Participation in the Governance of the Samarco Disaster: An Actor-Network Analysis

ABSTRACT: Environmental governance issues in developing countries, such as Brazil, especially challenge attempts to integrate participation, science and policy, with severe social and environmental impacts. An ongoing example of such governance is the Rio Doce basin recovery after the 2015 Samarco mining-dam disaster, the worst single environmental disaster in Brazilian history, implemented by Renova Foundation with state oversight within an extra-judicial agreement called the TTAC designed to effect rapid environmental-conflict resolution. However, the TTAC and Renova Foundation have been severely criticised for a range of issues related to participation. In 2019, another destructive mining-waste disaster occurred in the Brumadinho Vale mining complex for which no participatory governance model has been put forward, suggesting limited learning. Science and Technology Studies (STS) and related fields have long grappled with such issues and the field has responded with calls for more participatory processes, just as critical literature of the disaster has done. However, a recent `Post Participatory Turn` involving systemic and emergent perspectives has highlighted limitations, including the risk of ignoring science and expertise and trade-offs between social and pragmatic goals. This research explored participation in formal governance of the Samarco Disaster recovery, supplemented by examination of the Reforestation Prioritisation Project that relied on environmental modelling, in order that novel lessons can be learnt for post-disaster recovery. Defining participation as voluntary behaviour undertaken by non-professionals in relation to the state, the study uses Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to investigate the dynamic and contested networks that have been formed. We focus on representation of the Affected and the environment, relying on guided content, policy, media and document analysis, semi-structured interviews and participant observations. The results show that the TTAC and Renova Foundation suffer classic problems of upstream decision-making, institutional control, vulnerability to political interests, and technicality. Understood as an actor-network: a crisis of representation threatens network stability; the governance structure is overly complex; boundary maintenance of the technical and political has created new vulnerabilities; calls to rid the Rio Doce basin of mining may be effective in the short term but do not address long-term change; social and pragmatic trade-offs are not confronted; mining-company influence should be limited but not removed; and the Reforestation Prioritisation Project participatory process was heavily restrained from the outset but demonstrated expert capacities to integrate social values into science-production. Although Brazilian Integrated Landscape Management and River Basin Committees suffer related problems, they offer evidence of the potential to improve bioregional governance. Critical literature highlights important issues, such as non-participatory TTAC construction, human rights issues, exclusionary practices, and broader technocratic patterns, however, it rarely distinguishes Renova Foundation from the mining companies and fails to leverage the range of available learning. This research suggests the recovery is a result of and opportunity to adjust wider environmental governance networks in the Rio Doce basin and Brazil. Using STS and ANT, this study offers a new perspective on the governance of the post-disaster Rio Doce recovery, enhancing present critical literature with reflections on the Brazilian civic epistemology and original recommendations. It brings suggestions for improving not only the recovery but broader concerns around environmental governance in Brazil and developing countries via an example of the utility of ANT and actionable recommendations that can apply to other contexts.
Keywords: environmental governance, participation, Samarco disaster, Renova Foundation, representation, Actor-Network Theory