Environmental Conflicts Research Articles

Will Peaceful Waters Flow Again? A Game-Theoretic Insight into a Tripartite Environmental Conflict in the Middle East.

A tripartite environmental conflict over the Al-Hawizeh-Azim Marsh located in the Tigris River Basin is strategically investigated as an instance of a higher-level hydro-political conflict, using the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (GMCR). The GMCR+ Decision Support System is employed to investigate this intriguing dispute under the status quo and a potential hydro-political scenario considered to assess the efficacy of employing a suggested water diplomacy tool (option) as an alternative mechanism for resolving the conflict. The results of this exploratory conflict analysis study highlight the importance of the policy systems dominating the strategic behavior of the decision makers. Utilizing the option for water diplomacy would create new equilibria for equitably resolving this complex dispute, which would be beneficial for all decision makers if the proposed option and policy systems were adopted.

Assessing Tradeoffs between Development and Conservation: A Case of Land Use Change in a National Park of Korea

Protected areas are places that provide diverse ecosystem services, including cultural ecosystem services. At the same time, the development and unbalanced use of natural resources in protected areas often create environmental threats and social conflicts. This study estimates the economic value of environmental consequences derived from the construction of an airport in a national park in Korea. We employ a discrete choice experiment to assess economic values and consider a key part of the tradeoffs derived from the airport construction at Heuksan Island of Dadohae Marine National Park in Korea. The results show that social benefits related to improved accessibility and tourism opportunities would be generated but at substantial costs resulting from environmental degradation and the reduction in bird populations. A segmentation analysis also reveals that heterogeneous preferences exist based on variables reflecting individuals’ visit experiences and trust in the government. The findings indicate that considering environmental impacts is important when evaluating the feasibility of a development project in a protected area.

Mujeres afectadas por megaproyectos en tiempos de pandemia: conflictos y resistencias

This article aims to reflect on the logic through which mega development projects are set up in several places in Brazil and the impacts that they cause on women’s lives, taking into consideration what they have been announcing in the media: “all this already existed. The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified what we already used to suffer”. This reflection is based on the experiences of “women”, observed in field researches carried out in territories affected by large investment projects and through personal and virtual semi-structured interviews with those women affected by such projects, complemented by women that advice affected populations through online events related to the issue. We demonstrate how the existence of environmental conflicts, – that is, conflicts related to the access, use and material and symbolic appropriation of the environment – as a result of the set up of large projects, generate a process of expropriation of territories that adversely affects the lives of black, traditional, agricultural and indigenous populations, with differentiated implications for women. The domestic work and family care burden as a result of worsening health conditions caused by development projects, sexual exploitation of women and girls’ bodies and the denial of them as political actors revealed by how they have to struggle for the right to be considered as “affected” and the gender appropriation by corporations involved in such projects demonstrate how gender inequalities are compounded by this kind of investment as well as inflecting a universal, eurocentric and individualistic perspective of “gender” within communities. These are effects that due to the pandemic have been intensified and became even more explicit whilst being fought by these women.

CONFLITOS AMBIENTAIS RELACIONADOS À PESCA ARTESANAL NA ZONA COSTEIRA BRASILEIRA

O trabalho teve como objetivo identificar e mapear os conflitos ambientais que abrangem a comunidade pesqueira artesanal na zona costeira brasileira, de forma a proporcionar maior visibilidade aos atores sociais, vitimizados pela desigualdade e injustiça ambiental, em favor de projetos econômicos. Para esta análise foram utilizados os dados do Mapa de Conflitos e Injustiça Ambiental em Saúde no Brasil elaborado pela Fiocruz, de forma a sistematizar uma proposta metodológica focada nos conflitos presentes nos estados costeiros do país e relacionados com a pesca artesanal. Os resultados apontam que os estados da Bahia (14), Ceará (12) e Rio de Janeiro (9) têm o maior número de conflitos na pesca. Entre as principais atividades econômicas geradoras de conflito na pesca artesanal destacam-se a indústria química e de petróleo/gás (35,62%), os portos e estaleiros (32,88%) – predominantes nas regiões Sul e Sudeste –, o turismo (30,14%) e as atividades pesqueiras e de carcinicultura (24,66%) – com maior incidência nas regiões Norte e Nordeste do país.
 Palavras-chave: conflitos ambientais, pesca artesanal, zona costeira, gestão ambiental, vulnerabilidadesocial.

Science communication and mediatised environmental conflict: A cautionary tale.

When Australian physicist, Peter Ridd, lost his tenured position with James Cook University, he was called a 'whistleblower', 'contrarian academic' and 'hero of climate science denial'. In this article, we examine the events surrounding his dismissal to better understand the role of science communication in organised climate change scepticism. We discuss the sophistry of his complaint to locate where and through what processes science communication becomes political communication. We argue that the prominence of scientists and scientific knowledge in debates about climate change locates science, as a social sphere or fifth pillar in Hutchins and Lester's theory of mediatised environmental conflict. In doing so, we provide a model to better understand how science communication can be deployed during politicised debates.

Encroached by pine and eucalyptus? A grounded theory on an environmental conflict between forest industry and smallholder livelihoods in Chile

Plantation forestry has economic, social, and ecological potentials, such as the opportunity for jobs, income and economic development, or possible carbon storage and soil protection. However, plantation forestry, if inappropriately managed and spatially integrated, has been shown to raise environmental conflicts with stakeholders in the vicinity of plantations. To avoid and manage such conflicts, their root causes must be profoundly understood. Some conflicts have a distributional character and arise from differential or unjust access to resources. Others have causes that relate to perceptions and constructions of the natural environment, environmental values and norms and social legitimacy of livelihoods in the vicinity of plantation. Conflicts with such a constitutional character may become intractable if their root causes are not identified. This study addresses the situation of smallholders affected by the proximity of commercial forestry that has expanded vastly during the last decades. Based on a Grounded Theory approach, it disentangles the perceived impacts of pine and eucalyptus plantations on rural livelihoods. It shows that a profound environmental conflict is given, although this conflict is not prominent in the political discourse in Chile. The conflict consists of an ostensible level of conflict, which mainly relates to material impacts plantation impose to smallholder livelihoods. However, more profoundly, there is a fundamental conflict level, which comprises questions of illegitimacy of land use in the study site and a perceived erosion of rurality. It discusses potential strategies for conflict resolution and shows that current intents are prone to fail, since they address the ostensible level, but disregard the fundamental level of conflict. This conclusion is expected to shed light on the situation in other countries, where afforestation measures are currently undertaken.

The drought of 1886. Hydro-social networks, water appropriation and environmental conflict in the Central and Northern Zone of Chile

Drawing from environmental history, this paper studies the power relations that articulate the management of hydro-social networks in Chile. It analyzes the drought of 1886 as a key juncture for the purpose of examining the relationship between society and nature, particularly in a context of State building and insertion of the country into global markets. During that year, different channels owners monopolized the exiguous available flows, protected in their individual rights of property on the water, without considering the arid socio-environmental context. This generated several conflicts over water distribution, in which the Chilean State had to intervene through its various provincial authorities. We argue that these conflicts were not consequence of the reduction of rainfall but of the way in which the Chilean ruling class, the State and its legislation understood the link between human beings and nature. In order to understand the principles that shaped this relationship, we examine different conflicts related to the management of hydro-social networks in the provinces of Atacama, Colchagua and Aconcagua.

Salty Port: Environmental Conflicts Resulting from the Açu Port, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil

Abstract The aim of this article is to analyze the dynamics that marked the coexistence between different actors in the environmental conflict caused by the salinization of surface and underground waters during the implantation of the Açu Port, in the municipality of São João da Barra, which is located in the Northern Fluminense region. The work seeks to demonstrate the links between this particular conflict and the profile of the major projects established to expand Brazil’s insertion in the world economy as an exporter of primary and semi-benefited products. From a methodological point of view, the work used a qualitative methodology based on a bibliographic and documentary survey related to the environmental impacts and conflicts caused by the Açu Port. The research results demonstrate the importance of having a transparent, participatory decision-making process guided by the sustainability of state actions in the planning and implementation of Large Investment Projects.

Trends of Armed Conflict in Kenya from 1997 to 2021: An Exploratory Data Analysis

Armed conflict patterns have drastically changed since the post-cold war period. In Sub-Saharan Africa, armed conflict continues to be persistent and on the rise. Kenya has not experienced civil war, but has experienced intra-state conflicts which display themselves as political, natural resources, ethnicity, land, and environmental conflicts. This study aimed to identify patterns and trends of armed conflict in Kenya. Secondary data from Armed Conflict and Location Events Data (ACLED) for the period 15^th January 1997 to 25^th February 2021 was used. Exploratory data analysis and generalized additive model were used to identify patterns and trends. For the period studied, 7,437-armed conflict events and 11,071 fatalities were recorded. There was a non-linear trend and a general increase in the number of armed conflict cases in Kenya. The peaks in the non-linear trend were observed during the years 2002, 2007, 2013 and 2017. On the contrary, the number of fatalities from armed conflict decreased over time and had a non-linear trend, with peaks in the years 1998, 2001, 2007, 2013 and, 2017. Similarly, there was a reduction in the number of fatalities per armed conflict over time with 149 fatalities per 100-armed conflict events recorded in the study period. Linear and non-linear trend of armed conflict events was observed at the county levels, with counties like Nairobi and Nakuru having a non-linear trend similar to the overall trend. The number of events of armed conflict for riots and protests event type had a non-linear trend while the rest had a linear trend with a positive slope. Violence Against Civilians (VAC) event type had the highest number of events followed by Riots and Protests. Additionally, VAC had the highest number of fatalities followed by Battles and Riots. In terms of fatalities per armed conflict, Explosions/Remote violence event type had the highest fatality rate followed by Battles and VAC. The peaks in the number of armed conflict cases and fatalities were observed in the years in which general elections were conducted in Kenya.

The multiple landscapes of Biedjovággi: Ontological conflicts on indigenous land

Abstract In this article, we engage with environmental conflicts on indigenous land through a focus on an attempt to gain social licence to reopen and operate the Biedjovággi mine in Guovdageainnu/Kautokeino in Sápmi, Norway. We argue that mining prospects bring forth ontological conflicts concerning land use, as well as ways to know the landscape and the envisioned future that the land holds. It is a story of a conflict between two different ways of knowing. The paper explores the Sámi landscape through different concepts, practices and stories. We then contrast this to the way the same landscape is understood and narrated by a mining company, through the programmes and documents produced according to the Norwegian law and standards. We follow Ingold’s argument that the Sámi landscape practices are taskscapes, where places, times and tasks are interconnected. These were not acknowledged in the plans and documents of the mining company. We conclude by addressing the tendency of extractive industries to reduce different landscapes in ways that fit with modern understandings, which oppose culture to nature.

Studying Across: Anthropology, Conflict Transformation and Cultural Violence in Environmental Conflict

Abstract Using the example of the controversial Site C dam in British Columbia, Canada, this article describes how ethnographic research that incorporated a conflict transformation perspective and included individuals from both sides of the issue highlighted both contrasting views on human-environment relations and the inequitable conditions under which they met through the Environmental Assessment process. The article argues that an anthropological approach that incorporates a conflict transformation perspective is particularly well-suited to identify, and potentially to address, the “discourses, narratives, and worldviews” (Rodriguez and Inturias 2018: 96) that operate as “cultural violence” (Galtung, 1990) in state-Indigenous environmental conflicts, legitimating structural and environmental violence.

THE FOUR CASE STUDIES ON THE EFFECTS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON WATER POLLUTION: DO CONFLICTS AFFECT A COMPANY’S CSR POLICY?

As the world pays more attention to environmental sustainability, organizations need to pay more attention to solving the global water crisis and minimizing its impact on themselves and the planet. Businesses today have a huge impact on the environment and make excessive use of available natural resources and emit harmful pollutants. In order to obtain specific information about the company's water resources strategy and practices, an exploratory analysis was carried out on five multinational companies. This article presents four case studies of the Corporate Social Responsibility Guidelines from Coca-Cola, Mondel?z International, Nestlé and PepsiCo. These multinational companies are involved in environmental conflicts. The main focus of this article is to examine the role of business today in freshwater. In summary, four case studies from CocaCola, Mondel?z International, Nestlé and PepsiCo show that multinational corporations changed their corporate social responsibility and reporting policies after the conflict. These companies resolve these conflicts publicly through the media or in their annual or sustainability reports, thereby making these conflicts transparent.

Priority conservation of medicinal woody plants from protected forests based on ecological and ethnobotanical data.

The combination of ethnobotanical and ecological knowledge is an important tool in indicating priority species for conservation. We sought to gather ethnobotanical knowledge on the diversity and use of woody medicinal plants in the Chapada Araripe region, assessing the real availability of woody medicinal resources in the Araripe Forests in the cerrado and carrasco areas, and indicate priority species for conservation. A total of 107 species were recorded in the ethnobotanical surveys, classified into 39 families and 83 genera, of which 92 species, 36 families and 70 genera for the cerrado areas, and 47 species, 25 families and 39 genera, for the carrasco areas. 59% were present in the phytosociological surveys for cerrado and 38% for carrascos. Species with high versatility of medicinal use did not necessarily have high local availability, and some were not recorded in the sampling. Thirteen species in cerrados and four in carrascos were indicated as conservation priorities. Use not aligned of species with the reality of the present time can indeed affect the vegetation landscape, and in a future scenario, not taking local measures to conserve protected forest resources, besides increasing the lists of local conservation priorities, can affect economic practices, increasing social and environmental conflicts.

Environmental justice and corporate social irresponsibility: the case of the mining company Vale S.A

Abstract After the Vale’s tailings dam failure in Brumadinho (Minas Gerais) in early 2019, a group of researchers and activists from around the world produced a thematic map in the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJAtlas) including 30 cases of environmental conflicts in which Vale had a prominent role. In this paper, these cases are analysed in light of Vale’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) discourses and practices, aiming to explore the contradiction of high CSR standards in the company and in other large multinationals in the mining sector coexisting with many socio-environmental conflicts. The analysis indicates that the company’s performance contrasts with its CSR discourse and that, even when Vale considers its performance both responsible and exemplary, the company reproduces environmental injustices and is therefore rather practicing Corporate Social Irresponsibility.

Медиапотребление членов виртуальных экологических протестных сообществ (на примере конфликта вокруг мусорного полигона в Архангельской области)

The growing influence of social media has significantly affected various aspects of sociopolitical life, including social movements and protest activity. Social networks are becoming a part of everyday life, influencing the processes of media consumption. Traditional media are no longer the main source of news, being replaced by social media. Users of social networks largely build their individual agenda setting, forming their own news feed, subscribing to a particular virtual community (media, parties, etc.). Realizing this, the latter are trying to make use of it by creating virtual communities on social networks. Over the past decade, observers have noted that social networks are beginning to play a significant role in public life in Russia. In this regard, the problem of user behavior in various social networks seems to be important for research, including such an important component of everyday life as news consumption. This work analyzes news consumption patterns of members of virtual communities created on the VKontakte social network in connection with one of the most noticeable socio-ecological conflicts of the last decade around the construction of a landfill in Shies. In this study, the author planned to compare members of “anti-garbage” communities and members of territorial communities (Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Komi Republic) in relation to news consumption. He decided to limit the scope to two areas of news consumption by community members: environmental and political agendas. Interest in the environmental agenda could be expressed by joining virtual environmental communities. Similarly, interest in the political agenda could be expressed by joining communities offering political news. In addition, members of “anti-garbage” communities were surveyed in relation to the extent to which they followed the most notable protest events of the past year, not related to the environmental agenda. The study revealed the difference between members of communities created in connection with the Shies landfill project from members of territorial communities in their interest in various federal virtual communities offering political news. The analysis showed that the agenda setting of members of “anti-garbage” communities, in comparison with the agenda setting of members of territorial communities, formed by an individual news feed, is more alternative to the official agenda. Users interested in news in connection with an acute socio-ecological conflict are more interested in news provided by “independent” media and opposition political movements. In this regard, we can speak about the greater politicization of citizens concerned about the acute environmental conflict. The analysis also revealed a connection between the agenda setting formed by virtual communities and the interest of members of “anti-garbage” communities in protest events that go far beyond the environmental agenda.

Mediation as a way to resolve the environmental conflicts

Mediation as a way to resolve the environmental conflicts

The Road to Taisha: Indigenous Protests for Road Infrastructure in the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Ontological Turn

This contribution examines protests by Shuar people in the Ecuadorian Amazon during the summer of 2015 in favour of the construction of a road through their territory. Can the ontological turn help us understand such events? Debates around the ontological turn have hinged around its potential contribution to the analysis of environmental challenges and political conflicts. In this article, I argue that central concepts from the ontological turn – such as animism (Descola 2005) or perspectivism (Viveiros de Castro 2004) – may add nuance but not substance to anthropological understandings of environmental conflicts. I focus on the stakes of these conflicts, the construction of alliances, and the tactics used by the different stakeholders. Taking to heart one of the core premises of the ontological turn, we may think that Western concepts of “nature” and “culture” may hinder our understanding of indigenous Amazonian people’s participation in these conflicts. I argue on the contrary that efforts to overcome these concepts may precisely risk concealing or distorting the actions and statements of indigenous people involved in the conflict.

PALEONTOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: MAKING CONNECTIONS THROUGH POLITICAL ECOLOGY

Abstract Far from studying only beings from the past, Paleontology is a current science which can situate human existence in the context of the global environmental crisis before inequalities and socio-environmental conflicts which occur in Brazilian paleontological sites. Aiming to discuss possible connections between Paleontology and Environmental Justice, this essay arises from a survey on environmental conflicts existing in the paleontological sites in Minas Gerais. Stemming from the issues found and the contribution of the Political Ecology theoretical framework, the struggle for territory and decoloniality is discussed as crucial dimensions for a view that seeks to restore the populations’ right to their (paleo) territories. The connections between these fields are presented here as references for the fight against the social inequalities found in paleontological sites, such as those in Minas Gerais, and for the inclusion of their communities in participatory management.

Avulsions drive ecosystem services and economic changes in the Brazilian Pantanal wetlands

The Pantanal wetland is a mosaic of landscapes that brings together rich biodiversity with the valuable activities of fishing, tourism and ranching. Human occupation and land use in the headwaters have intensified the rate of channel avulsions in the lower reaches of the largest megafan on the Taquari River. This study evaluates the long-term changes of landscapes in the active depositional lobe of the Taquari megafan from the perspective of local communities of pantaneiros. Maps derived from multiple decades of multispectral Landsat data have proven useful for studying land cover changes through the relationship between dry (terrestrial vegetation and soil/dry pastures) and humid landscapes (open waters, aquatic macrophytes and wet soils), as well as through Sankey diagrams and spatiotemporal mapping with Boolean operations according to the rate of dryland recovery. We found that dryland recovery associated with an older and smaller avulsion (known as Zé da Costa) is analogous to that of a most recent and much larger avulsion (known as Caronal), which is still ongoing and has greater importance due to the scale of the impacts. Land value and fish capture depreciate as the partial Caronal avulsion still evolves, increasing the likelihood of environmental conflicts. While pantaneiros no longer profit from ecosystem services of provision (e.g., livestock or fishing), dryland recovery may deliver quantifiable ecosystem services of regulation. The strengthening of partnerships among stakeholders and the implementation of environmental compensation mechanisms are central for the best management of the Pantanal's megafans that ensure quality of life for all pantaneiros.

КОНВЕРГЕНЦІЯ ЕНЕРГЕТИЧНИХ ПОЛІТИК УКРАЇНИ ТА КРАЇН ЄС

This paper summarizes the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on the issue of the need to form a new strategy for energy conservation and energy efficiency at the national level in Ukraine. It resulted from the imbalanced and asynchronized environmental, energy and economic policies. Furthermore, it is essential to develop effective mechanisms to improve the energy security of Ukraine and eliminate problems regarding the aggravation of environmental conflicts, significant levels of energy consumption and greenhouse gases growth. The main purpose of the research is to assess the convergence of energy efficiency policies in Ukraine and developed EU countries. To achieve the study goal, the investigation provides the main indicators of the World Energy Trilemma Index, which is classified into three main groups as follows: energy security, energy equity, environmental sustainability. The object of research is Ukraine and the developed EU countries such as Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Croatia. The choice of these EU countries is caused by their similar characteristic on transformation processes in the political sphere (refusal of the monopoly of Communist Party 1990–1992) and economic (transition from centralized management to market economy). In the frame of this study, the authors analyzed σ- and β-convergences for mentioned above countries. The period of investigation is 2000–2020. Sources of statistical information are the following statistical databases: World Bank, Eurostat and Ukrstat.org. The empirical calculations results highlighted that the introduction of mechanisms in reducing energy gaps could become an impelling force in synchronizing national energy policy with the strategic objectives of sustainable development. Therefore, the author emphasized the necessity to implement innovative, cost-effective energy technologies and develop new approaches to sustainable energy development on the national level. The obtained study results could be applied for solving the contradictions in the implementation of the Ukrainian energy policy.