THE POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS IN MARANHÃO: TERRITORY, DEVELOPMENT AND POWER IN THE VALLEY SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2009

Abstract

This work, from a critical point of view, identified with the political ecology, aims to contribute to the theme of environmental conflicts, considering the necessity to understand the actions of certain particular acting agents that interfere in the socio-economic and political-environment fields, allowing, in this way, to understand altogether how the various spatializations, the relation between antagonistic /co-existing forces and the resulting conflicts are processed. As the object of this study, were selected  the Valley of the Rio Doce Company (CVRD), currently Valley SA, due to its heavy influence, reflected in its territorial, in the state of Maranhão, which has caused many social impacts and environmental injustices because of its political-economic planning that promotes social and environmental (geographical) transformations inadequately, like the displacement of populations and the appropriation of the land, respectively. Within this perspective, it was realized the distribution study of environmental conflicts in Maranhão, through the discourse contained in the document entitled Sustainability Report by Valley 2009, and seeking, when it is possible, to reprove the present affirmations in the document with concrete cases.