Abstract
In this article, we investigate socio-ecological conflicts surrounding the proposed Second International Airport project near Nijgadh, a town in the southern Terai region of Nepal. Praised by the Nepali government as a gamechanger for Nepal's economy, it has come under scrutiny by environmental activists after plans emerged for extensive clearing of the densely forested project site. While public and political debates have focused on the environmental impacts of the project, the area is also home to nearly 8,000 people, most of whom have no formal land rights and belong to Janajati groups, who face displacement. The apparent lack of attention to the project's consequences for local communities raises questions about the safeguarding of their interests. Drawing on justice theories and political ecology, we conducted a case study to investigate the residents' struggle for justice, recognition, and visibility amidst a strong dichotomy of mainstream developmentalist and conservationist discourses. During two months of fieldwork in Nepal, we gathered empirical evidence, including observations, interviews, and project documentation. Our findings suggest that the misrecognition of local communities, particularly in Tangiya Basti, began long before the airport project, and is intertwined with distributive and procedural injustices, reinforced by power asymmetries of various kinds. Overall, we argue that while the airport project is often framed as an environmental conflict, it is also a conflict over claims to social justice and livelihood security.
Highlights
Nijgadh International Airport is [a] project of vital importance for Nepal
Building on existing justice and political ecology research, such as Persson et al (2017) and Islar (2012), in this article, we argue that the invisibility of local concerns in public debates suggests issues of misrecognition and that the conflict over SIA is as much a struggle for social justice and recognition, sustained and undermined by various manifestations of power, as it is for environmental protection
Based on empirical evidence derived from two months of fieldwork in Kathmandu and the Nijgadh area in Bara district, we examined the injustices faced by the communities affected by the airport project and how various kinds of power have manifested as identifiable injustices
Summary
Nijgadh International Airport is [a] project of vital importance for Nepal. This is our national pride project. The project authorities have not released a compensation and resettlement plan for the nearly 1,500 landless households This apparent lack of public and political attention to the impact of the airport on these communities raises questions about the safeguarding of their interests. Many studies show that the people living in the proximate areas frequently do not share in these benefits, and often suffer major economic, health, and cultural losses." This production of uneven landscapes in the name of development is often the result of multidimensional injustices experienced by the marginalized groups concerned (Ottinger, 2017). The authors propose applying specific conceptualizations of power from political ecology to environmental justice, which we put into practice by using a three-dimensional power structure developed by Svarstad et al (2018) to understand issues of misrecognition and other related injustices. Conclude by highlighting the need to explore larger issues of reconciling community interests with sustainability and sustainable development concerns
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