Socio-environmental conflicts and social movements in defense of free rivers. Hydroelectric Project Garabí-Panambí between Argentina and Brazil

Abstract

This article investigates the actions or strategies produced by various social movements, in relation to environmental conflicts raised around the environmental impact studies of a hydroelectric project projected on the shared stretch of the Uruguay River between Argentina and Brazil. It is considered part of a regional energy integration process (MERCOSUR), whose characteristics were changing throughout the different decades analyzed and the established objectives. Currently, the dynamics of these countries around the management and use of natural resources - specifically water - are not unidirectional, on the contrary sources of conflict between governments and social movements appear. We emphasize the possibilities or conditions that somehow encouraged the presence of transnational actions (formation of collaborative networks of various movements and sectors of society between the two countries, coordination of actions, dialogue for the construction of positions and common agenda, resolution of environmental conflicts, etc.). That process, although I also present progress, is also difficult because consensus was not achieved in political terms, with different sectors of society (companies, government agencies, among others). Finally, it is important to mention that the development of the EIA studies of the project was suspended.