Socio-environmental and economic impacts due to the disaster at Vale S.A. in Brumadinho, MG, Brazil: A systematic review

Abstract

Significant socio-environmental and economic impacts on fishermen and fish farmers in the Três Marias reservoir arose from the collapse of the mining tailings dam in the municipality of Brumadinho, MG, Brazil, in 2019. To help assess this situation, we carried out a systematic review to find information that scientifically documents these impacts. To this end, we used the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior Journal Portal, accessed through the Federated Academic Community, to search for data indexed between 2019 and 2023, in the following databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and CAB Direct. We used Brumadinho as the central keyword and linked to it 25 other secondary keywords, such as environmental disaster, fishermen, fish farmers, and Três Marias dam. To screen and select the results, we used Rayyan software and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses methodology. The search resulted in 990 articles, 61 theses, and 251 dissertations. Among them, only 26 articles, 19 theses and 66 dissertations were eligible as contributions to the topic, but very few reported the situation of fishermen and fish farmers. We concluded that there is a lack of information on the damage suffered by these people, and that more scientific studies and attention to this public are needed.