Environmental injustice caused by wind farms: A systematic literature review

Abstract

The recent concern with energy security and environmental impacts, resulting from the expansion of current consumption, has induced the diversification of matrices and among them, the advances of wind energy are noticeable, as it is an inexhaustible source and already consolidated in the market. However, wind farms present challenges to be faced, so that their negative impacts are minimized, since their implementation together with rural territories configures an intrinsic and complex relationship between nature and society. In this sense, the present study aims to investigate whether the expansion of wind energy generating enterprises has caused environmental injustice to rural communities. For this, a Systematic Literature Review was carried out, based on the search for theoretical-empirical articles in the Scielo, Scopus, DOAJ and Web of Science databases. The studies underwent a screening, aiming to answer the following problem-question: has the expansion of wind farms caused environmental injustice in rural communities in Brazil? From the analysis of the selected experiences, it appears that in most cases, the implementation of wind farms caused environmental injustice, especially to rural communities, which often did not participate in the sharing of economic success, leaving only the impacts socio-environmental Therefore, State interventions are necessary to change the current scenario and avoid future conflicts.