Data from: A social-ecological database to advance research on infrastructure development impacts in the Brazilian Amazon

Recognized as one of the world's most vital natural and cultural resources, the Amazon faces a wide variety of threats from natural resource and infrastructure development. Within this context, rigorous scientific study of the region's complex social-ecological system is critical to inform and direct decision-making toward more sustainable environmental and social outcomes. Given the Amazon's tightly linked social and ecological components and the scope of potential development impacts, effective study of this system requires an easily accessible resource that provides a broad and reliable data baseline. This paper brings together multiple datasets from diverse disciplines (including human health, socio-economics, environment, hydrology, and energy) to provide investigators with a variety of baseline data to explore the multiple long-term effects of infrastructure development in the Brazilian Amazon

Data from: A social-ecological database to advance research on infrastructure development impacts in the Brazilian Amazon

Recognized as one of the world's most vital natural and cultural resources, the Amazon faces a wide variety of threats from natural resource and infrastructure development. Within this context, rigorous scientific study of the region's complex social-ecological system is critical to inform and direct decision-making toward more sustainable environmental and social outcomes. Given the Amazon's tightly linked social and ecological components and the scope of potential development impacts, effective study of this system requires an easily accessible resource that provides a broad and reliable data baseline. This paper brings together multiple datasets from diverse disciplines (including human health, socio-economics, environment, hydrology, and energy) to provide investigators with a variety of baseline data to explore the multiple long-term effects of infrastructure development in the Brazilian Amazon

Histórico, tendências e perspectivas no planejamento espacial de usinas hidrelétricas brasileiras: a antiga e atual fronteira Amazônica

Os empreendimentos hidrelétricos são alternativas favoráveis economicamente em função do grande potencial hidrelétrico disponível no território brasileiro. Apesar de serem notórias em causar significativa degradação ambiental, conformam historicamente uma importante controvérsia do setor energético brasileiro. Orientado por esta problemática, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo principal analisar o histórico e as tendências do planejamento espacial de usinas hidrelétricas no Brasil, interpretando-os a partir da relação entre o potencial hidrelétrico disponível no espaço e o grau de disciplinamento do uso e ocupação do espaço no tempo. Até a década de 1970, a implantação de hidrelétricas ocorreu, relativamente, à luz de menor grau de disciplinamento de uso e ocupação do espaço, como foi o caso das hidrelétricas de Balbina e Tucuruí, as quais também induziram a primeira grande crise ambiental do setor e favoreceram a criação dos instrumentos de política ambiental, em 1981. As décadas de 1980 e 1990 são caracterizadas por um vazio de planejamento de hidrelétricas, o que é retomado a partir de 2000 em função de um ambiente econômico internacional favorável aos investimentos em infraestrutura, resultando no aumento da exploração do potencial hidrelétrico orientada especialmente para a região Amazônica. Porém, esta reorientação depara-se com um maior grau de disciplinamento do uso do espaço que acaba vinculando novas dimensões para o planejamento espacial de hidrelétricas, especialmente em regiões com alta sensibilidade socioambiental, como é o caso da Amazônica. Ainda assim, esta região é aquela que ainda detêm o maior potencial hidrelétrico a ser explorado, o que faz dela a escolhida como a fronteira hidrelétrica da década de 2010.<br>Las usinas hidroelétricas representam una alternativa económica favorable debido el potencial hídrico de generación disponible en el territorio brasileño, sin embargo hay la significativa degradación ambiental invariablemente asociada a estos proyectos, esta situación configura una histórica controversia de lo sector energético brasileño. A partir de este contexto, el principal objetivo del trabajo es analizar la historia y las tendencias de la planificación espacial de las usinas hidroeléctricas en Brasil, considerando la relación entre lo potencial de generación hídrico disponible en el espacio y el grado de ordenamiento del uso y ocupación del suelo en el mismo tiempo. Hasta 1970 las usinas hidroeléctricas fueran construidas sin la menor circunspección a lo ordenamiento territorial, son ejemplos casos como Balbina e Tucurui. Estas fueran responsables por la primera grande crisis ambiental del sector y favorecerán la creación de instrumentos de política ambiental en 1981. Las décadas siguientes, de 1980 y 1990, fueran marcadas por la falta de planificación de hidroeléctricas, este proceso es retomado en 2000 debido el ambiente económico internacional favorable especialmente para las inversiones en infraestructura, lo que ay conducido el aumento de la exploración hídrica para generación de energía eléctrica especialmente en la región amazónica. Sin embargo, esta reorientación acontece en un momento de mayor ordenamiento del uso y ocupación del espacio, lo que agrega nuevos dimensiones en el proceso de planificación de las hidroeléctricas, especialmente en regiones como la amazónica, que poseen como características alta sensibilidad social y ambiental. Con todo, esta es la región de mayor potencial hídrico para se explorado, lo que la posiciona como la frontera de la hidroelectricidad en 2010.<br>The hydropower plants represent an important alternative to the Brazilian energetic context, due to the huge spatial availability of hydropower potential, although they are a controversy in the Brazilian energy sector, because yours significant environmental degradation. In this context, this paper analyzes the history and trends of spatial planning of hydropower plants in Brazil, based on the relationship between the hydropower potential and the land use regulation. Until the 1970s, the implementation of dams occurred by low land use regulations as the Balbina and Tucuruí hydropower plants, which also induced an important environmental crisis in the sector and the creation of the Brazilian Environmental Policy Act in 1981. The 1980s and 1990s are characterized by a weak spatial planning of hydropower plants. In the 2000s, motivated by a favorable international economic context for infrastructure investment, the Federal Government recovered your planning capacity. As the result, the exploitation of hydropower potential increased, especially in the Amazon region. However, the mechanisms of land use regulation increased too, especially in high social and environmental sensibility areas, such as the Amazon. Nevertheless, this region still presents the largest available hydropower potential, representing the hydropower frontier of the 2010s

Hydroelectric Dams Dataset

Information for operating large hydroelectric dams (> 30 MW) in the Brazilian Amazon, including the following variables: dam name, affected river, construction start date, reservoir fill date, operation date, approved energy output, actual energy output, reservoir area, municipalities directly affected by the dam, and area of each municipality flooded by the dam

Socio-economic Datasets

Socio-economic variables related to demography, education, income, work, agriculture, quality of life, poverty, and gold mining in Amazonian municipalities of Brazil

Environment Dataset

Environmental variables including mean monthly rainfall, dry season length, original forest cover, and surface water cover, aggregated by municipality in the Brazilian Amazon

Municipal Map (2010) for Brazilian Amazon

Original 2010 digital municipal map shape files for the Brazilian Amazon states of Acre, Amapa, Amazonas, Maranhao, Mato Grosso, Para, Rondonia, Roraima, and Tocantins. Maps are produced by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileira de Geografia e Estatistica - IBGE; www.ibge.gov.br). Downloads can be made by state from the ftp site: ftp://geoftp.ibge.gov.br/malhas_digitais/municipio_2010/

Health Datasets

Disease incidence data by municipality of residence, including malaria, dengue fever, cutaneous leishmaniasis, and HIV/AIDS, for the Amazon region of Brazil

Hydrology Datasets

Point data on river water level, river discharge/flow, and daily precipitation for the Amazon, Tocantins/Araguaia, Paraná, and Atlantic watersheds contained within the Brazilian Amazon

Mapping research on hydropower and sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: advances, gaps in knowledge and future directions

In the last twenty years, multiple large and small hydroelectric dams have begun to transform the Amazonian region, spawning a growing volume of academic research across diverse disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields. In this article, we offer a critical review of recent research related to hydropower and sustainability with a focus on the Brazilian Amazon. We revisit the sustainability concept to include the contribution of various knowledge fields and perspectives for understanding, managing and making decisions about social-ecological systems transformed by dams. We conducted a literature review in Web of Science of academic publications centered in the past 5 years (2014–2019), on diverse aspects of hydropower planning, construction, operation and monitoring in the Brazilian Amazon. We present results of a co-occurrence network analysis of publications, highlighting bridging fields, network disconnections, and opportunities for interdisciplinary research. Finally, we report recent advances in the understanding and management of social-ecological systems in Amazonian watersheds, including biophysical, socio-economic, governance and development processes linked to hydropower planning and implementation. This review identifies knowledge gaps and future research directions, highlighting opportunities for improved communication among scientists, practitioners, decision-makers, indigenous peoples and local communities. © 2019 Elsevier B.V