Dam safety and risk governance for hydroelectric power plants in the Amazon

Louzada, Aline Furtado; Ravena, Nirvia

doi:10.1080/13669877.2018.1501595

Journal of Risk Research

2018

DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2018.1501595

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Dam safety and risk governance for hydroelectric power plants in the Amazon

Aline Furtado Louzada

Nirvia Ravena

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Cited by 3 publications

References 40 publications

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In search of the good dam: contemporary views on dam planning in Latin America

Schulz

Adams

2020

Sustain Sci

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Dam planning and construction is notoriously difficult. It is highly complex, involving a multitude of social, environmental, economic and technological questions that often become politicised in the process; negative impacts are often concentrated on small, vulnerable groups within society, while the benefits are typically spread in a much more diffuse pattern; it requires changing riverine ecosystems, often irreversibly so; and it takes a very long time, with often harsh consequences if mistakes are made. These challenges have generated decades of debate around dams and development, yet it is not clear how dam planning and management can be improved. To address this question, the present study used Q methodology to analyse the views of social and environmental researchers on dams in Latin America on the principles that should guide dam development. The Q analysis rendered three idealised viewpoints: The first suggested that defending the rights of vulnerable people should be the main priority, as a counterbalance to the natural bias towards economically and politically powerful actors within the political economy of dam construction. The second implied adoption of a holistic and scientific vision towards dam decision-making and a focus of efforts on perfecting formal procedures and participatory processes to build better dams in the future. The third called into question the need for dams altogether and concentrated attention on invisible and overlooked aspects of dam decision-making, particularly past injustices, and the rights of indigenous communities to determine their own model of development. Each viewpoint represents an alternative vision for future dam planning and clarifies the choices available to policy-makers and development actors. Moreover, viewpoints give insights into the motivations of those who seek to inform debates on dams and development. While they were identified in the context of dam-decision making, our findings may also be relevant to other fields of sustainable development.

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In search of the good dam: contemporary views on dam planning in Latin America

Schulz

Adams

2020

Sustain Sci

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Lack of knowledge or neglect? The contributions of science to mitigating the risks of small Brazilian dams

Nava

Ishihara

Ravena

et al. 2021

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

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Evaluation of the SWAT Model for the Simulation of Flow and Water Balance Based on Orbital Data in a Poorly Monitored Basin in the Brazilian Amazon

et al. 2022

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The Amazon basin, the world’s largest river basin, is a key global climate regulator. Due to the lack of an extensive network of gauging stations, this basin remains poorly monitored, hindering the management of its water resources. Due to the vast extension of the Amazon basin, hydrological modeling is the only viable approach to monitor its current status. Here, we used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), a process-based and time-continuous eco-hydrological model, to simulate streamflow and hydrologic water balance in an Amazonian watershed where only a few gauging stations (the Jari River Basin) are available. SWAT inputs consisted of reanalysis data based on orbital remote sensing. The calibration and validation of the SWAT model indicated a good agreement according to Nash-Sutcliffe (NS, 0.85 and 0.89), Standard Deviation Ratio (RSR, 0.39 and 0.33), and Percent Bias (PBIAS, −9.5 and −0.6) values. Overall, the model satisfactorily simulated water flow and balance characteristics, such as evapotranspiration, surface runoff, and groundwater. The SWAT model is suitable for tropical river basin management and scenario simulations of environmental changes.

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Dam safety and risk governance for hydroelectric power plants in the Amazon

Cited by 3 publications

References 40 publications

In search of the good dam: contemporary views on dam planning in Latin America

In search of the good dam: contemporary views on dam planning in Latin America

Lack of knowledge or neglect? The contributions of science to mitigating the risks of small Brazilian dams

Evaluation of the SWAT Model for the Simulation of Flow and Water Balance Based on Orbital Data in a Poorly Monitored Basin in the Brazilian Amazon

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