The energy injustice of hydropower: Development, resettlement, and social exclusion at the Hongjiang and Wanmipo hydropower stations in China

Abstract

Many developing countries rely on hydropower to improve energy access and to meet their growing demands for energy. However, the social justice concerns accompanying hydropower development are in danger of being overlooked. This study focuses on arguably the most pressing social problem associated with hydropower development, namely, the displacement and resettlement of communities. Employing a case study based approach, this study investigates the extent to which hydropower development-induced resettlement process and its impacts on the resettled households respond to three different tenets of energy justice, i.e., distributional, recognition, and procedural justice. Based on fieldwork conducted at the Hongjiang and Wanmipo Hydropower Stations in Hunan Province, China for two months in 2008, this paper demonstrates that although hydropower development generated significant economic and developmental benefits by alleviating power shortages, improving grid stability, and increasing local tax revenues, these benefits came at the cost of the social exclusion of more than 20,000 resettlers. Specifically, the resettled communities experienced 1) distributional injustice from hydropower due to the low affordability of electricity and water, reduced access to land and food, and an unbalanced distribution of costs and benefits from hydropower development; 2) recognition injustice due to the lack of fairness, transparency, and accountability on the part of the hydropower developer and at all levels of government in energy decision-making; and 3) procedural injustice due to the very limited participatory rights in the decision-making process before, during, and after resettlement and the lack of viable channels through which to seek redress and remedies.