Ecological Distribution Conflicts Research Articles

Wind parks in post-crisis Greece: Neoliberalisation vis-à-vis green grabbing

This article explores the growth of wind parks in post-crisis Greece in the convergence of the Greek economic crisis, the country’s structural adjustment and global climate change. It illuminates an ongoing process of nature’s neoliberalisation defined by specific measures and strategies. These have facilitated a wave of green grabbing (public and private land, financial and natural resources) in Greece by mostly transnational (energy) companies. Green grabbing is leading to unfavourable consequences for local shepherds and farmers, domestic and small business electricity consumers, conservation and local biodiversity, as well as to ecological distribution conflicts. Private wind parks in post-crisis Greece serve as a socioecological fix to the Greek economic crisis and climate change. The article finally argues that large private and public-private wind parks are far from innocent. Rather, hiding under green and economic growth/recovery credentials, they represent a vehicle for the reproduction and expansion of capitalism with important socioecological implications varying in each context necessitating urgent empirical exploration.

Resistance to Canadian mining projects in Mexico: lessons from the lifecycle of the San Xavier Mine in San Luis Potosí

<p>This article analyses resistance movements to large-scale mining projects in Mexico, particularly the case of sustained organized resistance to the San Xavier Mine, in the central north state of San Luis Potosí. As one of the first struggles in Mexico against Canadian mining projects after the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the leaders of this movement pioneered strategies of resistance on the legal front and were instrumental in building anti-mining alliances and networks on the national and international levels. Now that the excavation process has finished and the mine is closing down, this article seeks to draw on the case to illustrate the complementarity of three approaches for interpreting resistance to mining: class struggle, ecological distribution conflicts, and the clash of cultural valuations over territorial vocation. The argument is that these approaches are not mutually exclusive; they can be combined to explain the multiple dimensions of specific struggles, whose shifts in emphasis at different moments of the struggle are conditioned by – and condition – the phase of a mine's development. By contextualizing the case study in a broader analysis of social environmental conflicts around mining in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, the analysis seeks to illustrate the ways in which the struggle against the San Xavier Mine is representative of broader trends, as well as its peculiarities. On the local level, we find the struggle has more to do with defending conditions of social and cultural reproduction than protecting the means of production that sustain traditional livelihoods. This pertains, not just to a non-contaminated living environment and the availability of clean water for human consumption, but also to the conservation of natural and architectural patrimony with historic and cultural significance.</p><p><strong>Key words</strong>: Mining conflicts, Canadian imperialism, political class formation, ecological distribution, cultural valuations</p>

Complementarity between the EJ movement and degrowth on the European semiperiphery: An empirical study

Inspired by the thesis that an alliance between degrowth and environmental justice (EJ) movements is essential (Akbulut et al., this issue), this paper presents the findings of empirical research concerning the pitfalls and possibilities of such an alliance as understood by prominent Croatian EJ movement leaders. We outline the context of the Croatian EJ movement through two specifics – the country's semiperipheral position in the global world-system and the ecological distribution conflicts (EDCs) characteristic of the post-socialist societal metabolism in Europe. The research explores the theory-practice nexus, materialist vs. post-materialist value base, and the potential of ‘a politico-metabolic reconfiguration’ (ibid.) for the proposed alliance. Our findings indicate a hitherto limited, but positive potential for degrowth to provide a theoretical framework for the semiperipheral EJ movement. Both the EJ movement and degrowth demonstrably share a materialist motivation, but not for reasons of ‘under-development’ of semiperipheral societies. Our analysis concludes that semiperipheral EJ activists are open to a politico-metabolic reconfiguration proposal, though they are presently not aware that a viable reconfiguration strategy is proffered by the degrowth research community. On the European semiperiphery, an alliance between theory and movement would benefit from a clearer explication of such a strategy.

Mapping and Analyzing Ecological Distribution Conflicts in Andean Countries

The extractive sector is increasingly important in the GDP and export basket of the four Andean countries under study (ACs) (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia). The analysis of an updated inventory of 296 environmental conflicts in the EJAtlas for these four countries reaches the following conclusions: extractivism causes environmental conflicts related to mining, fossil fuels, hydropower and biomass; indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant communities are the most affected; behind the conflicts, there are not only environmental impacts but also social impacts that concern livelihoods, land deprivation and work insecurity, and also loss of cultural practices and cultural identity; most of the forms of collective action used in protests are peaceful, most notably petitions, street marches, media activism, lawsuits, while States and companies criminalize activists and are often violent (with about 75 cases in which there are deaths or disappearance of environmental defenders); socio-environmental movements (that sometimes include environmental NGOs) have achieved relative success, stopping 59 of the 296 conflict-generating projects and giving birth to new forms of resistance. While successfully stopping single projects cannot be construed as a general critique of economic growth, such attempts are congruent with post-development, community-centric, ecologically-balanced and culturally-sensitive Andean visions such as buen vivir or sumak kawsay. They are also congruent with policy proposals put forward from a post-economic growth perspective such as “leaving unburnable fuels in the ground” and “resource extraction caps”.

Socio-ecological distribution conflicts in the mining sector in Guatemala (2005–2013): Deep rooted injustice and weak environmental governance

This study characterizes ecological distribution conflicts (EDC) related to the mining industry and derives a series of political implications for Guatemala. The characterization includes a placement in the context of Central America, regional location, intensity of the EDC and the trends in social and environmental consequences, with special emphasis on the groups of social actors affected and the degree to which the institutional framework does not provide effective means of participatory environmental governance. The time period covers 2005 to 2013. In order to understand trends in actor behavior and diverse moments of high intensity we introduce the use of action and response timelines as a methodology for EDC analysis. We propose the notions of embedded conflicts to describe their relation with the structural social conditions prevailing in the country and swarms of conflicts to describe their escalation through time. We conclude that conflictivity is inherent to the unsustainable characteristics of metallic mining and is aggravated by Guatemalás history of social inequality and power concentration. The attempts to reduce “conflictivity” through CSR have been insufficient in addressing these structural conditions. EDCs may have helped create a positive environment for creative forces to seek sustainability and justice in Guatemalás development model.

Inside and beyond the Petro-State frontiers: geography of environmental conflicts in Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution

Venezuela is well known for its century-old oil economy, which has significantly shaped its social fabrics, territories, and eco-systems. Since 1999, the Bolivarian Revolution has led to important transformations in the context of the ‘Socialism of the 21st century’ project, but the extractivist model has deepened. This situation has created or intensified several ecological distribution conflicts, which have been further exacerbated by an extraordinary national crisis unleashed in the period 2013–2016. In this paper, a geography of the 20 most emblematic and representative socio-environmental conflicts in the period of the Bolivarian Revolution is presented. From a comparative political ecology perspective, this article aims to understand how power relations are expressed through territorial configurations and spatial dynamics of resistance, and what are the implications for sustainability. It is argued that a remarkable new situation of environmental injustice is occurring in this period. Despite the ‘eco-socialist’ discourse raised, the current Petro-State has updated the traditional regime on eco-systems, territories, and human bodies primarily by resorting to the assimilation of socio-environmental conflicts through a strategic distribution policy of oil rents. However, it has maintained a pattern of ecological degradation and social marginalization as an outcome of its economic development model. The current context of crisis has fostered intense territorial disputes and conditions for the emergence of new social actors, practices, scenarios, and geographies linked to underground economies and criminal bands, which complicate an already concerning scenario of unsustainability. The current extractivist model is reaching a breaking point. New commodity frontiers have become a main area of dispute.

Ecological distribution conflicts as forces for sustainability: an overview and conceptual framework

Can ecological distribution conflicts turn into forces for sustainability? This overview paper addresses in a systematic conceptual manner the question of why, through whom, how, and when conflicts over the use of the environment may take an active role in shaping transitions toward sustainability. It presents a conceptual framework that schematically maps out the linkages between (a) patterns of (unsustainable) social metabolism, (b) the emergence of ecological distribution conflicts, (c) the rise of environmental justice movements, and (d) their potential contributions for sustainability transitions. The ways how these four processes can influence each other are multi-faceted and often not a foretold story. Yet, ecological distribution conflicts can have an important role for sustainability, because they relentlessly bring to light conflicting values over the environment as well as unsustainable resource uses affecting people and the planet. Environmental justice movements, born out of such conflicts, become key actors in politicizing such unsustainable resource uses, but moreover, they take sometimes also radical actions to stop them. By drawing on creative forms of mobilizations and diverse repertoires of action to effectively reduce unsustainabilities, they can turn from ‘victims’ of environmental injustices into ‘warriors’ for sustainability. But when will improvements in sustainability be lasting? By looking at the overall dynamics between the four processes, we aim to foster a more systematic understanding of the dynamics and roles of ecological distribution conflicts within sustainability processes.

Trends in social metabolism and environmental conflicts in four Andean countries from 1970 to 2013

In the global map of environmental injustices ( http://www.ejatlas.com ), the Andean countries (AC) report many ecological distribution conflicts. Our hypothesis is that the patterns of such conflicts are explained by the structural shifts of the economies and the concomitant changes in their metabolic profiles. Since the 1990s, these countries went through a strong reprimarization process, which changed their social metabolism as well as intensified environmental pressures and conflicts. In monetary terms, in the AC group of countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia), the primary sector increased its importance both in exports as well as in GDP. In the metabolic dynamics, the Domestic Extraction of materials (measured in tons) increased by a factor of 3.4 after jumping from 336 to 1145 MT between 1970 and 2012. This was driven by the fossil fuel and mining sectors. This reality was reflected in the environmental conflicts. Mining, fossil fuels, biomass and hydropower plants are the most conflictive sectors. The research in this article relies on a study of material flow analysis for the four AC carried out by the authors as well as 244 environmental conflicts reported in the EJAtlas until August 2016. The shifts in the metabolic–economic patterns help explain the dynamics and characteristics of the environmental conflicts in the AC. Such conflicts produce social mobilizations, which if successful, might help move society towards sustainability and environmental equity.

Ecological distribution conflicts and sustainability: lessons from the post-socialist European semi-periphery

Understanding how ecological distribution conflicts (EDCs) have changed through the transition from socialism to capitalism in the European semi-periphery can provide valuable lessons for global efforts towards sustainability. This article traces the social, political and economic origins of EDCs, and evaluates the outcomes of the 74 most illustrative cases of such conflicts from five ex-Yugoslav countries reported in the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJatlas): Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. It analyses how the occurrence and characteristics of the conflicts changed through three distinct phases in the region’s history, i.e., the periods of Socialism (1945–1990), Transition (1991–2003), and EU-accession (2004–present), each characterised by different socio-metabolic, political and institutional profiles. The article also evaluates the level of environmental justice (EJ) in the region. The greatest diversity of conflicts were identified in the last phase, a period characterised by an increase in material and energy flows through a number of controversial projects, many of which arose as a result of ‘modernisation’. Fortunately, the resulting ‘unsustainabilities’ were immediately politicised by EJ movements, whose composition, demands and success differed in line with changing dominant political and institutional conditions. Currently, the EJ movements in ex-Yugoslavia are led by national NGOs, while urban movements embrace the broadest spectrum of socio-environmental issues. Timely mobilisation and support from local authorities have been crucial for the successful resolution of conflicts. However, EJ movements have proved impotent to resist projects deemed to be of national economic interest in contexts characterised by high levels of corruption and low political accountability. Stronger alliances among different movements would assure more EJ and lasting sustainability solutions in the region.

Valuation Languages Along the Coal Chain From Colombia to the Netherlands and to Turkey

Environmental goods and bads are accumulated and unequally distributed along the coal supply chain, producing environmental injustices where actors deployed values and representations of coal to either resist or legitimize its extraction and consumption. This paper analyzes those valuation languages along the coal chain and their relationships with the territory where coal is extracted and burned. The paper examines and compares the coal chains between Colombia-Netherlands and Colombia-Turkey, assessing the various dimensions of the ecological distribution conflicts. The coal chain is analyzed through different layers and scales. To identify the valuation languages along both coal chains, semi-structured interviews and secondary data analysis were conducted. Discourse analysis methodologies were used to determine the frequency and relevance of the valuation languages. Results show that multiple valuation languages appear, which are peculiar to each country and to the economic and political contexts in which the different stages of coal chain are embedded. Environmental justice actions taken along the coal chain with the focus on acknowledging these multiple valuation languages are also discussed. In conclusion, the analysis reveals that these actions depend on the willingness of social actors to give up or negotiate their valuation languages or on the power to impose them.

Ecological distribution conflicts (EDCs) over mineral extraction in India: An overview

Mineral extraction is growing worldwide, generating serious social and environmental impacts, and in the process, sparking significant resistance. The present article provides the first overview of non-fuel mining conflicts in India. The analysis is based on 100 cases of conflicts that occurred between 1992 and 2014, which constitutes the most exhaustive database compiled to date. In each case, location, mineral extracted, actors involved, cited causes of protest, conflict duration and outcomes were recorded. We found that the commodity responsible for the most conflicts is sand, the extraction of which is widespread and often carried out illegally by small-scale actors near rivers. Resistance against metallic ore mining, in contrast, typically pits local populations against larger corporations. Most resistance movements are composed of subaltern rural and/or indigenous populations; very few national and international NGOs were found to be involved in local movements. The causes of such conflicts have largely been ecological and responsible for an undermining of local livelihoods. Mineral extraction is expected to increase in India over the next decade, and with it, the number of associated conflicts.

Changing social metabolism and environmental conflicts in India and South America

Firstly, we present some environmental conflicts gathered in 2016 in the EJAtlas, selecting a few that have implied deaths of environmental defenders around the world including India and South America. Such conflicts arise from changing trends in the social metabolism. Secondly, we compare India and South America in terms of internal metabolism and international trade. We show that South America and India are at different moments in the race (concomitant with increased GDP per person) for the use of materials. South America reached a level of extraction of over 10 tons per person/year of all materials. It is unlikely that this will increase much. Maintaining this level already means environmental pressures. A substantial part goes for exports, much larger than the imports. In contrast, India was until recently at a level not much above 5 tons of material use per capita/year. If the Indian economy grows, as it is likely to do, the social metabolism will increase in volume more or less in proportion to economic growth. The use of biomass will increase much less than that of building materials and fossil fuels. This follows the regular patterns of economic growth. Internally, the Indian economy exploits some states as providers of raw materials in a pattern of ecological internal colonialism but internationally (in terms of material flows), it is not subject to 'ecologically unequal exchange', contrary to South America. Finally, we use some statistics from the EJAtlas comparing participation of indigenous and traditional populations and rates of 'success' in local struggles for environmental justice in both subcontinents, to see whether the global movement for environmental justice can help to slow down the destruction of the environment and local livelihoods and cultures.Key words: EJAtlas, material flows, economic growth, ecological distribution conflicts, environmental defenders, ecologically unequal trade, internal colonialism

Mapping the frontiers and front lines of global environmental justice: the EJAtlas

This article highlights the need for collaborative research on ecological conflicts within a global perspective. As the social metabolism of our industrial economy increases, intensifying extractive activities and the production of waste, the related social and environmental impacts generate conflicts and resistance across the world. This expansion of global capitalism leads to greater disconnection between the diverse geographies of injustice along commodity chains. Yet, at the same time, through the globalization of governance processes and Environmental Justice (EJ) movements, local political ecologies are becoming increasingly transnational and interconnected. We first make the case for the need for new approaches to understanding such interlinked conflicts through collaborative and engaged research between academia and civil society. We then present a large-scale research project aimed at understanding the determinants of resource extraction and waste disposal conflicts globally through a collaborative mapping initiative: The EJAtlas, the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice. This article introduces the EJAtlas mapping process and its methodology, describes the process of co-design and development of the atlas, and assesses the initial outcomes and contribution of the tool for activism, advocacy and scientific knowledge. We explain how the atlas can enrich EJ studies by going beyond the isolated case study approach to offer a wider systematic evidence-based enquiry into the politics, power relations and socio-metabolic processes surrounding environmental justice struggles locally and globally.Key words: environmental justice, maps, ecological distribution conflicts, activist knowledge, political ecology

The flow/fund model of Conga: exploring the anatomy of environmental conflicts at the Andes–Amazon commodity frontier

This paper aims to contribute toward improved understanding of complex ecological distribution conflicts at the commodity frontiers, where increasing metabolism in industrial societies is leading to increased environmental destruction in resource-rich countries throughout the world. The focus of this paper is the Conga gold mine project in northern Peru, where there have been violent clashes between the Minera Yanacocha mining company and the local population, represented mainly by campesinos that live in the highlands of the Andes–Amazon region. We do this by using the flow/fund model developed by Georgescu-Roegen and extended by Giampietro and Mayumi, to help us trace the anatomy of this conflict, using simplified representations of the central economic processes involved: gold mining and milk production. By complementing the concept of Ricardian land—an indestructible fund—with the concept of land materials, which is susceptible to qualitative change, and therefore can be either a fund or a flow element of the economic process, we illustrate that the gold extraction process, which treats this land material as a flow, stands in conflict with the milk production process, at least in part, because that process is using these land materials as a fund, i.e., in order to make production possible. The paper employs the concept of environmental valuation triadics, developed by Farrell, in order to explore how the boundaries—physical frontiers and temporal durations—of a specified economic process are related to flow/fund element identities. We conclude with some reflections on potential future applications for the methods employed and on the implications of our analytical results.

Between science and activism: learning and teaching ecological economics with environmental justice organisations

Activists are motivated by interests and values, making use only of the evidence that supports their arguments. They are not dispassionate as scientists are supposed to be. There is therefore something antithetical between science and activism. Nevertheless, environmental justice organisations (EJOs) have accumulated stocks of activist knowledge of great value to the field of ecological economics, which sometimes becomes available to academics and influences public policies. Vice versa, some concepts and methods from ecological economics are useful in practice to EJOs. In this paper, we use the knowledge built through the European Commission-funded projects Civil Society Engagement with Ecological Economics and Environmental Justice Organisations, Liabilities and Trade to understand the relations between academic theories such as ecological economics and political ecology and activist practice in EJOs. Some work by researchers in ecological economics and political ecology can be understood as activism-led science, while EJOs sometimes carry out science-led activism. A dialectic and dynamic relation drives the interactions between academics and practitioners focused on ecological distribution conflicts. An interactive process exists between knowledge production and knowledge use, in which one furthers the other thanks to the relations built over time between scholars and practitioners.

Social Metabolism, Ecological Distribution Conflicts, and Languages of Valuation

Thirty-five years after the start of the Chipko movement in 1973, twenty years after the death of Chico Mendes in December 1988 in Brazil as the victim of a “tragedy of enclosures,” thirteen years ...

Difference and Conflict in the Struggle Over Natural Resources: A political ecology framework

Arturo Escobar examines the increasing number of conflicts over natural resources around the world in response to neo-liberal globalization. He argues that such escalating environmental conflicts can be conceptually understood through three inter-related rubrics: economic, ecological, and cultural. His interest is in the relationship between difference and equality of access in economic, ecological, and cultural distribution conflicts in order to set out a political ecology framework. He asks that we treat economic, ecological, and cultural distribution as equally important. If we are to live in a peaceful, just and balanced modern social world we can no longer deny people their rights to their own cultures, ecologies, and economies.

An ecology of difference

This paper develops a broad conceptualization of what could be called a political ecology of difference. The paper builds on trends in political ecology, the politics of place, and cultural analyses of modern conceptions of nature, rights, and the individual to outline an integrated framework for thinking about difference from the perspective of economic, ecological, and cultural distribution conflicts. The argument is illustrated with a case study from the Pacific rainforest region of Colombia, particularly the political ecology developed by the region’s social movement of black communities; the paper concludes with implications of the framework for thinking about the cultural politics of dominant institutions and their potential transformation along the lines of a politics of difference.

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No entanto, uma das caracteristicas mais notaveis da atuacao de Alier e que suas atividades cientificas e academicas nunca sobrepujaram o compromisso politico-humanista e o exercicio de uma cidadania ativa, preocupada com os pobres. Uma atitude bastante significativa nesses tempos de cinismo e indiferenca crescentes nos meios intelectuais. Nesse sentido, as analises teoricas de Alier sobre economia dos recursos naturais sao marcadas por decadas de convivio com pescadores, camponeses, pequenos extrativistas e outros moradores das zonas rurais da America Latina, Asia e Africa. Sao individuos que sofrem, de modo particularmente acentuado, os efeitos da degradacao ambiental – ate mesmo pela dependencia direta dos fatores climaticos e ciclicos da natureza – sem participar da festa do consumismo que em grande parte provoca a atual crise ecologica global.