Uncompensated losses and damaged livelihoods: Restorative and distributional injustices in Brazilian hydropower

The construction of hydroelectric dams is associated with a range of social-ecological impacts, including significant changes in the economies of rural places where large dams are built. Dam builders and governments promoting hydropower have implemented compensation programs to redress the damages done by hydropower projects but there are critiques of whether they achieve those objectives. In the current analysis, we apply an energy justice framework to consider the impacts of the Jirau and Santo Antonio dams in the Madeira River basin of the Brazilian Amazon. Considering both distributional and restorative aspects of energy justice, we evaluate how these dams have changed economic livelihoods and household income and whether households received compensation that addressed the damages suffered. We find that displacement, resettlement or otherwise moving locations because of the dams is an important contributor to economic losses (e.g. changing jobs, lost income) and those who experienced economic losses were not more likely to be compensated than others. These losses occur in spite of the promises of dam proponents that this infrastructure will increase job opportunities, incomes and bring about economic development. •Large dams bring about negative changes in livelihoods and income in nearby communities.•Compensation is grossly insufficient to restore livelihoods.•Both upstream and downstreal communities need to be included in compensation and restoration of livelihoods.•Promises of jobs, and economic development do not materialize.•Distributional injustices are less common because there are few income differences among the population studied.