SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS CAUSED BY THE TELES PIRES HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT: SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL ANALYSIS FROM 2004 TO 2024

Abstract

The Teles Pires Hydroelectric Power Plant, located in Paranaíta – MT, was built under the justification of expanding the Brazilian energy matrix, but its installation process generated profound socio-environmental transformations, especially for the Apiaká, Kaiabi and Munduruku indigenous peoples. This work aimed to analyze such impacts, using remote sensing and geoprocessing techniques to assess changes in land cover and land use between 2004 and 2024. The results quantified the formation of the reservoir, the flooding of extensive areas of forest, the intensification of vegetation fragmentation and the consequent deterritorialization of indigenous communities, with the loss of access to sacred sites and essential spaces for their sociocultural reproduction. The discussion showed that, although hydroelectric energy is classified as "clean", the decomposition of submerged biomass in tropical reservoirs generates significant greenhouse gas emissions. It is concluded, therefore, that the implementation of the Teles Pires HPP exemplifies a development model that concentrates energy benefits in distant centers while imposing disproportionate social and environmental costs on local communities, configuring a framework of ethnocide and environmental injustice. In view of this, the urgency of incorporating the rights of indigenous peoples and the real dimensions of socio-environmental impacts in the planning and licensing of large projects in the Amazon is emphasized.