Movements and the Network of Environmental Justice in Brazil

Abstract

Abstract

This article discusses the development of environmental justice (EJ) in Brazil, particularly since the creation of the Brazilian Network of Environmental Justice (RBJA, by its initials in Portuguese). The RBJA, created in 2002, takes EJ as an integrating and mobilizing concept, because it connects the environmental, social, and ethical dimensions of sustainability and development. Such a concept reduces the fragmentation and isolation existing within several social movements and local communities. I intend to provide some evidence on how RBJA and some social movements are using the concept of EJ in their work, taking as a reference several documents that circulated in the network between 2002 and 2009, as well as the Map of Environmental Injustice and Health in Brazil. The conceptual EJ debate in Brazil has been influenced by social sciences and political ecology, which criticize the capitalistic development model adopted in Brazil that creates social and environmental inequality. EJ arises as a field of reflection and mobilization, and also as a rallying point to identify the struggle of several individuals and entities, such as trade unions, grassroots movements of residents, traditional populations, small agricultures and the landless workers' groups affected by different hazards and risks, environmentalists, and scientists. The RBJA is significantly contributing to spread EJ discussions and mobilizations with different strategies and tools, such as meetings, campaigns, a Web site and an Internet database with EJ documents available. The article ends with some current trends that will probably mobilize the RBJA for the next years.