ASSESSING MEANINGFUL STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT THROUGH ETHICS STANDARDS: Lessons from the Samarco Dam Break and its Operational-level Remediation Program

Abstract

This chapter takes as its point of departure the collapse of the Samarco (Fundão) tailings dam in 2015, which resulted in the flooding of two villages, multiple deaths, and environmental harm in the affected area. We add an ethics perspective, inspired by the research ethics that apply to activities in Brazil and many other countries for research involving people. Based on a review of the academic and grey literature on the aftermath of the disaster, as well as an online survey with affected people, we examine and discuss the ethical dimension of stakeholder engagement in the Samarco dam disaster. We suggest that in the absence of specific tools or standards to assess meaningfulness in MSE, standards borrowed from research ethics can serve as a proxy towards the assessment and design of an intervention involving engagement with affected people. While focused on a Brazilian case study, the findings are likely to be relevant to a broad international audience of stakeholder engagement practitioners and policymakers.