have historically dominated: (i) a valuable nature conservation approach with large swathes of territory legally protected from any economic and human activity outside indigenous peoples and (ii) an approach that has focused on conversion or degradation of forests for the production of either protein commodities or tropical timber at the forest frontier and the build-out of massive hydropower generation capacity-which, together, have been historically responsible for massive deforestation of the Amazon (30,31) and generated other significant negative externalities.…”

Amazon dams and waterways: Brazil’s Tapajós Basin plans

“…The Amazon Basin, roughly two-thirds of which is in Brazil, is the focus of a massive surge in hydroelectric dam construction, with plans that would eventually convert almost all Amazon tributaries into chains of reservoirs (e.g., Finer and Jenkins 2012;Kahn et al 2014;Tundisi et al 2014;Fearnside 2014a). Dams in tropical areas like Amazonia have a wide range of environmental and social impacts, including loss of terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity (Santos and Hernandez 2009;Val et al 2010), greenhouse gas emissions (Abril et al 2005;Kemenes et al 2007;Fearnside and Pueyo 2012), loss of fisheries, and other resources that support local livelihoods (Barthem et al 1991;Fearnside 2014b), methylation of mercury (rendering it poisonous to animals, including humans) (e.g., Leino and Lodenius 1995;Fearnside 1999), and population displacement (Cernea 1988(Cernea , 2000WCD 2000;McCully 2001;Scudder 2006;Oliver-Smith 2009.…”

Examinando as contradições em torno das Pequenas Centrais Hidrelétricas como fontes sustentáveis de energia no Brasil

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