Avaliação dos impactos sociais provocados pela implantação de complexos eólicos nas áreas rurais do nordeste brasileiro: em busca de uma metodologia de aferição

Abstract

From a sustainable and marginal option to the second most representative source of the national energy matrix, wind energy has shown consistent growth since the beginning of the century, benefiting from the constancy, speed and direction of the winds that circulate through the Brazilian territory. Considered a renewable energy source, because it is carbon neutral and has a low generation cost, wind energy depends on the implementation of wind turbine parks that bring in their wake a wide spectrum of impacts that are amplified when they affect vulnerable rural communities, such as those in the semiarid region of the Northeast. This thesis addresses wind projects and their social impacts on rural communities, seeking to answer to what extent, considering the context of environmental licensing in Brazil, the variables traditionally used in socio-environmental assessments are able to measure the social impacts of these wind projects. This is a complex problem considering the particularities of each impacted location and the absence of a methodology that encompasses all the impacts of the socioeconomic environment. The general objective is to contribute, together with other studies, to filling possible gaps in the assessment of the repercussions experienced by the populations in the area of ​​influence of such an undertaking; it constitutes an attempt to contribute to studies on the impacts resulting from the implementation of wind energy undertakings, from the perspective of the affected populations, intending to generate elements for the suggestion of a new approach to the socio-environmental assessment of processes of this nature. This is a descriptive research, which uses the case study method and which employs, in addition to bibliographic research, the procedures of documentary research in EIA RIMA reports of undertakings located in the Northeast region and a survey research, with the conduct of semi-structured interviews and the application of 1631 questionnaires, with residents of rural communities in the area of ​​direct influence of a wind complex in the municipality of Campo Formoso, in Bahia. The results show the limitations of the usual parameters for measuring social impacts, which do not reflect what has been experienced by the communities. It is concluded that, considering the limitations of the processes studied, mainly regarding the environmental licensing of large projects, this thesis contributes to directing the magnifying glass of impact analysis towards local issues and also highlights the importance of looking at the small percentages indicated by the research, as it is in them that the dissatisfaction and trigger points of socio-environmental conflicts reside.