Brazilian law requires water impoundments to undergo a very thorough approval process to ensure that each project meets environmental, social, political, and safety criteria.

However, critics of the Jirau and Santo Antonio dam claim that many legal criteria were rubber-stamped before all questions from impacted groups had been addressed.

Brazilian law allows for expedited licensing for eco-friendly projects described by the Worldwatch institute as "kindler, gentler dams with smaller reservoirs, designed to lessen social and environmental impacts."

[16] The threat to uncontacted Indians has motivated both internal and external criticism of ESBR, the contractor responsible for building the Jirau dam.

"[15] [19] Jirau's environmentally friendly design earned the plant registration under the "Clean Development Mechanism" (CDM) program of the United Nations.

Jirau is the largest renewable energy plant to earn the CDM, which is awarded to innovative projects that help to solve environmental problems such as climate change.

The Madeira river complex presents an opportunity for Bolivia because all of the hydroelectric dams would feature ship locks capable of raising and lowering oceangoing vessels.

The body of the Brazilian environmental activist Nilce de Souza Magalhães, also known as Nicinha, was found on 21 June 2016 in the hydro-power dam's lake of Jirau.

[23] She was known in the region for the struggle in defense of the affected populations, denouncing human rights violations committed by the consortium responsible for the Jirau power plant, called Energia Sustentável do Brasil (ESBR).

Nicinha was daughter of rubber extractors who came from the Brazilian state of Acre to the city of Abuna (near Porto Velho) in Rondonia, where she lived almost fifty years and was evicted along with other fishers due to the construction of the dam.

Nicinha made several complaints over the years, attending public hearings and events, including, pointed out the serious impacts of predatory fishing activity on the Madeira River.

[23] His killer, Edione Pessoa da Silva, who was in prison after confessing to murder Nicinha, escaped from the State Penitentiary "Edvan Mariano Rosendo", located in Porto Velho (RO) in April 2016.