Development blind spots and environmental impact assessment: Tensions between policy, law and practice in Brazil's Xingu river basin

This paper explores the tensions involved in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and environmental licensing through a detailed analysis of the legal disputes and public contestations surrounding two projects, a large hydroelectric dam and a gold mine, which are proximately located to each other. Broadly, we argue that EIAs may function to reinforce rather than genuinely inform or potentially resist prevailing developmental logics. The research extends David Mosse's argument that development self-perpetuates “success” through participation and procedural licensing mechanisms while on-the-ground realities diverge significantly. It offers a critical examination of EIA utility and processes through identifying three general mechanisms within EIA and environmental licensing procedures that contribute to approval of projects and promote a perception of their legitimacy, while detracting from the intended purposes of EIAs as opportunities for meaningful public discussion and sustainability-oriented decision making. These mechanisms include discourses that entrench project necessity and make them appear inevitable, public participation, and the isolated treatment of related projects. This work situates an understanding of particular EIAs within a deeper process of regional territorial development and resource extraction.