Strategic Environmental Assessment for a Sustainable Mining Corridor: Addressing the Social and Environmental Risks of Tailings Dam Disasters after Mariana and Brumadinho

Paim, Maria-Augusta

Abstract

The catastrophic tailings dam (TD) failures in Mariana (2015) and Brumadinho (2019), both in the Iron Quadrangle of Minas Gerais, in the southeast of Brazil, shocked the whole world. The flood of tailing waste caused significant environmental degradation, and hundreds of people lost their lives. The mining infrastructure in the Iron Quadrangle has provided an economic stimulus to the communities along the development corridors. However, public authorities and companies have failed to prevent the known high risks posed by hundreds of cumulative structures in this region containing significant levels of hazardous materials, such as heavy metals and other pollutants, to the nearby communities and the environment. In the aftermaths of these disasters, legislation and regulation in Brazil, and more rigorous standards at the international level have been updated to prevent future tailings failures and put safety first. The disasters’ responses include the Netherlands Commission on Environmental Assessment (NCEA) mission to develop a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for iron ore plans for Minas Gerais. This chapter analyses the SEA’s role in the Iron Quadrangle and its potential contribution to the strategies for disaster risk reduction in tailings dam failures. Through the evidence, this chapter aims to establish that, after the disasters, the integrity of the SEA for the Iron Quadrangle requires robust preventive measures and meaningful public participation. The SEA should contemplate adopting the latest devices for monitoring dams’ risks, considering that one of the main challenges of implementing the Brazilian law and policy on dams’ safety is the shortage of staff. Moreover, the SEA can enhance governance of the TDs in the Iron Quadrangle, mainly because the overall strategy will support the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and licensing practice, focusing on the local communities.

Citation

Paim, M.-A. (2023). Strategic Environmental Assessment for a Sustainable Mining Corridor: Addressing the Social and Environmental Risks of Tailings Dam Disasters after Mariana and Brumadinho. In J. Hobbs, & D. J. Bignoli (Eds.), Impact Assessment for Corridors: From Infrastructure to Development Corridors (369-376). Development Corridors Partnership

• Online Publication Date: Jul 3, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: May 3, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: May 12, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 369-376
• Book Title: Impact Assessment for Corridors: From Infrastructure to Development Corridors.
• Chapter Number: 22
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/48508448
• Publisher URL: https://developmentcorridors.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Chapter-22-1.pdf