BELO MONTE, ITS DYSTOPIA, AND THE (IN) SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF BRAZILIAN ENERGY PLANNING

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to show the dystopias of the Belo Monte Dam and the social-environmental (un) sustainability of Brazilian’s energetic planning, through the assumption that the active presence of citizens in public management is fundamental to the fulfillment of social rights, especially regarding the solution of socio-environmental problems cast by the mega-investments in hydroelectric plants. To do so, this research faces the following problem: what is the importance of communitarian participation in the process of formulation and implementation of the Brazilian energetic policy, especially regarding the prevention and compensation of the social[1]environment impacts generated? To seek an answer to that question, we analyze the Brazilian emblematic case in terms of social-environment conflicts, embodied by the Hydroelectric Plant of Belo Monte.  This analysis allows concluding that the current Brazilian strategies in the matter of energy are surrounded by challenges and opportunities of great impact for the present and the future. Methodologically, the work is based on the dialectic method.  This option is justified, as the energetic situation in Brazil is comprehended as a contradictory frame, in which a traditional paradigm of development (centered in the economy) is confronted by a new paradigm (un)sustainability).