Pantanal under threat: the construction of dams and the insignificance of the produced water energy

Abstract

There are large-scale problems that manifest themselves in localized spheres and situations. The following text presents one of these cases, perhaps the most emblematic today: the Upper Paraguay River Basin (BAP). One presents its dynamics and one of the main problems related to its sustainability, that is, the importance of the dams for the production of energy. The sources are official databases in close communication with local populations and geocartographic referencing. It turns to 1) deconstruct the fallacy of the constructed narrative that justifies the exploration of the territory; 2) prove that the energy produced by these power plants in operation is absolutely insignificant for the maintenance of the Brazilian energy production matrix. Thus, the work rends data available to the civil society and experts, so that they can inform themselves about some terms of an urgent debate. The study was carried out based on the hypothesis that, in the process that is still underway in the occupation of the UPB as a hydropower producing territory, the tendency is that the Hydroelectric Plants do not contribute significantly to the national grid for energy production and, at least for the local and sustainable development of the municipalities where they are located.

Keywords
dams; vulnerable populations; the Upper Paraguay River Basin; energy