Environmental Conflicts Research Articles

MODEL KOMUNIKASI DALAM PENGELOLAAN KONFLIK PEMBANGUNAN GEOTERMAL DI KABUPATEN SERANG

Geothermal conflict in Serang Regency is occured because communication approach is inappropriately done between the company part and local affected community. Geothermal conflict map involves the company geothermal exploration permit holder, regional government, and local community who live in districts around Mount Prakasak Padarincang, becoming a geothermal location. The research was carried out using qualitative method with study case approach. Conflict of geothermal project seen from its characteristic is environmental conflict. Sealed communication of the company made an information gap impact to the creation of different perception with local community about the interest of geothermal construction in Serang regency. Perception gap between both parts underlied the vertical conflict of geothermal environmental came to the peak stage of conflict. Communication between both conflict parts is defensive and confrontational, also tending to violence. Geothermal conflict that nowadays happen surmised will be potential for violence that disserving both parts.

Role of media in managing environmental conflicts in Rovinari Thermal Power Plant area, Gorj County, Romania

Role of media in managing environmental conflicts in Rovinari Thermal Power Plant area, Gorj County, Romania

Livestock and forest production

Silvopastoral systems can become a development tool, being a form of production where livestock and forestry activities are integrated in the same space. Although forestry activity in Uruguay has evolved steadily with foreign investment, integration with livestock activity has been gradual; the productive and economic aspects and the forms of integration have been scarcely studied. The study of the best forms of integration in the same space can improve competitiveness aspects of both areas. Based on the 2011 agricultural census, a grouping is made that results in four livestock groups and three forestry groups. The use of resources and the productive and social structure are contrasted. Livestock farms forest 21% of the area, with different productive strategies. In a second work, a long-term multi-criteria decision model is structured, taking into account the preferences of a sample of livestock producers. This results in three production and environmental models with results based on the goals to prioritize. When livestock production is prioritized, the best returns from this activity are obtained with the worst results in the environmental goal of carbon balance. The environmental criterion must be considered at higher hierarchical levels in order to achieve positive balance values. This also allows quantifying distances to obtain integrated and sustainable production models. Proposed models and their results can contribute to the quantification of the productive and environmental conflicts and to understanding the advantages and disadvantages of the different integration models, in long term. The future comprehensive development of both activities depends on the knowledge generated about improving the competitiveness of integrated productions. Therefore, this study attempts a contribution that allows identifying and evaluating the different integration models.

Mapping Environmental/Sustainable Governance Research in Chile: A Bibliometric and Network Analysis

In light of increasing concerns about the efficacy of environmental governance (EG) to address the global sustainability challenges of the Anthropocene era, more integrative, transversal, and far-reaching approaches, referred to here as sustainability governance (SG), are gaining ground both in governance praxis and in research. Empirical and methodological challenges emerge from this conceptual analytical cleavage between EG and SG. Through a combination of bibliometric and network analysis, the objective of this article is to explore the structure and trends in the field of EG/SG research in Chile, internationally regarded as the posterchild of Latin-American EG/SG, and derive empirical insights to feed the analytical distinction between EG and SG that informs global debates about ways forward towards an effective governance in the Anthropocene. Our results show that scientific research on EG/SG has experienced a significant increase since the 1990s. We find that while the topical range of the field is broad, including water governance, biodiversity conservation, environmental institutions, climate change and energy issues, and environmental conflicts and justice, key cross-cutting socio-economic and cultural dynamics underpinning the prevalent, yet fundamentally unsustainable, ways of life and economic model are virtually absent from the field, against their growing presence in diagnoses of “sustained unsustainability”.

RETAILING IN BANGLADESH: EVOLUTION AND EXPANSION

Clothing manufacturers in Bangladesh are known around the world for their low prices. As a destination for clothing sourcing from foreign retailers, it offers low labor costs and a large pool of human resources. This makes Dhaka a sourcing hub for global apparel buyers and retailers. Major clothing retailers in top urban destinations across the Western Hemisphere exclusively display these products in front of their customers.In an effort to develop a theoretical framework to explain Bangladesh's retail industry, three main theories can be outlined. Essentially, these theories propose that as a result of external forces (such as environment or conflict), a retail institution will develop into another type or a new type will develop because of a need, conflict, or other factors. When explaining the international expansion of Bangladeshi retailers, we intended to look at three specific theoretical frameworksie; Environmental theory, Cyclical theory and Conflict theory. The article has gone through available literatures to establish relationships between there interrelated theories and justify their selection to explain the evolution and expansion of retail industry in Bangladesh.

Art-based events for conflicted communities: Engaging and educating through art

In the Arctic, environmental conflicts over land use and the exploitation of natural resources cast shadows over communities. Artists’ and art educators’ responses can play a meaningful role in resisting harmful developments. Emerging artistic and pedagogical interventions follow principles of socially and environmentally engaged art and art education. This visual essay describes a contemporary art event that opposed plans for an iron ore mine next to Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park in Finnish Lapland. An art-based action-research strategy was used to develop resources for communities in conflict. It focuses on describing the cyclical nature of art interventions. Analyses of activities show that art-based resources in environmental battles can foster cultural resilience, impact values, enhance hope and allow for campaigning that uses art to communicate environmental concerns. Further research into artistic interventions that open dialogue between parties in conflict is required.

Defensoras ambientales en lucha contra la violencia mediante la no violencia

Extractive and industrial projects forcefully take and exploit land and resources, putting the vulnerable communities depending on them in danger. Women environmental defenders are mobilizing around the world as among the most affected and undervalued protagonists. However, they are facing widespread violence and even murder for their resistance against the multinational corporations typically responsible for such harm and repression. This article summarizes previous work based on the EJAtlas, an online database of environmental conflicts. A feminist political ecology analysis of EJAtlas cases shows how violent repression is gendered, which affects diverse women differently depending on their unique circumstances and identities. Their various experiences of gendered violence influence their distinctly nonviolent mobilization strategies. This could have important implications for countering violent hegemonies.

The Emotional Dimensions of Animal Disease Management: A Political Ecology Perspective for a Time of Heightened Biosecurity

The ongoing devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought new urgency to questions surrounding the origins, management, and complex dynamics of infectious diseases. In this mini review, we use growing international concern over the pandemic potential of emerging infectious diseases as motivation for outlining a research approach to study the emotional dimensions of animal disease management. We sketch out this important analytical terrain by first locating opportunities for literature on the biosecurization of nature to intersect with the emerging field of emotional political ecology. Second, we describe three biosecurity contexts and environmental conflicts at the wildlife-livestock interface: African swine fever in wild boar, brucellosis in elk, and pneumonia in bighorn and domestic sheep. We argue that in these “contact zones,” a focus on emotions can add a new layer of explanation for analyzing the manifestations, implications, and varied experiences of biosecurity.

Research on identifying types of environmental conflicts in mineral activities in Lao Cai province and propose solutions to sustainable development

The article shows some results about establishes types of environmental conflicts in mineral activities base on applying a combination of analytical methods, document synthesis, investigation methods, statistics, community interviews and expert opinion. In Lao Cai province, there are many mineral resources such as copper, iron, apatite, kaolines - felsspat, limestone, clay, sand, gravel, etc., being exploited. Mining projects often use large amount of land areas. The process of mining and processing are polluting more and more seriously day by day. This is the main cause leading to environmental conflicts in study areas. The research results have evaluated and identified the types of environmental conflicts relating to mineral exploitation activities in Lao Cai province. They consist of conflict between mineral exploitation and natural environment (water, air); conflict between mineral exploitation and other natural resources (land, forest, etc.); conflict among social interest groups. Besides, we have proposed general and specific solutions to prevent and minimize the harmful effects of environmental conflics for sustainable development suitable to the socio - economic conditions of Lao Cai province.

Resistance as governance: Transformative strategies forged on the frontlines of extractivism in Canada

Attempts in Canada to include citizens in decision-making around extractive processes have been tokenistic at best and generally fail to meaningfully include the voices, opinions, and rights of people on whose land a given project is being planned. Therefore, informal avenues for influencing decision-making are being taken by communities, often Indigenous communities and often in the form of resistance. In this article we argue that resistance, in the form of blockades, occupations and other strategies are powerfully shaping outcomes in Canada, and indeed constitute a form of governance in and of themselves, helping drive the urgently needed transformative change that formal governance systems continue to fail to bring about. Our argument is based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of 57 cases of environmental conflict in Canada, accessed through the Global Environmental Justice Atlas. These cases provide concrete examples of this bottom-up, land-based governance through resistance led by communities on the front lines of extractivism. These diverse and inspiring cases ground our theorizing and raise important insights and lessons for understanding resistance as transformative governance.

Peopling the Environmental State: River Restoration and State Power

Dam removal in the United States is an increasingly attractive option for advocates of river restoration. We argue that dam removal in New England (United States) is a useful lens for examining state actors’ capabilities to govern environmental processes. Our analytical framework builds off and integrates strategic-relational approaches (SRAs) to state power and those approaches more concerned with “peopling” the state through state agents’ everyday encounters with civil society. The complex suite of issues—ranging from safety and the environmental benefits of free-flowing rivers to historical preservation and cultural heritage—characterizing dam removal and similar restoration efforts challenge state agents to become more multidimensional in environmental governance. Our research reveals that some state agencies in New England have been more effective than others at adopting these novel roles and managing environmental conflicts. Our research also suggests we view the “state” as a complex collective of relations and actors that exerts power over nature–society relations in strategic and often contradictory ways. Our empirical findings, coupled to more nuanced theories of state–nature relations, direct attention to how state power is unevenly distributed within environmental governance arrangements. These findings also suggest that consideration of environmental interventions directed by state agents has the potential to contribute to a progressive and ecologically mindful set of political commitments.

Does artistic activism change anything? Strategic and transformative effects of arts in anti-coal struggles in Oakland, CA

Mushrooming opposition to coal mining and transportation in the United States (US) connects with both environmental justice and climate justice movements. Artistic expressions are part of the strategic toolkit of these movements. Art’s capacity to foster cultural, cognitive and psychological changes is amply recognized by academics as well as by public in general. Nevertheless, the theoretical question of how art is linked to activist strategies and to socio-spatial transformations in environmental conflicts remains unexplored. This paper contributes to filling this gap by examining the emblematic struggle to stop the construction of a coal-export terminal in Oakland, CA. Our data includes 32 in-depth interviews of activists, artists and legal experts linked to the conflict surrounding this coal-export terminal. Non-participant observation and secondary data collection helped to contextualize the interviews. The results offer a timeline of the movement, a map of artistic expressions, and network analyses around the effects of environmental artistic activism. We demonstrate that creative activism has critical relevance for facilitating engagement, education and outreach of the anti- coal movement. Arts and its spatial impact benefited the movement by expanding its scale and making it more inclusive regarding demographics, including particularly women and youth of color. The use of the arts raised environmental and political awareness and enhanced public participation in decision making. The paper connects the literatures of environmental justice, environmental humanities and human geography. We contribute to the yet underdeveloped dialogue discussing the capacity of art to influence socio-ecological structures and socio-spatial dynamics in cases of environmental justice conflict.

Greening extractivism: Environmental discourses and resource governance in the ‘Lithium Triangle’

The lithium extractive industry is expanding, as technological and economic shifts associated with climate change mitigation goals drive global demand for lithium-ion batteries. This article explores the case of the ‘Lithium Triangle’, a region of Latin America (spanning Bolivia, Chile and Argentina) that contains the world’s largest reserves, and where environmental conflicts associated with lithium mining have proliferated. Emphasising the centrality of discourse in resource governance, we analyse the discursive strategies employed by institutional actors seeking to promote and render acceptable lithium extraction in the region. We argue that such strategies reproduce imaginaries of prosperity and modernisation long attached to oil and mineral wealth, while at the same time introducing a novel association of mining with high-tech industries, ‘green jobs’ and ‘climate-friendly’ extraction, seeking to obscure the social and ecological costs of lithium production. This inaugurates an era of ‘green extractivism’, whereby intensive resource exploitation is framed not only as compatible with climate change, but indeed as necessary to its mitigation. Our findings contribute to ongoing conversations regarding post-fossil fuel ‘transitions’, by highlighting the contradictory character of mitigation strategies that rely on mineral-intensive development.

Faces of Marginal Housing in Romania

Marginal settlements may be defined as inhabited areas characterized by a series of negative features, typicallyethnic segregation, social discrimination, poor living conditions and conflicts, with impact on their dwellers and neighboring communities. In Romania, informal settlements were legislated in 2019; it subsequently became mandatory for the local authorities to spatially delimit them and formulate measures to improve living conditions. However, there are still numerous issues to be solved, from the lack of basic services (health, education) to the persistent poor living conditions or serious environmental problems. The Roma communities selected for our study are no exception. They are located on the outskirts of some cities or in their historical centers (Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Timișoara, Baia Mare). Through content analysis, based on print and electronic media from the last 10 years (n = 150 news items), different aspects of marginal housing were illustrated. The results of the study revealed some particular aspects, namely: some of the Roma communities are relocated whilst some others are subject to environmental conflicts; funding addressing the quality of life of Roma ethnics seems to deepen the phenomenon of segregation among communities, most of the measures being limited to the creation of housing facilities.

Determinants of Environmental Conflict: When Do Communities Mobilize against Fossil Fuel Production?

When do indigenous and other negatively affected populations mobilize against fossil fuel companies? We revisit social movement theory and environmental literature to identify three factors that may plausibly shape mobilization decisions of negatively affected populations—democratic institutions, community perceptions of government shaped by land tenure security, and firm attributes. Democratic institutions afford more opportunities for affected populations to air their grievances through protests than non-democratic ones. Land tenure security guaranteed by government contributes to the perception among affected populations that their objectives are better achieved through government mediation than protests. Characteristics of fossil fuel firms, such as state ownership, also shape activist perceptions of government credibility as a mediator. By analyzing fifty-seven countries over the period 1990 to 2013, we find that democracy and state ownership of fossil fuel firms are positively associated with protests, whereas land tenure security is negatively associated.

Evaluation of the quality of lentic ecosystems in Romania by a GIS based WRASTIC model

Globally, ecosystems are constantly degrading as a result of pressures derived from human activities and climate change. For working towards the restoration of the natural balance, it is necessary to evaluate the deviations induced in the ecosystems, to identify where the changes took place, to know what is their amplitude and to decide where it is possible to get involved. Many aquatic ecosystems are depreciated and their restoration is often difficult. Development of appropriate assessment methodologies will improve the decision-making process in public policies for environmental protection and conservation of biodiversity. This study presents an assessment of the degradation level of lentic ecosystems in Romania, performed through a multi-criteria analysis. An extension of the WRASTIC index (Wastewater-Recreational-Agricultural-Size-Transportations-Indutrial-Cover) was generated, namely WRASTIC-HI. The new index was obtained by including values derived from the Potential Pollutant Load index. The analysis showed that 13% of the evaluated lakes are natural, 56.5% are semi-degraded and 30.5% are degraded. The proposed methodology allows to determine the spatial distribution of the degradation sources and to calculate the corresponding indicators. The results obtained provide a useful tool for diagnostic step that can be used as a cornerstone to further identification of environmental conflicts and proposals for improvement of the ecological status of the lentic ecosystems.

Worlding resilience in the Doña Juana Volcano-Páramo, Northern Andes (Colombia): A transdisciplinary view

We present a transdisciplinary perspective for multiple actors interested in disaster-risk-reduction strategies in inhabited volcanoes, based on the novel approach of complexity and collaborative research. Our reflection is based on an ongoing research process that puts into dialogue scientific knowledge and local knowledge from Andean campesino communities inhabiting the Dona Juana Volcano-Paramo in the Latin American tropics. These local communities have experienced historically complex social, economic, and environmental conflicts in their territories; currently, most of them live in the buffer zones of the National Natural Park Dona Juana-Cascabel, which is part of Colombia’s national system of natural protected areas. We address inhabited Andean volcanoes as complex systems, which combine multi-temporal and spatial processes that allow for the emergence of nonlinear and heterogeneous social and ecological interdependencies. By transgressing disciplinary boundaries, we see an opportunity for building horizontal dialogues with communities inhabiting active volcanoes, understanding resilience, and eventually developing situated and collaborative disaster-risk-reduction strategies. The resulting vision is proposed as a fundamental methodology in settings such as south-western Colombia, marked by convoluted social dwelling patterns, and unequal biosocial and socioeconomic histories. Detached from positivistic and victimising perspectives, we seek to build knowledge on the antecedents, inheritance, persistence, and preservation of systems, ultimately enabling response-abilities for decision-making. The motivations, knowledge, and self-organisation capacities of the volcano inhabitants bring about new possibilities of doing locally while thinking globally. The transdisciplinary research approach allows us to situate our exchanges with the local community, and envision future collaborative paths towards promoting community-oriented forms of appropriation and transformation of a volcanic lifeworld.

When Disasters Hit Civil Wars: Natural Resource Exploitation and Rebel Group Resilience

AbstractExisting literature on the relationship between natural disasters and conflicts provides mixed findings. In this article, we argue that whether natural disasters hurt rebel group resilience depends on their funding source and the mode of resource extraction. Rebel groups that obtain their funding from natural resources are more susceptible to natural disasters because this funding source could be easily disrupted by rapid-onset disasters. How rebel groups exploit natural resource wealth also conditions the effect of natural disasters on rebel group resilience. Rebel groups that depend on extorting resource production, despite having a seemingly stable revenue stream, are more likely to face funding cuts after a severe natural disaster. In contrast, rebel groups that rely on smuggling natural resources, due to a higher level of flexibility and mobility, are more likely to survive natural disasters. We test our arguments using data on armed groups, natural disasters, and rebel contraband, and the results of the logit models with interaction terms support our hypotheses. Our findings bridge the environmental conflict literature and the resource curse literature, and offer important policy implications.

Environmental conflicts and management of marine resources in the Cassurubá Complex, Bahia, Brazil

The Cassurubá Complex, located in the Abrolhos Bank, has the highest concentration of marine biodiversity in Brazil. This region also concentrates on many uses of natural resources, such as shipping of eucalyptus, tourism, and artisanal fishing. In this scenario of diverse territorial configurations, this study seeks to analyze the environmental conflicts that influence the territoriality of artisanal fishermen in the Cassurubá Complex. Based on participant observation (2017–2020), semi-structured interviews (2019), participatory mapping (2019), and focus groups (2019) were developed with 37 artisanal fishermen. The main conflicts highlighted were those between types of fishing equipment (trawling and gillnets, lobster nets and longline) and between the local population and development projects, including conflicts with the pulp sector and the disruption caused by the collapse of the Fundão dam. These conflicts were systematized and analyzed based on category, actors, scope, and arenas of dispute. The loss of fishing territory was noted in the interviews and the main form of resistance on the part of the local population in the face of disputes over resource use and complaints of environmental degradation happens through social movements. Finally, it is necessary that the analysis of environmental conflicts be taken into account when making decisions on local spatial planning.

Conflitos Socioambientais no estado de Minas Gerais

In this article, we set up theoretical and empirical bases for the elaboration of a recording program to set up a database to interpret socio-environmental conflicts in Minas Gerais state. We based the records on shreds of evidence from the Brazilian literature about the persistence of those conflicts. The aim was to identify the most recurrent forms of conflicts and understand its socio-spatial dynamics. Here we show the first results obtained by the Observatory of Social and Environmental Conflicts of Minas Gerais. We collect secondary data on 72 websites of newspapers and local, national and international news websites. We found a total of 75 socio-environmental conflicts, in the so-called Planned Regions of Minas Gerais, which were related to mining, agribusiness, and generation of energy