The River

In Chapter 6, competing visions behind sustainable development articulations are analyzed based on the case study of the Belo Monte hydroelectric project, which is located along the Xingu River. The chapter reveals how the framework of sustainable development promotes the logics of state planning for the promotion of macro-economic and growth-oriented goals, while concealing the social and environmental consequences of the infrastructure under the auspices of democratic engagement. In order to structure this chapter’s exposition of what is one of the world’s most controversial dams, the discussion is organized around three central arenas, all of which contributed to the creation and perpetuation of the sustainable development narrative surrounding Belo Monte: the legal disputes, civil society activism, and global-level policies over hydroelectric dams. The chapter concludes with a critical analysis of the divergence between articulations of sustainable development in its idealized form and the mismatched shortfalls that were present in reality.