Twentieth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

In Latin America and, especially in Brazil, the implementation of large projects has generated many social and environmental impacts affecting people in unequal modes, resulting in various environmental injustices. The environmental injustices are understood as a “mechanism by which unequal societies, from the economic and social point of view, allocate the greatest burden of environmental damage from development to low-income populations, to discriminated racial groups, to traditional ethnic peoples, to working-class neighborhoods, to marginalized and vulnerable populations” (ACSELRAD; MELLO; BEZERRA, 2009, p. 41). It emerged in the 1960s through social movements in the United States, especially from organizations in the struggle for civil rights of Afrodescendant populations, who were mostly poor and socially discriminated against in relation to greater exposure to environmental risks (ACSELRAD, 2005). In the Brazilian context, one of the major projects being studied is the São Francisco River Integration Project (SFIP), the largest water infrastructure project in Brazil, undertaken by the federal government, and is being finalised at Northeast region of the country. Thus, we reflect in this article to what extent the PISF disseminates environmental injustices. The preliminary results show that the project directly reached 845 families who had to moved of their territories to implement the project. Some redress measures were implemented, however, insufficient for families to have minimum conditions to reproduce their lifestyles. The contribution of this study is mainly to bring to light the implications of major projects for the most marginalized and vulnerable populations in society.