The wisdom of hindsight: a comparative analysis of timelines of environmental governance of infrastructure across the Pan-Amazon

Abstract

The planning and implementation of infrastructure projects is a long-term enterprise that involves debates over the many positive and negative impacts. Previous work has examined questions about conditions for effective environmental governance of infrastructure, but has typically focused on individual projects and short time frames. We therefore pursued an historical approach to environmental governance of infrastructure projects across multiple cases, taking up examples of highways and dams in the Amazon. Through multi-stakeholder workshops, conservation partners developed historical timelines of events concerning governance of infrastructure in four regions within the basin. Timelines permit analysis to identify periods of particular dynamism, improvements and declines in governance effectiveness, identification of influential stakeholders and events, and conditions that define the effectiveness of governance. We conclude with lessons within and across cases about conditions and strategies for effective environmental governance of infrastructure.