Solutions proposed for socio-environmental conflicts and concerning multiple-use hydroelectric reservoirs in Brazil

Hydropower reservoirs designed and/or operated to provide multiple services beyond power generation are called multiple-use reservoirs. However, their construction has social and environmental impacts that require technical knowledge, social discussion, and acceptance by the public. The present paper analyzes the roles of the strategic environmental assessment and the hydroelectric inventory studies, as well as proposes alternatives for water distribution. The purpose of this study is to focus on the initial phases of hydropower planning, with the aid of the SHARE concept, in order to avoid future conflicts in the use of water resources. Although the instruments analyzed provide for the participation of different sectors, there is still little integration and alignment with sectoral policies (electrical and environmental) or there is no institutionalization of them, which makes this an urgent problem. The diagnosis resulting from this study is that the situation of multiple-uses reservoirs in Brazil still deserves significant advances. As a proposal for improving the framework, this study claims that the use of integrated planning between sectors that use water resources should be improved by applying new concepts of integrated planning, such as the SHARE concept.