Environmental (in)justice and Colonialism in Waste Management: the Conflict Between the Sanitary Landfill of São Gabriel Da Cachoeira (am) and the Boa Esperação Indigenous Community
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article analyzes the socio-environmental conflict arising from the installation and continued operation, for more than two decades, of an open-air dumpsite adjacent to the Boa Esperança Indigenous Community, on the outskirts of the Municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM). The irregular disposal of urban solid waste generates severe negative externalities, manifested in the contamination of water bodies, the proliferation of disease vectors, and the deterioration of local public health. Despite successive interventions by oversight and regulatory agencies and entities, the inertia of public authorities reveals the persistence of a colonial model of environmental management that marginalizes indigenous knowledge and original bodies. It is observed that the public initiatives adopted exclude the community itself from the decision-making process, thereby violating both Convention n. 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Consultation Protocol of the Indigenous Peoples of the Rio Negro. Through the theoretical lens of environmental justice and environmental racism, this research investigates how intercultural and decolonial governance arrangements can subvert this power asymmetry. Adopting a qualitative approach based on bibliographic and documentary research, the study examines mechanisms of active ecological participation, such as prior consultation, parity committees, and the technical co-production of space. It concludes that overcoming the socio-environmental crisis in the Alto Rio Negro necessarily requires a break with state technocratic centralism and the effective inclusion of the Indigenous community as a central political actor in decision-making and the governance of its territory.
Source: Artefactum
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7208822556