Clean energy, rights violations: the challenges of a just transition
The Serra dos Rafaéis (Piauí) proposes community-based alternatives for a just transition
The global race for renewable energy sources is depicted as an urgent solution to curb the climate crisis. However, in areas traditionally inhabited by Black, rural and quilombola communities, the rapid expansion of “green” megaprojects raises a fundamental question: who is paying the price for clean energy?
In the Chapada do Araripe, in the south of Piauí, the Remnant Quilombo Community of the Serra dos Rafaéis is facing direct impacts from the installation of large-scale wind farms that have sprung up in the region in the past decade. Although the official discourse talks about development and sustainability, the day-to-day life of the residents has been marked by an increase in dust, constant noise from the wind turbines, cracks in their houses and damage to cisterns caused by vibrations from building works and heavy machine moving around.
Besides the material damage, the community’s health has also been affected. There are reports of respiratory problems, stress, and psychological disorders associated with the overwhelming presence of equipment. The energy generated – over 1,600 MW in an area equivalent to 138 thousand soccer fields – is mostly directed to businesses and industries in the Southeastern region of the country, while the quilombo community live with frequent power cuts, high bills and a lack of direct benefits. “This energy is for businesses and industries in the South-East of Brazil. Here we are still paying high bills and are dealing with constant power cuts,” a member of the community says.
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The complaints go beyond the physical impacts. Residents report violations of their right to free, prior, and informed consultation, provided for in ILO Convention 169 which was disregarded in the environmental licensing process. “The community was not consulted and did not know that the wind park was coming. They arrived and started measuring up, even near people’s homes,” a local resident said.
The current situation in Serra dos Rafaéis is the result of a succession of failures and irregularities in the planning and environmental licensing process, including the violation of the quilombola community’s right to free, prior and informed consultation and of the relevant consultation protocol. This is one of the conclusions of the project, wind Energy in the centralized model and participatory socioenvironmental mapping as a contributory element for governance in the Quilombola Community of Serra dos Rafaéis – in Piauí, carried out in from 2023 to 2024. The project, which was supported by Conectas, combined geospatial data collection, social mapping workshops, conversation circles, the application of the Net-Map methodology and an exchange with communities in Paraíba that are adopting alternative models of energy generation.
The project was coordinated by Ricélia Maria Marinho Sales, a professor in Environmental Science at the Federal University of Campina Grande, Campus Pombal (PB) and by the Association of Remnant Quilombo Members of the Serra dos Rafaéis Community.
Among the principal results the following are of particular interest: the collective development of thematic maps; and a participatory diagnosis of the impacts of wind farms complexes on the lives of the community. The local community also put together their own Community Energy Guidebook, with practical guidelines on safeguarding their territory, demanding prior consultation and formulating fairer energy models. The initiative enabled local residents to identify key actors and power relations in the region, strengthening their capacity for resistance, political advocacy and collective decision-making. The experience in Serra dos Rafaéis has now become a benchmark for other traditional communities faced with the same challenges.
The project organized an exchange between quilombo communities and agro-industries in Paraíba that use solar energy in a distributed model, with direct benefits to the local communities, as a way of inspiring other possibilities. The experience demonstrated that it is possible to align environmental sustainability with social justice, promoting community development, economic independence and energy sovereignty.
Renewable energy cannot be seen merely as a technical solution for the climate crisis. It must take into account social and environmental impacts in regions where it is implemented, ensuring energy justice and community leadership. Otherwise, so-called clean energy will continue to mask old practices of exclusion and rights violations.
