Summary
According to the OECD [1], the process of sustainability disclosure should formalize and transparently communicate to external stakeholders the progress of a project’s or an organization’s socio-environmental actions, as well as their effectiveness in addressing impacts and associated risks. In this context, committees, forums, and local councils have increasingly been promoted by funding institutions, environmental licensing authorities, and civil society organizations as relevant platforms to achieve this objective, as they enable companies to disclose information and gather opinions and concerns from diverse stakeholders, establish routines of periodic accountability, facilitate synergy among parties, and strengthen trust and process legitimacy.
Read more Read lessHowever, several studies highlight characteristics that may reduce these spaces to merely symbolic venues of social participation. Within this framework, this paper aims to assess the degree of effectiveness of social forums implemented in Brazilian hydroelectric projects, based on internationally recognized analytical variables related to influencing factors in multistakeholder dialogue forums, types of social participation, and levels of Social License to
Operate. The three case studies analyzed compare operational forums established by environmental licensing agencies, involving different typologies of affected stakeholders
(excluding traditional communities). In all cases, impacts not originally anticipated were perceived by stakeholders during the operational phase, generating potential for social conflict.
For each forum, weaknesses, compliance aspects, and opportunities for improvement are identified, and guidelines are proposed for the establishment and operation of such participatory mechanisms in other electricity generation projects.
Additional informations
| Publication type | Session Materials |
|---|---|
| Reference | C3_11082_2026 |
| Publication year | |
| Publisher | CIGRE |
| Country | Brazil |
| Study committees | |
| File size | 625 KB |
| Price for non member | 30 € |
| Price for member | 30 € |
Authors
ROCHA Delfim - Ferreira Rocha Brazil; ALENCAR Thiago - Ferreira Rocha Brazil; CANÇADO Vanessa - Ferreira Rocha Brazil
Keywords
