Abstract / Overview 

Loss of the Amazon forest is one of the most critical environmental problems of the present era and needs little introduction.  Since the region was crisscrossed roads starting in the 1960s with the construction of the Belém-Brasilia highway, regional populations have grown nearly tenfold, from three to twenty million in the Brazilian portion of the basin, and hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of forest have gone up in flame (Walker et al 2008; Santos 1980).  Recent estimates in 2004 place the fraction of forest lost at 16.3 percent of the four million km2 of closed moist forest that originally covered the Brazilian portion of the basin (Alves et al. 2007).  This magnitude of loss has involved yearly conversions of between 10,000 and 20,000 km2, a rate showing remarkable persistence over the past several decades despite genuine and strenuous efforts to stop it.

Economic Development of Amazônia is a controversial issue that arose when the first colonists and corporate ranchers took advantage of new infrastructure and government largesse, and started moving to the region in the early 1970s.  Direct federal spending on infrastructure spanning four decades – especially highways – linking Amazônia to the major economic centers of the country has certainly played an important facilitative role in expanding agro-industrial in the region. But, such efforts have done little to ameliorate poverty. Quite to the contrary, income and land inequality have worsened, and overall health status of local residents has declined (Schneider 1995; Simmons 2004). Brazilian policymakers and planners have acknowledged these shortcomings, and, consequently, plans for the 21rst century stress the importance of so-called sustainable development, ensuring the compatibility between economic growth, environmental conservation, and social improvements (SUDAM 2000).

The centerpiece of national plans for Amazonia, as outlined in Brasil em Ação (1996-1999) and Avança Brasil (2000-2003) under the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration, and later revitalized in Brasil de Todos (2004-2007) and the Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento, or PAC (2007-2010) put forward by the presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula), have revived the old dreams of the military government to “modernize” Amazonia via infrastructure development.  In terms of energy, the various plans call for the construction and improvement of numerous thermo-electric plants, the laying of nearly 1,000 km of gas lines and 3,000 km of electrical lines, and, finally, the construction of an estimated 12 new hydro-electric plants. The transportation projects involve the construction and improvement of 7 airports, 9 ports, and 12 terminals for agricultural products, the dredging of over 1,000 km of rivers and canals, the laying of nearly 1,500 km of railroad, and the paving and reconstruction of nearly 10,000 km of roads.  

Given the extensive nature of the proposed infrastructure improvements, many in Brazil and abroad are concerned that these plans if put into action will aggravate environmental degradation (De Cassia 1997; Laurance and Fearnside 1999; Laurance et al. 2001). For instance, the potential for deforestation increases as access to once remote forest is advanced through road building and increasing population pressure, and the construction of hydroelectric plants often results in the dislocation of multitudes of peoples and cultures. Despite growing debate about these plans, little systematic research has addressed the likely social and environmental impacts associated with the individual components of the project, let alone the synergistic effects of the combined infrastructure program.  For that matter, the status of plan implementation is hard to pinpoint, given a multitude of government agencies are responsible for its diverse parts, and no central clearing house keeps tabs on overall progress.  

The focus of this program of research is to examine the environmental and social impacts of Mega-project development in the upper and lower Amazon basin.  In particular, we will compare such impacts associated with the Rio Madeira Dam and the BR 319 road projects in Rondônia and Amazonas, to those associated with the Belo Monte Dam and BR 163 in Pará and Mato Grosso. Although there has been a long history of contestation over these endeavors, case in point the Belomonte dam, there appears to be growing political and social support as of late. Some of the issues we would like to consider relate to theorizing as to how societies make decisions regarding social investments in large-scale infrastructure projects under situations of uncertainty and risk, and in the face of dynamic change brought about by a rapidly globalizing world? This will be a multi-disciplinary endeavor, and one of the first conducting a cross-basin study in the Amazon.