Contesting Hydropower in the Brazilian Amazon

In Contesting Hydropower in the Brazilian Amazon Ed Atkins focuses on how local national and international civil society groups have resisted the Belo Monte and SÃo Luiz do TapajÃs hydroelectric projects in Brazil. In doing so Atkins explores how contemporary opposition to hydropower projects demonstrate a form of âcontested sustainabilityâ that highlights the need for sustainable energy transitions to take more into account than merely greenhouse gas emissions. The assertion that society must look to successfully transition away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable energy sources often appears assured in contemporary environmental governance. However what is less certain is who decides which forms of energy are deemed âsustainable. â Contesting Hydropower in the Brazilian Amazon explores one process in which the sustainability of a âgreenâ energy source is contested. It focuses on how civil society actors have both challenged and reconfigured dominant pro-dam assertions that present the hydropower schemes studied as renewable energy projects that contribute to sustainable development agendas. The volume also examines in detail how anti-dam actors act to render visible the political interests behind a project whilst at the same time linking the resistance movement to wider questions of contemporary environmental politics. This interdisciplinary work will be of great interest to students and scholars of sustainable development sustainable energy transitions environmental justice environmental governance and development studies. . Language: English