Socio-environmental Conflicts Research Articles

BR-174 highway, geotourism and socio-environmental conflicts in the northern remote regions of the Amazon

BR-174 highway, geotourism and socio-environmental conflicts in the northern remote regions of the Amazon

Environmental defenders suffering death threats and "under protection" in the state of Pará, Eastern Amazonia, Brazil

Latin America has a long history of extractive and exploitative territorial activities, dating back to the colonial era. However, in the last decade there has been a steep increase in these activities, and in socio-environmental conflicts, in Latin America. There are indications of the links between the exploitation of natural resources and the violation of human rights, which materializes in the Amazon through the increase of expulsions and evictions of families, assassination attempts, murders, illegal imprisonments, intimidation, and threats. The main targets of these crimes are leaders who head the struggle to defend the rights of collectivities to land and territory, the environment, human rights and their multiple cultural and life expressions. The state of Pará (Eastern Amazonia) has appeared in the last decade as one of the states in Brazil with the highest incidence of cases of land conflicts, assassinations, aggression, defamation, and death threats directed against community leaders and environmental defenders. Thus, this article aims to quantify, characterize and reflect on the environmental defenders and community leaders suffering death threats and under legal protection in the state of Pará, Eastern Amazonia (between 2014 and 2020). It also seeks to identify the main activities and sectors that threaten these groups and the reasons behind the intensification of threats in recent years.

Three W’s of in-depth journalism portraying socio-environmental conflicts in Chilean television: What (the agenda), who (the sources), and where (the locations)

This article offers a case study of the Chilean investigative broadcasting journalism uncovering disasters and socio-environmental conflicts. Drawn from an analysis of 17 long-form stories aired by the two main television shows on current affairs in the country, we show that in-depth reporting on Chilean television was chronicling some of the most acute environmental issues since 1990s. Indeed, almost 13 hours of footage assembly a visual memory of conflicts in a society fueled by an extractivist based economy. It is noticeable a geographic diversity when covering the environment, as well as when covering waste production and pollution. Despite a relative diversity in sources, there is a sharp unbalance on gender representation. This article addresses the much-needed research on environment and communication while most of these studies pay attention to industrialized nations. It also contributes to building a situated knowledge considering the specificities of in-depth journalism in South America.

Socioenvironmental conflicts and social representations surrounding mining extractivism at Santurban

During the process of delimitation of the Santurban moorland ecosystem (Colombia), a socioenvironmental conflict arose from small and large-scale mining extractivism. This study analyzes the social representations of settlers in this moorland ecosystem, regarding the meaning, practice and value of their territory and water as a vital resource, in order to interpret their perceptions on the internal dynamics of conflict and the different aspects symbolizing their complexity. An ethnographic design was implemented by NVIVO software information coding. The findings underscore the uncertainty of rural stakeholders facing the impossibility to continue to develop ancestral mining activities and the disputes arising from the urban setting for the defense of water. It was concluded that the socioenvironmental conflict presented requires ongoing participation from rural and urban settlers, in consideration to their permanent questions regarding the current situation in their regions and the permanent search for solutions.

Social, Environmental and Economic Externalities Related to the Implementation of Wind Energy Projects on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec

This study aims to analyze the economic, social, and environmental impacts caused by the development of wind projects in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the Southwest of Mexico and, simultaneously, to evaluate, in a synergistic way, wind energy as an effectively viable option for the Mexican energy matrix by mapping and analyzing socio-environmental and economic externalities. The development of these parks represents, in this region of the country, a successful model for reducing GHG emissions, but there are controversies such as land displacement and lack of local development, which have generated socio-environmental conflicts that remain in force today. Therefore, the methodology adopted was based on a systematic literature review, as well as on the application of semi-structured interviews conducted in field research in situ. Because of this study, it was possible to increase the compression about the following paradox: the wind farms implemented in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec contribute to mitigating GHG emissions; however, according to the results of this work, this environmental benefit did not bring any improvement in their socioeconomic vulnerabilities to local communities.

From Real to Virtual

The article presents the initial steps of a research-creation project that has been developed within the scope of the Federal University of Espírito Santo, in Brazil, and whose main objective is to give visibility to socio-environmental conflicts in the metropolitan region of Grande Vitória, capital of Espírito Santo, from the development of interactive and immersive audiovisual works. At first, a field research was carried out in a specific territory of the capital – the Jesus de Nazareth neighborhood – in order to identify some of these local conflicts and the community's ways of acting in an attempt to solve the problems. The problem proposed by the ongoing research can be summarized as follows: using research-creation as a methodology and work process, how to develop interactive, immersive and collaborative multimedia works that make it possible to increase the visibility of socio-environmental conflicts existing in a given territory – in this case, the metropolitan region of Greater Vitória – and, in parallel, promote scientific dissemination and the popularization of science? The research has a multidisciplinary character and brings together the following fields of study: i) research-creation and digital humanities; ii) new communication technologies, immersive (augmented/virtual reality) and interactive media; iii) socio-environmental conflicts in the metropolitan region of Greater Vitória (ES) and their impacts on the population; and iv) scientific dissemination. In addition to the objectives and expected results – to increase the visibility of socio-environmental conflicts and social injustices, research data on these issues and to disseminate possible solutions –, the research is also justified by the possibilities of learning and experimenting with technological resources on the part of of professors and students of a public university in Brazil. The article brings data about the main conflicts already mapped in the Greater Vitória region, information about the visited community and also theoretical notes on the concept of socio-environmental conflict, understood in a broad way, but which includes the articulation between the environment and social relations. The text also presents the principles of creation as research and its use as a methodological process. The current stage of the research consists of collecting and selecting data from scientific research banks and reviewing the literature.

Conflicting securities: contributions to a critical research agenda on climate security

ABSTRACT Climate change is increasingly presented as a security issue; this ‘climate security’ discourse arguably imparts an even greater sense of urgency to the already alarming climate crisis. This article argues that the grounding for this narrative is thin, while its adoption in powerful avenues and thus its implications are substantial. Budgets for climate mitigation and adaptation measures, which often seek to control natural resources by assigning a monetary value to them, rise steadily. Ironically, climate policies themselves frequently contribute to socio-environmental conflicts, further marginalizing the users of land, water and forests. It is therefore important to disentangle whether and how climate security discourses further shape climate investments, to identify the key actors involved and to examine the part they play in socio-environmental conflicts. The article argues that a critical research agenda, based on but going beyond political ecology, is needed for more socially and environmentally just climate interventions.

КОНФЛІКТНІСТЬ У ВЗАЄМОДІЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ І ПРИРОДИ ТА РОЛЬ АГРОЕКОЛОГІЇ ЯК ВАЖЛИВОГО СПОСОБУ ЇЇ УПЕРЕДЖЕННЯ

Розкрито сутність антагонізму взаємовідносин між суб’єктами і об’єктами людської діяльності, що виникають у системі "людина –– суспільство –– економіка –– природа", та їх переростання в соціально-екологічні конфлікти. Останні характеризуються такими відносинами між ними, за яких кожна із сторін відображає протилежну позицію по відношенню до впливу економіки на екологію, і навпаки. Обґрунтовано місце і роль у загостренні економіко-екологічних конфліктів концепції економічного зростання, яке забезпечується випереджальним нарощуванням масштабів та інтенсивності споживання продуктивної сили природного ресурсу. Викладено головні принципи концепції сталого розвитку, основою якого є паритетність відносин між людиною, економікою і природою, що нейтралізує виникнення економіко-екологічних конфліктів.Виокремлено поетапність наростання екодеструктивного впливу економіки на природні ресурси сільського господарства –– основної галузі життєзабезпечення суспільства, охарактеризовано кожний етап. Доведено, що неузгодженість нарощування валового виробництва сільськогосподарської продукції в Україні з вимогами сталого (економіко-соціально-екологічно збалансованого) розвитку галузі досягла рівня антропогенного навантаження на природний сільськогосподарський ресурс, який наближається до граничної лінії, за якою починаються і стають загрозливими для виробництва та життя людей кризові зміни в природних, насамперед земельних, ресурсах,Обґрунтовано місце агроекології в переході до економіко-соціально-екологічно збалансованого розвитку, охарактеризовано її сутність як галузі науки та основні принципи. Визначено відмінності між індустріально-інтенсивним і агроекологічним сільським господарством. Розкрито роль останнього в збереженні та нарощуванні продуктивної сили сільськогосподарських угідь у довгостроковому періоді, адаптації галузі до змін клімату і сприяння їх пом'якшенню, покращенні харчування людей, скороченні масштабів безробіття і бідності в сільських районах. Сформульовано на основі документів ООН і Європейського Союзу рекомендації щодо вжиття заходів з імплементації наукових розробок і передових практик переходу від індустріально-інтенсивного екологоруйнівного до сталого агроекологічного виробництва в аграрну політику України.

Socio-Environmental Conflicts in the Limits of Natural Parks in Africa: Characterization and Strategies for the Resolution of Conflicts Between Communities and Wild Animals in Kibale National Park - KNP- Uganda

Kibale National Park - KNP is a park located in the western part of Uganda, where there is a great interest from foreign tourists to visit the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) populations that live there. The park is located within a landscape grid, where there are both human settlements of rural populations, where there are small-scale agricultural activities, such as subsistence farming, and large-scale activities such as tea plantations. The KNP’s 2008-2017 matrix of records of negative community-wildlife interactions was used for this work. For the study period, it was found that for the five (5) districts that are in the Kibale park environment, 60% of the incidents were recorded in Kabarole district. As for those of conflicts, approximately 15 wild animals were the ones with whom incidents arose during the study period, 93% of the cases of incidents were found to be with elephants.

Human Rights and Socio-Environmental Conflicts of Mining in Mexico: A Systematic Review

Socio-environmental conflicts are situations that exemplify human rights transgressions caused by extractive activities. These are present in developing countries where extractivism, imperialism, and colonialism paradigms prevail. In the context of Mexico, criminalization, violence, and the absence of rule of law promote these conflicts, frequently aggravated by involvement with private interests. In the last 20 years, the relationship between human rights in the mining sector and its impact on the environment has been a critical research subject. This paper aims to carry out a systematic review to analyze human rights transgressions related to the mining industry’s impact in Mexico, and identify factors causing socio-environmental conflicts. The current study shows a systematic analysis based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology. This method contributed to the collection of references that describe conflicts due to human rights transgressions and environmental damage in mining areas in Mexico. Human rights transgressions caused by mining in a Mexican context demonstrate the inability of the state to stop the increase in socio-environmental conflicts and its lack of concern towards preventing damage to the environment.

A PESCA ARTESANAL NA COMUNIDADE COSTA DO TAPARÁ (PA): SUBSÍDIOS PARA GESTÃO PESQUEIRA

Artisanal or small-scale fishing is one of the oldest extractive activities in the lower Amazon region, generating income and subsistence for a good part of the riverside population. In this sense, the objective of the research was to characterize the fishing activity and socioeconomic structure of artisanal fishermen in the Costa Tapará community, Santarém, Pará State. Data collection was carried out through interviews with semistructured forms to 82 fishermen out of a total of 302 registered fishermen, during the period from March to November 2019. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that the average age of the fishermen was 37.6 (81.7%) years (± 11.5), 70.7% had incomplete primary education and 91.5% had fishing as their main source of income. The fishing activity is presented as artisanal and on a small scale, practiced in small wooden rowing and/or motorized boats, employing multiplicity of equipment highlighting the reed, mesh, and net. July and August stood out as the best fishing season. The biggest problems identified in the community were socioenvironmental conflicts. Understanding how this community dynamic works will directly contribute to the development of management alternatives and regional fishing sector planning.

RENEWABLE ENERGIES: THE SÃO CRISTÓVÃO WIND FARM, MUNICIPALITY OF AREIA BRANCA (RN) - BRAZIL

ABSTRACT Brazil has increased its potential to take advantage of renewable energy sources, mainly wind farms that have been expanding in the national market. The gain of space in the national matrix enabled the wind race, which in turn caused socio-environmental problems as a result of the installation of wind farms. In this direction, this research aimed to identify the changes that occurred in the fishing community of São Cristóvão, located in the municipality of Areia Branca, Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Brazil, from the introduction of the wind farm. A mixed approach was adopted and for data collection, on-site visits associated with photographic record analysis, semi-structured questionnaire applications with open and closed questions were used, cataloged and analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Package for the Social program Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. 80 (eighty people) participated in the study. As a result, it was possible to identify that the wind farm installation process took place without significant community participation and the absence of an in-depth dialogue between the company and the population located in the vicinity of the wind farm. It was found that the impact on the local economy, after the installation of the enterprise is insignificant, according to the interviewees. It was found that socioenvironmental conflicts related to land tenure and faced with these issues, the community expresses distrust in relation to wind farms in the region.

‘We are the oceans, we are the people!’: fisher people’s struggles for blue justice

ABSTRACT Fisher people and their communities around the world have been key social actors in seafood production and they are still feeding the world with about two-thirds of the catches destined for direct human consumption. However, they are subjected to a wide range of injustices due to coastal and offshore investment projects and the inequalities embedded in the global capitalist marine economy. These injustices are manifested through socio-environmental conflicts, which have been studied and mapped in the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas) together with other social actors’ resistances. This article examines 120 fisher folk conflicts that have been identified, documented and mapped in the EJAtlas, while proposing a Blue Justice framework to understand their underlying causes and how fisher people confront such injustices. As a grounded theoretical approach emerging from the scrutiny of fisher resistances and building on environmental justice, critical marine sociology and political economy literatures, the Blue Justice framework proposed here focuses on three dimensions: (i) material and biophysical dimension, (ii) spatial justice, and (iii) autonomy and sovereignty. In adopting this framework, this analysis reveals the blue layers of environmental justice by uncovering both the causes of conflicts faced by fisher communities and their political agency.

On thin ice – The Arctic commodity extraction frontier and environmental conflicts

This article contributes to the discussion on socio-environmental conflicts and extractive projects in the Arctic region. Fifty-three socio-environmental conflicts are analysed, using data from the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice. Based on descriptive statistics, regression and network analysis, the paper reveals that socio-environmental conflicts predominantly overlap with Indigenous peoples' territories, from which a transversal opposition takes place, including Indigenous, non-Indigenous and international actors alike. The main commodities involved in these conflicts are related to fossil fuels, metals, and transport infrastructure. Associated large-scale extractive activities are bringing negative socio-environmental impacts at the expense of Indigenous groups, fishermen, and pastoralists, with loss of traditional knowledge and practices being significantly higher in Indigenous territories of high bio-cultural values associated to the environment. Our findings suggest that repression against activists is significantly more likely to occur in absence of preventive mobilization, and in Arctic countries with low rule of law. The chances to achieve the cancellation of a conflictive extractive project are significantly higher if dependency on natural resource rents in a country is low.

Socio-environmental conflicts resulting from extractive activities in Latin America and Corporate Social Responsibility

This study aims to analyze the socio-environmental conflicts derived from extractive activities in Latin America and the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the extractive sector. The first stage included bibliometrics by authors and countries found in the scientific literature, leading to 69 publications selected for the term 2012-2017; later on, a systematic review of the literature was conducted in SCOPUS and Web of Science, starting from the recollection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of information. The results highlight three types of conflicts: environmental impact, turf wars, and the violation of human rights; these reveal that the relationships between the extractive sector and CRS should be mediated by a balance of interests and the preservation of ecosystems.

River lives, River movements. Fisher communities mobilizing local and official rules in defense of the Magdalena River

The Magdalena River, Colombia’s main river backbone, features multiple tensions and socio-environmental conflicts. They manifest themselves in the river’s ecological degradation and negatively impact the riparian communities and artisanal fishermen, whose productive activities and rights of access to water are restricted. For these communities, the river is a means of passing down and exchanging knowledge between generations. However, their knowledge and practices are not recognized in the dominant governance processes over the Magdalena River. In an interview with Juan Carlos Gutiérrez-Camargo, environmental activist, researcher and companion of artisanal fishermen, we illustrate the universe of epistemologies and worldviews of these communities. We discuss, from a legal-pluralism perspective, the contradictions between state norms and authorities, parastatal powers, and the customary rights of fishing communities. We analyze how the simultaneous presence of various authorities and the complex, unequal arena of legal, extra-legal and illegal forces, hinders enforcement of fishermen’s customary socio-legal repertoires and also of the Colombian Constitution to protect riverside communities’ human rights. The interview reflects on the great complexity of exercising community leadership, environmental protection and defense of artisanal fishing in the midst of a socio-normative political arena permeated by state abandonment and paramilitary violence. For this reason, the interview stresses the importance of recognizing artisanal fisher collectives as political subjects in river co-governance. It also highlights the ambivalent implications of granting rights to nature and rivers: their meaning, functions and impact depend on their political trajectory and mobilization by grassrooted collectives. Finally, Gutiérrez proposes strengthening knowledge networks to bolster river co-governance where the political-cultural and socio-normative frameworks of riverside communities play a preponderant role.

Nuclear supply chain and environmental justice struggles in Soviet and Post-Soviet countries

ABSTRACT This article addresses and contributes to the discussion on nuclear supply chain socio-environmental conflicts in Soviet and post-Soviet contexts by bringing it together with nuclear peripheralization and environmental justice approaches. Descriptive statistics and qualitative coding were applied to 14 cases identified in the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice. Visible protests were first detected in 1976. The cases analysed comprise the whole nuclear supply chain; uranium mining bans, stopping nuclear reactors, and nuclear testing bans. Seven of the conflictive projects have been suspended by neighbours, citizens and communities, women, industrial workers, and Indigenous groups. However, nuclear projects remain of ongoing concern related to nuclear waste and potential nuclear accidents. Military violence intrinsic to nuclear power domination encounters anti-nuclear resistance in areas where nuclear socio-environmental legacies and current injustices are lived.

Les conflits socio-environnementaux dans les espaces touristiques littoraux des États de Bahia et du Ceará au Brésil

Au Nordeste du Brésil, le tourisme balnéaire se développe particulièrement à proximité des métropoles. Ce tourisme a été initié par des politiques publiques et implique des acteurs privés dans la création de complexes hôteliers fortement capitalisés. Cet article explore les registres sur lesquels les politiques sont justifiées dans les discours des acteurs, il analyse les types de conflits générés par le contrôle de l’espace notamment au sujet du partage de la ressource en eau entre les complexes hôteliers et les populations locales. L’étude concerne deux territoires préalablement occupés par des classes populaires, à la périphérie de grandes métropoles. Les discours des acteurs du tourisme promeuvent la modernisation et le développement économique censés accompagner les complexes touristiques qui en réalité génèrent une exclusion de l’espace littoral des populations locales. Les habitants du littoral, mal desservis par les réseaux d’adduction d’eau potable, voient leur puit individuel menacé par l’exploitation de l’aquifère opérée par les complexes touristiques, sans que les pouvoirs publics régulent réellement l’usage de l’eau.

Megaproyectos y sustentabilidad en México: definición, legislación y consecuencias

The irruption of megaprojects in Mexico makes it necessary to reflect on their definition, the regulatory framework that has been created for their operation, and the effects that have been triggered by the social factor found in the geographic areas that are the target of profit. In this sense, the present work delves into this field of analysis using the analytical-synthetic method to define these novel processes of predation on nature and analyze the interaction between the State, the Private Industry and Civil Society that generates provisional results to reduce the constant tension, through tools such as the Social Impact Assessment (EVIS), which still has weaknesses that are critically analyzed based on the effects it has had on Mexican rural areas. Finally, the articulation that has occurred between megaprojects and the sustainability discourse is evidenced, which has led to socio-environmental conflicts between those who hold capital and those who hold symbolic, historical and cultural resistance to these new attempts at capitalist accumulation.

Socio-environmental conflict over abandoned mining waste in Copaquilla, Chile.

The material discarded by past mining extractive activities is exposed to the action of different environmental agents and constitutes the beginning of a problem that, inevitably, involves the population and the conditions of the environment where it is deposited. Bearing this in mind, a study of the Copaquilla-Chile valley was carried out with a focus on the socio-environmental conflict produced by the accumulation of abandoned mining waste in its vicinity. The objectives were to identify the role of the different actors and the main causes that originated the conflict and to characterize the physical-natural factors that conditioned the susceptibility and physical vulnerability of the studied environment. The methodological approach combined a set of qualitative and quantitative techniques, using participatory action research techniques (PAR) and multi-criteria evaluation models (MCE) through a geographic information system (GIS). The evaluation of the study area revealed quite severe levels in terms of the indices of susceptibility to processes of mass removal and vulnerability of the aquifer, which led us to infer that the morpho-climatic and hydrogeological characteristics of the sector generated the appropriate conditions to produce large damage to the complex socio-ecological system of the Copaquilla territory. This study generated participatory material, a chronology of the conflict, a database of the physical environment of the Copaquilla valley interpreted in thematic cartographies, and physicochemical soil and water samples to monitor contamination levels.