Multidimensional impacts of a hydropower reservoir on indigenous communities: displacement, division and pilgrimage among the Tuxá people of the Bahia state, Brazil

Resumo

Due to the construction of the Itaparica dam in 1988, the Tuxá people were displaced and resettled. This generated internal conflicts and several socioenvironmental impacts. The resettlement of the Tuxá people, historically dedicated to agriculture and fishing, altered their ancestral identities and livelihoods. For those who still have access to fishing activities on the banks of the São Francisco River, fish availability has diminished given the water-pollution eutrophication from sewage and fertilizers discharge. The impacts of the dam on the Tuxá people are complex and include new identity-related elements. These are often disregarded when assessing the socioenvironmental trade-offs associated with the installation of hydroelectric plants in Brazil. We propose alternative perspectives (mainly bottom-up) to transform indigenous tacit knowledge regarding dams impacts on traditional communities into explicit, instrumental knowledge for policymaking. We also rethink the delicate balance between economic progress driven by renewable energy generation in Brazil and the negative impact this progress may have on the livelihoods of one of the country's most vulnerable communities from a socioenvironmental point of view. Methodologically, this work is the result of a mixed-methods analysis. We triangulate qualitative data (resulting from in-depth interviews and the reconstruction of life stories through focus groups conducted with the Tuxá people) with quantitative data extracted from a series of secondary sources, including government sources, among others.