Clara Xavier Marques

Assessing Justice: Reparation efforts following the 2015 Fundao Tailing Dam Disaster in Brazil

Clara’s research delves into the reparation processes implemented following the 2015 Fundão Tailing Dam rupture in Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil, recognized as the most extensive environmental disaster in Brazilian history. The catastrophe resulted in significant socio-environmental devastation, with the loss of 19 lives and the displacement of thousands across the states of Minas Gerais and Espiríto Santo. Approximately 39.2 million cubic meters of toxic waste contaminated the River Doce Basin, ultimately reaching the Atlantic Ocean. A reparation process was initiated in response, but delays, inconsistencies, and conflicts have plagued it. Despite promises of swift action, progress has been protracted, exacerbating the suffering of affected communities for over eight years.
Clara’s research aims to address these ongoing challenges by developing an equitable model for reparation. Moreover, while existing literature offers insights into various reparation processes, the contribution of self-organized and community-driven initiatives remains underexplored. This research aims to address this gap and explore how grassroots movements influence the effectiveness and results of reparation efforts. It also aims to understand how they can contribute to build resilience in communities affected by disasters. This is especially important in areas characterized by ongoing extractive industries, historical injustices, and spatial inequalities, where formal reparation models have not succeeded.
The unprecedented scale of this disaster, coupled with the persistence of similar risks due to the continued expansion of the mining industry in Minas Gerais and Brazil, underscores the importance of refining reparation processes. The study highlights the pressing need to address the socio-environmental consequences of extractive activities, particularly within the context of neo-extractivism and its colonial legacies. In this context, environmental restorative justice, spatial justice, and decoloniality emerge as pivotal frameworks in this analysis, offering a means to acknowledge the multifaceted harms inflicted by such disasters, ensure equitable reparations models, and build resilience.
Notably, despite the extensive history of mining activities in Minas Gerais, which has consistently resulted in severe environmental and social repercussions, there remains a conspicuous absence of practical and effective guidance for policymakers and practitioners engaged in recovery efforts. Clara’s research calls attention to this gap and advocates for immediate and sustained action to develop robust frameworks for disaster recovery, particularly in contexts where extractive industries intersect with vulnerable communities.
Clara holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and a Master’s degree in Land Planning and Urbanism with a specialization in Urban Projects from the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Since her undergraduate studies in Brazil, Clara has been actively involved in research projects, earning multiple scholarships in urban planning and landscape studies.
Her academic trajectory continued in Portugal, where she was granted a research scholarship for the AQUA Project at the University of Lisbon, an international and multidisciplinary initiative at the intersection of urban planning, landscape studies, and the history of science and technology. Clara’s contributions to this project, along with her master’s research, culminated in publishing peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and presentations at several conferences across Portugal, Spain, and Brazil. Her research was further recognized with a Fulbright Scholarship for Research at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore's Department of the History of Science and Technology.
As a PhD student, Clara is working under Dr. Vanessa Guerra.