IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v146y2021ics0305750x2100187x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Grassroots mobilization in Brazil’s urban Amazon: Global investments, persistent floods, and local resistance across political and legal arenas

Author

Listed:
  • Dias, Vitor M.
  • Soares, Pedro Paulo de Miranda Araújo
  • Brondizio, Eduardo S.
  • Cruz, Sandra Helena Ribeiro

Abstract

By the 1980s, the Brazilian Amazon was already an urbanized forest. A large portion of its population was living in non-rural areas attracted by better service provisioning and economic opportunities in fast-developing urban centers. Located at the Amazon Estuary-Delta, Belém is the Amazon’s largest metropolitan area, marked by informal urban expansion, and serving as an illustrative case of the opportunities and challenges with which urban populations deal in the region. Faced with significant pressures of absent infrastructure, high rates of poverty, precarious settlements, and ever more frequent flood events, already in the 1980s, Belém was home to the biggest urban reform project of its time in Latin America: The Macro-Drainage Project of the Una River Watershed. Costing over 300 million USD, the project was intended to have a multilevel governance system through which the Inter-American Development Bank and local government could coordinate project activities. Yet, due to the combination of poor infrastructure and changing rainfall patterns, about half a million people currently remain vulnerable to flood hazards and property damages. Our analysis uses a socio-legal approach to studying grassroots mobilization against the violation of social and environmental rights aggravated by floods. We also draw on Ostrom’s concepts of action arena and action situation to examine collective action across political and legal arenas within which individuals, grassroots organizations, and the state negotiate/contest flood-related issues. Conducting archival and ethnographic research, we find a story of conflict and cooperation between the civil society and political and legal actors, which accounts for a mix of optimism and skepticism regarding the improvement in the livelihood of the urban poor affected by this developmental program. This interdisciplinary lens contributes to understanding the limits and potentials of collective action to address, whether through political and/or legal mobilization, urban inequalities and social vulnerability to environmental and climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • Dias, Vitor M. & Soares, Pedro Paulo de Miranda Araújo & Brondizio, Eduardo S. & Cruz, Sandra Helena Ribeiro, 2021. "Grassroots mobilization in Brazil’s urban Amazon: Global investments, persistent floods, and local resistance across political and legal arenas," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:146:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x2100187x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105572
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X2100187X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105572?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leonardo Avritzer, 2006. "New Public Spheres in Brazil: Local Democracy and Deliberative Politics," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 623-637, September.
    2. Brisbois, Marie Claire & Morris, Michelle & de Loë, Rob, 2019. "Augmenting the IAD framework to reveal power in collaborative governance – An illustrative application to resource industry dominated processes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 159-168.
    3. Harini Nagendra & Xuemei Bai & Eduardo S. Brondizio & Shuaib Lwasa, 2018. "The urban south and the predicament of global sustainability," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(7), pages 341-349, July.
    4. Herrera, Veronica, 2019. "Reconciling global aspirations and local realities: Challenges facing the Sustainable Development Goals for water and sanitation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 106-117.
    5. Cole, Daniel H., 2017. "Laws, norms, and the Institutional Analysis and Development framework," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(4), pages 829-847, December.
    6. Douglas A. Edmonds & Rebecca L. Caldwell & Eduardo S. Brondizio & Sacha M. O. Siani, 2020. "Coastal flooding will disproportionately impact people on river deltas," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    7. David Schlosberg & Lisette B. Collins, 2014. "From environmental to climate justice: climate change and the discourse of environmental justice," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 5(3), pages 359-374, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. da Silva Medina, Gabriel & Pokorny, Benno & Campbell, Bruce, 2022. "Forest governance in the Amazon: Favoring the emergence of local management systems," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    2. Giana de Vargas Mores & Homero Dewes & Edson Talamini & José Eustáquio Ribeiro Vieira-Filho & Yasmin Gomes Casagranda & Guilherme Cunha Malafaia & Carlos Costa & Caroline Pauletto Spanhol-Finocchio & , 2022. "A Longitudinal Study of Brazilian Food Production Dynamics," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-11, October.
    3. Guoliang Xu & Xiaonan Yin & Guangdong Wu & Ning Gao, 2022. "Rethinking the Contribution of Land Element to Urban Economic Growth: Evidence from 30 Provinces in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-16, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tice, Julianne & Batterbury, Simon PJ, 2023. "Who Accesses Solar PV? Energy Justice and Climate Justice in a Local Government Rooftop Solar Programme," Ecology, Economy and Society - the INSEE Journal, Indian Society of Ecological Economics (INSEE), vol. 6(02), July.
    2. Rimjhim M. Aggarwal & LaDawn Haglund, 2019. "Advancing Water Sustainability in Megacities: Comparative Study of São Paulo and Delhi Using a Social-Ecological System Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-30, September.
    3. Remme, Roy P. & Meacham, Megan & Pellowe, Kara E. & Andersson, Erik & Guerry, Anne D. & Janke, Benjamin & Liu, Lingling & Lonsdorf, Eric & Li, Meng & Mao, Yuanyuan & Nootenboom, Christopher & Wu, Tong, 2024. "Aligning nature-based solutions with ecosystem services in the urban century," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Caroline Patsias & Anne Latendresse & Laurence Bherer, 2013. "Participatory Democracy, Decentralization and Local Governance: the Montreal Participatory Budget in the light of ‘Empowered Participatory Governance’," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 2214-2230, November.
    5. Cuenca Botey, Luis Emilio & Célérier, Laure, 2023. "On the relentless labour of deconstructing domination logics: The case of decolonial critical accounting research in South America," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Daniel Fitzpatrick & Rebecca Monson, 2022. "Property rights and climate migration: Adaptive governance in the South Pacific," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 519-535, April.
    7. Veerkamp, Clara J. & Schipper, Aafke M. & Hedlund, Katarina & Lazarova, Tanya & Nordin, Amanda & Hanson, Helena I., 2021. "A review of studies assessing ecosystem services provided by urban green and blue infrastructure," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    8. Philipp Horn & Diana Mitlin & Jhono Bennett & Beth Chitekwe-Biti & Jack Makau, 2018. "Towards citywide participatory planning: emerging community-led practices in three African cities," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 342018, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    9. Seth Schindler & Jonathan Silver, 2019. "Florida in the Global South: How Eurocentrism Obscures Global Urban Challenges—and What We Can Do about It," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 794-805, July.
    10. Morgan, Edward A. & Buckwell, Andrew & Guidi, Caterina & Garcia, Beatriz & Rimmer, Lawrence & Cadman, Tim & Mackey, Brendan, 2022. "Capturing multiple forest ecosystem services for just benefit sharing: The Basket of Benefits Approach," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    11. Prado de Nicolás, Amanda & Molina-García, Ángel & García-Bermejo, Juan Tomás & Vera-García, Francisco, 2023. "Desalination, minimal and zero liquid discharge powered by renewable energy sources: Current status and future perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    12. Leopold, Franziska & Blum, Bianca & Walter, Larissa, 2023. "Tax-financed Basic Income – Comparison between three financing schemes and their normative implications," FRIBIS Policy Debate April 11, 2023, University of Freiburg, Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS).
    13. Karen T. Lourdes & Chris N. Gibbins & Perrine Hamel & Ruzana Sanusi & Badrul Azhar & Alex M. Lechner, 2021. "A Review of Urban Ecosystem Services Research in Southeast Asia," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, January.
    14. Minna Havukainen & Mirja Mikkilä & Helena Kahiluoto, 2022. "Climate Policy Reform in Nepal through the Lenses of the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-21, June.
    15. Jurjonas, Matthew & Seekamp, Erin & Rivers, Louie & Cutts, Bethany, 2020. "Uncovering climate (in)justice with an adaptive capacity assessment: A multiple case study in rural coastal North Carolina," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    16. Attila Buzási & Bettina Szimonetta Jäger, 2021. "Exploratory Analysis of Urban Sustainability by Applying a Strategy-Based Tailor-Made Weighting Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-18, June.
    17. Abdul Mannan & Fan Yongxiang & Tauheed Ullah Khan & Syed Moazzam Nizami & Beckline Mukete & Adnan Ahmad & Ummay Amara & Jincheng Liu & Mamoona Wali Muhammad, 2021. "Urban Growth Patterns and Forest Carbon Dynamics in the Metropolitan Twin Cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-14, November.
    18. Alma Elisabeth Peirson & Gina Ziervogel, 2021. "Sanitation Upgrading as Climate Action: Lessons for Local Government from a Community Informal Settlement Project in Cape Town," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, August.
    19. Dylan Gibson & Leslie A. Duram, 2020. "Shifting Discourse on Climate and Sustainability: Key Characteristics of the Higher Education Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-17, December.
    20. Gretchen Vengerova & Isaac Lipsky & Gwyneth A. Hutchinson & Nils J. H. Averesch & Aaron J. Berliner, 2024. "Space bioprocess engineering as a potential catalyst for sustainability," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 7(3), pages 238-246, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:146:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x2100187x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.