Transitional Justice in The Wake of Ecocide: Resistance and Documentation in Brazil's "Green" Transition
Abstract
Colonial extractivism, dictatorship-era developmentalism, and contemporary “green” projects have produced continuous environmental and social violence in Brazil, yet these harms remain largely absent from formal Transitional Justice (TJ) processes. Indigenous peoples and local communities have long recorded these violations, framing them as interconnected assaults on Nature, life, and more-than-human relations. By tracing the continuities between historical and ongoing extractivism, the study argues that TJ can be expanded to confront socio-ecological harm and address the legacies of coloniality. Community-led documentation offers critical evidence for recognition, accountability, and climate-justice-oriented energy transitions.
Full text
TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN THE WAKE OF ECOCIDE: RESISTANCE AND DOCUMENTATION IN BRAZIL'S "GREEN" TRANSITION Amanda Rossini Martins Context Latin America’s social and environmental realities have been profoundly shaped by colonial and extractive regimes that established enduring structures of ecological and social violence. These dynamics continue to manifest through state policies and development agendas. In Brazil, the military dictatorship (1964–1985) was marked not only by unaddressed systemic human rights violations but also by ecocidal development projects in the Amazon. Indigenous peoples and local communities have long documented these intertwined histories of violence, which today reemerge under the guise of “green” energy initiatives. Their documentation call for innovative forms of recognition, accountability, and socio-environmental justice. My Starting Point Informed by more-than-human rights, this research recognizes the absence of transitional justice (TJ) processes in Brazil for the continuous socio-environmental harms rooted in coloniality. These include colonial extractivism, the authoritarian developmentalism of the military dictatorship, and the ongoing reproduction of socioecological injustices. By tracing these continuities, the project explores how mechanisms of TJ can also offer conceptual and practical tools to confront the legacies of socio-ecological harm. The aim is to expand the meaning of justice in energy transitions by linking historical accountability with current struggles for climate justice. Research Question How can historical and contemporary documentation of socio-ecological harms support transitional justice mechanisms in addressing the legacies of extractivism and informing the energy transition in Brazil? This case contributes to the GROUNDOC project’s goal of reimagining TJ processes from the ground up in aparadigmatic settings. In Brazil, where formal TJ mechanisms addressing socio-environmental harms are largely absent, this case expands the scope of TJ beyond human-centered violence, explicitly addressing coloniality and engaging with climate justice goals that currently lack frameworks for a just energy transition. GROUNDOC Project photo credits: “Pare Belo Monte” by International Rivers, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0; “Signs Denouncing Belo Monte fill the march” by International Rivers, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0