Bioethanol sacrifice zones and environmental/ epistemic injustice. A case study in Argentina.

Abstract

This paper presents a case of environmental conflict caused by a corn-based bioethanol plant in Argentina- one of the world's most important agro-industrial economies. The aim is to illustrate how epistemic inequality is a transversal aspect of environmental injustice. Many of the environmental impacts of this production have been denounced by the affected peoples living next to the plant, which functions in a densely populated area. Their knowledges about health, air pollution and the risk of explosions have been systematically excluded from legal proceedings and policy-making in the case. Additionally, they have demanded the intervention of public universities and research centers in the case, but instead the scientific sector has offered its capacities to advance the agro-industrial complex rather than research the damages and risks made to environmental and human health. Thus, these peoples seem to be confined to a "sacrifice zone" where the protection of the rights to health and a clean environment are systematically violated, along with the denial of their status of legitimate knowers. This paper describes situations in which the knowledge of those affected is disregarded and/or excluded in the process of evidence-making. It also makes visible the co-responsibility of the scientific community in this case regarding the inequality between "production" and "impact" science related to the environmental sustainability of bioethanol. The empirical data of the case is presented within an Environmental/Epistemic Justice and STS framework. In order to overcome the devastating effects of agro-industrial sacrifice zones, this work contributes to the reflection on the interconnectedness of environmental sciences, affected people’s knowledge, and politics.