Pub Date : 2017-12-21DOI: 10.3929/ETHZ-B-000238573
Veronika Cummings, A. V. Richthofen
The states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are highly urbanised. The urban areas in the Gulf are nationally and internationally the focal point of economic development and political attention. Gulf cities are under rapid transformation and spaces of social, economic, ecological and political conflicts. While such dynamics gave rise to a differentiated debate on the political and social dimensions of urban sustainability in postindustrialised countries elsewhere, the narrative differs radically for the Gulf region. Urban sustainability in the Gulf will be discussed in this paper along three case-studies from Abu Dhabi that relate to the terminological and practical inception, adoption and transformation of the concept: The selected examples are modern residential neighbourhoods, the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030, and the eco-city model of Masdar. In combination with the general urban planning history of the city, these projects allow to trace the concept of urban sustainability in time and to understand its adoption into the Arabic language and the interrelations of the term to the Gulf regions’ specific political, ideological, and socio-cultural structures. Based on the works of Gunder (2006), Davidson (2010) and Brown (2016) the case studies reflect the concept of sustainability reduced to ‘sustainable development’. As such, it is becoming an ‘empty signifier’ that can be applied or instrumentalised by the ruling elites. This paper argues that the concept of urban sustainability in the Gulf is a foreign ‘import’ that serves in situ as a political instrument controlled by the ruling elites to stabilise the existing hegemonic power structures and to legitimise the political order.
{"title":"Urban Sustainability as a Political Instrument in the Gulf Region exemplified at Projects in Abu Dhabi","authors":"Veronika Cummings, A. V. Richthofen","doi":"10.3929/ETHZ-B-000238573","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3929/ETHZ-B-000238573","url":null,"abstract":"The states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are highly urbanised. The urban areas in the Gulf are nationally and internationally the focal point of economic development and political attention. Gulf cities are under rapid transformation and spaces of social, economic, ecological and political conflicts. While such dynamics gave rise to a differentiated debate on the political and social dimensions of urban sustainability in postindustrialised countries elsewhere, the narrative differs radically for the Gulf region. Urban sustainability in the Gulf will be discussed in this paper along three case-studies from Abu Dhabi that relate to the terminological and practical inception, adoption and transformation of the concept: The selected examples are modern residential neighbourhoods, the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030, and the eco-city model of Masdar. In combination with the general urban planning history of the city, these projects allow to trace the concept of urban sustainability in time and to understand its adoption into the Arabic language and the interrelations of the term to the Gulf regions’ specific political, ideological, and socio-cultural structures. Based on the works of Gunder (2006), Davidson (2010) and Brown (2016) the case studies reflect the concept of sustainability reduced to ‘sustainable development’. As such, it is becoming an ‘empty signifier’ that can be applied or instrumentalised by the ruling elites. This paper argues that the concept of urban sustainability in the Gulf is a foreign ‘import’ that serves in situ as a political instrument controlled by the ruling elites to stabilise the existing hegemonic power structures and to legitimise the political order.","PeriodicalId":50505,"journal":{"name":"Erde","volume":"469 1","pages":"253-267"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2017-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86722290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-12-21DOI: 10.12854/10.12854/ERDE-148-50
Aida Nciri, B. Miller
District heating (DH) and combined heat and power (CHP) are often considered complementary green technologies (DH-CHP) that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are, however, complex given their operation at the intersection of shifting socio-spatial relations and political power struggles. We investigate the political processes behind the diffusion (and blocked diffusion) of DH and CHP in Sweden from 1945 until 2011, considered through the lens of Jessop, Brenner and Jones’ (2008) Territory, Place, Scale and Networks (TPSN) framework. Foregrounding the socio-spatial constitution of policy decisions, we examine Sweden’s changing patterns of DH and CHP adoption. First, we present the TPSN framework that considers space as simultaneously a structuring principle, enabling and constraining action, as well as a field of operation in which agency is exercised. Second, we examine the socio-spatial structuration of energy systems. Third, we analyse how the changing socio-spatial constitution of each socio-technical system affects key actors’ interests and actions, including the spatial strategies they develop to advance their interests. District heating rapidly diffused across Swedish municipalities in large part because it was considered to be urban infrastructure aligned with the mission of municipalities and was not in direct competition with other actors supplying heat. CHP electricity generation, on the other hand, was initially seen as a benefit to municipal utilities, but was later considered a threat to the interests of large-scale utilities and blocked, only to gain favour again when changing sociospatial conditions made CHP an asset to large-scale utilities. Our analysis suggests that technological diffusion and blockage is far from a straightforward matter. It requires examination of the dynamics of multi-level governance and overlapping socio-technical systems. Socio-technical regimes are in constant evolution and actors struggle to adapt to new circumstances. Socio-technical systems are not merely material systems, but an expression of dynamic power relations and adaptation strategies.
{"title":"Energy systems, socio-spatial relations, and power: the contested adoption of district heating with combined heat and power in Sweden, 1945-2011","authors":"Aida Nciri, B. Miller","doi":"10.12854/10.12854/ERDE-148-50","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12854/10.12854/ERDE-148-50","url":null,"abstract":"District heating (DH) and combined heat and power (CHP) are often considered complementary green technologies (DH-CHP) that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are, however, complex given their operation at the intersection of shifting socio-spatial relations and political power struggles. We investigate the political processes behind the diffusion (and blocked diffusion) of DH and CHP in Sweden from 1945 until 2011, considered through the lens of Jessop, Brenner and Jones’ (2008) Territory, Place, Scale and Networks (TPSN) framework. Foregrounding the socio-spatial constitution of policy decisions, we examine Sweden’s changing patterns of DH and CHP adoption. First, we present the TPSN framework that considers space as simultaneously a structuring principle, enabling and constraining action, as well as a field of operation in which agency is exercised. Second, we examine the socio-spatial structuration of energy systems. Third, we analyse how the changing socio-spatial constitution of each socio-technical system affects key actors’ interests and actions, including the spatial strategies they develop to advance their interests. District heating rapidly diffused across Swedish municipalities in large part because it was considered to be urban infrastructure aligned with the mission of municipalities and was not in direct competition with other actors supplying heat. CHP electricity generation, on the other hand, was initially seen as a benefit to municipal utilities, but was later considered a threat to the interests of large-scale utilities and blocked, only to gain favour again when changing sociospatial conditions made CHP an asset to large-scale utilities. Our analysis suggests that technological diffusion and blockage is far from a straightforward matter. It requires examination of the dynamics of multi-level governance and overlapping socio-technical systems. Socio-technical regimes are in constant evolution and actors struggle to adapt to new circumstances. Socio-technical systems are not merely material systems, but an expression of dynamic power relations and adaptation strategies.","PeriodicalId":50505,"journal":{"name":"Erde","volume":"2 1","pages":"212-228"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2017-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88459100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Since the 1960s, the majority of Western cities have been discussing sustainable urban development in order to respond to increasing poverty, crime, and unforeseen patterns within our urban environments. Social and economic inequality plus security issues are central themes in this public debate. Moreover, principles of neoliberalism have led to the constant privatization and economization of social life resulting in private entities in urban contexts playing a pivotal role in the last few decades. This has brought about new and extreme forms of urbanism and developed a new narrative in the urban political discourse. Through the example of Milano 2 (Italy), this paper investigates how an elitist project can establish an alternative conceptualization of ‘the urban’ and considers its implications on ‘the political’ and general urban development. Milano 2 operates on the pretense of giving its residents a ‘better place to live’ which involves a ‘re-definition’ of lifestyle and management organization through governance strategies. In order to assert that Milano 2 represents a ‘redefinition of urban life’, this paper builds up an argument starting from the analysis of public discourse about lifestyle. Furthermore, the paper considers management organization and its governance technologies from a conceptual point of view. By starting to study the sustainable urban development question from the elitist perspective, this paper adds to the discussion by regarding the normalization and acceptance of these urban experiments and it considers how master-planned communities work within the re-definition of lifestyles and management.
{"title":"Milano 2: the conceptualization of the ‘re-definition’ of urban life","authors":"Lidia Monza","doi":"10.12854/ERDE-148-52","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12854/ERDE-148-52","url":null,"abstract":"Since the 1960s, the majority of Western cities have been discussing sustainable urban development in order to respond to increasing poverty, crime, and unforeseen patterns within our urban environments. Social and economic inequality plus security issues are central themes in this public debate. Moreover, principles of neoliberalism have led to the constant privatization and economization of social life resulting in private entities in urban contexts playing a pivotal role in the last few decades. This has brought about new and extreme forms of urbanism and developed a new narrative in the urban political discourse. Through the example of Milano 2 (Italy), this paper investigates how an elitist project can establish an alternative conceptualization of ‘the urban’ and considers its implications on ‘the political’ and general urban development. Milano 2 operates on the pretense of giving its residents a ‘better place to live’ which involves a ‘re-definition’ of lifestyle and management organization through governance strategies. In order to assert that Milano 2 represents a ‘redefinition of urban life’, this paper builds up an argument starting from the analysis of public discourse about lifestyle. Furthermore, the paper considers management organization and its governance technologies from a conceptual point of view. By starting to study the sustainable urban development question from the elitist perspective, this paper adds to the discussion by regarding the normalization and acceptance of these urban experiments and it considers how master-planned communities work within the re-definition of lifestyles and management.","PeriodicalId":50505,"journal":{"name":"Erde","volume":"71 1","pages":"238-252"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2017-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85888711","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article traces the social and political aspects of cycling mobility in the Boston area. For some, attracting a certain desirable demographic by investing in bicycle infrastructure is problematic because it could lead to gentrification. Not investing in low-income neighborhoods, however, could be seen as a perpetuation of an unjust distribution of resources. While the bicycle is a common cost-efficient choice among low-income residents, it also symbolizes a privilege for new urban elites, although for very different reasons. Drawing on interview data gathered between 2015 and 2016 with city officials, cycling associations, and transportation planners, the article details the different narratives that unfold in the construction of bicycling infrastructure: First, bicycling has often been conceptualized in the rhetoric of Boston city officials in terms of economic growth. The promotion of cycling helps satisfy the city’s ostensible need to attract or retain a well-educated, young and mobile workforce for whom good bike infrastructure is a criterion when choosing places to work and live. Second, some have observed that bicycle infrastructure in the US is often included in neighborhoods that are undergoing processes of gentrification or have recently been gentrified. Third, bicycle infrastructure improvements have been met with suspicion or resistance by residents in neighborhoods where displacement – or the fear of it – is an issue. This article shows that bicycle mobility in the US is charged with social dynamics which influence the way bicycle mobility is conceptualized, both as a social practice and as a political strategy.
{"title":"Contesting sustainable transportation: bicycle mobility in Boston and beyond","authors":"Thomas Arthur Vith, Samuel Mössner","doi":"10.12854/ERDE-148-51","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12854/ERDE-148-51","url":null,"abstract":"This article traces the social and political aspects of cycling mobility in the Boston area. For some, attracting a certain desirable demographic by investing in bicycle infrastructure is problematic because it could lead to gentrification. Not investing in low-income neighborhoods, however, could be seen as a perpetuation of an unjust distribution of resources. While the bicycle is a common cost-efficient choice among low-income residents, it also symbolizes a privilege for new urban elites, although for very different reasons. Drawing on interview data gathered between 2015 and 2016 with city officials, cycling associations, and transportation planners, the article details the different narratives that unfold in the construction of bicycling infrastructure: First, bicycling has often been conceptualized in the rhetoric of Boston city officials in terms of economic growth. The promotion of cycling helps satisfy the city’s ostensible need to attract or retain a well-educated, young and mobile workforce for whom good bike infrastructure is a criterion when choosing places to work and live. Second, some have observed that bicycle infrastructure in the US is often included in neighborhoods that are undergoing processes of gentrification or have recently been gentrified. Third, bicycle infrastructure improvements have been met with suspicion or resistance by residents in neighborhoods where displacement – or the fear of it – is an issue. This article shows that bicycle mobility in the US is charged with social dynamics which influence the way bicycle mobility is conceptualized, both as a social practice and as a political strategy.","PeriodicalId":50505,"journal":{"name":"Erde","volume":"5 1","pages":"229-237"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2017-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84940004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biosphere reserves are protected areas with extraordinary natural and cultural values, conceived as places for reconciliation between conservation and development. The Sumaco Biosphere Reserve (SBR), located in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon basin is the home of local indigenous communities which have lived in this area for centuries carrying out different subsistence activities (e.g. shifting cultivation, hunting, fishing, and home gardening). During the past decades, tourism initiatives have been implemented as strategies to promote environmental conservation and socio-economic development. In this research, the principal aspects of the management and governance of tourism was examined, as well as its contribution to biodiversity conservation and development. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to get qualitative information from the main stakeholders. The study shows that tourism is perceived as an important sustainable alternative to mining, oil extraction and hydroelectric projects, which are currently seen as the main threats to conservation in the area. However, tourism in the Sumaco area also faces some problems, which are related to the lack of adequate management and governance strategies, the worst among them being illegality and informality triggering uncontrolled competition, lowering of prices, and decrease in the quality of services. Altogether, these factors could ultimately lead to the overall decline of the destination. To improve the sustainable development of tourism, more efforts on coordination between different sectors (e.g. environment, mining and oil, and tourism) and levels of governments (local, regional, and national) are needed.
{"title":"Conciliating conservation and development in an Amazonian Biosphere Reserve, Ecuador ?","authors":"A. M. Barriga","doi":"10.12854/ERDE-148-47","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12854/ERDE-148-47","url":null,"abstract":"Biosphere reserves are protected areas with extraordinary natural and cultural values, conceived as places for reconciliation between conservation and development. The Sumaco Biosphere Reserve (SBR), located in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon basin is the home of local indigenous communities which have lived in this area for centuries carrying out different subsistence activities (e.g. shifting cultivation, hunting, fishing, and home gardening). During the past decades, tourism initiatives have been implemented as strategies to promote environmental conservation and socio-economic development. In this research, the principal aspects of the management and governance of tourism was examined, as well as its contribution to biodiversity conservation and development. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to get qualitative information from the main stakeholders. The study shows that tourism is perceived as an important sustainable alternative to mining, oil extraction and hydroelectric projects, which are currently seen as the main threats to conservation in the area. However, tourism in the Sumaco area also faces some problems, which are related to the lack of adequate management and governance strategies, the worst among them being illegality and informality triggering uncontrolled competition, lowering of prices, and decrease in the quality of services. Altogether, these factors could ultimately lead to the overall decline of the destination. To improve the sustainable development of tourism, more efforts on coordination between different sectors (e.g. environment, mining and oil, and tourism) and levels of governments (local, regional, and national) are needed.","PeriodicalId":50505,"journal":{"name":"Erde","volume":"70 1","pages":"185-189"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2017-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79726716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Once again, resources are at the centre of scientific and public interest. From 2000 onwards, soaring commodity prices and the unrestricted proliferation of extractive activities have caused significant spatial, political and socio-economic consequences in producer countries with large extractive economies. We exemplify these consequences by telling the resource stories of South American countries, where the ‘resource curse’ and the internal logics of extractive economies have been deeply inscribed in the socio-economic, cultural and territorial orders since colonial times. Inspired by Swyngedouw (1999), we adopt his notion of ‘waterscapes’ and argue that a deeper, holistic comprehension of resource landscapes (i.e. resourcescapes) is necessary for the understanding of the multidimensional and contradictory nature of resources and possible transitions towards a sustainability-oriented transformation. We suggest that such a framework should be based on Political Ecology, but could also be enriched by taking up other impulses from contemporary poststructuralist and critical geographies and from South American debates on (neo-) extractivism. Starting with a conceptualization of the term ‘resource’, we illustrate historical trajectories and changing perspectives of societal relations with resources in South America. After that, we review conceptual debates in social sciences and ask how these concepts could give impulses for a more holistic framework.
{"title":"South American resourcescapes: geographical perspectives and conceptual challenges","authors":"M. Coy, Fernando Ruiz Peyré, Christian Obermayr","doi":"10.12854/erde-148-41","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12854/erde-148-41","url":null,"abstract":"Once again, resources are at the centre of scientific and public interest. From 2000 onwards, soaring commodity prices and the unrestricted proliferation of extractive activities have caused significant spatial, political and socio-economic consequences in producer countries with large extractive economies. We exemplify these consequences by telling the resource stories of South American countries, where the ‘resource curse’ and the internal logics of extractive economies have been deeply inscribed in the socio-economic, cultural and territorial orders since colonial times. Inspired by Swyngedouw (1999), we adopt his notion of ‘waterscapes’ and argue that a deeper, holistic comprehension of resource landscapes (i.e. resourcescapes) is necessary for the understanding of the multidimensional and contradictory nature of resources and possible transitions towards a sustainability-oriented transformation. We suggest that such a framework should be based on Political Ecology, but could also be enriched by taking up other impulses from contemporary poststructuralist and critical geographies and from South American debates on (neo-) extractivism. Starting with a conceptualization of the term ‘resource’, we illustrate historical trajectories and changing perspectives of societal relations with resources in South America. After that, we review conceptual debates in social sciences and ask how these concepts could give impulses for a more holistic framework.","PeriodicalId":50505,"journal":{"name":"Erde","volume":"330 1","pages":"93-110"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2017-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77196526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Luiz Antônio Félix Júnior, Marcel Bursztyn, J. Drummond
Abstract This article examines fundos de pasto (FPs) – a land use system that combines individual and collective appropriation of resources, evaluating its prospects in a rapidly modernizing economy. FPs are ancient and commonly held agricultural and animal husbandry lands located in the Brazilian Northeast Region. Aggressive land grabbing practices in the 1970s and 1980s and resistance of FP communities led to the formal acknowledgment of FPs. Data were obtained via individual interviews, workshops with stakeholders, archival materials from government agencies, and secondary studies. Our findings reinforce the perception of sustainability and higher resistance of these communities in years of severe droughts. Despite their secular sustainability, FPs have been under pressure that may lead to overgrazing, such as reduced grazing areas (on account of land grabbing), population growth, larger herds credit operations that stimulate the substitution of native grazing vegetation, and increasingly serious droughts. Our findings also indicate the existence of tensions between economic development and the sustainability of common resource use systems associated with the conservation of extensive areas. Understanding these tensions requires attention to the dimension of farmers’ political organization, a perspective that goes beyond the measurement of social capital.
{"title":"Sustainability of the remaining agricultural Commons in the Brazilian Northeast: challenges beyond management","authors":"Luiz Antônio Félix Júnior, Marcel Bursztyn, J. Drummond","doi":"10.12854/ERDE-148-45","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12854/ERDE-148-45","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article examines fundos de pasto (FPs) – a land use system that combines individual and collective appropriation of resources, evaluating its prospects in a rapidly modernizing economy. FPs are ancient and commonly held agricultural and animal husbandry lands located in the Brazilian Northeast Region. Aggressive land grabbing practices in the 1970s and 1980s and resistance of FP communities led to the formal acknowledgment of FPs. Data were obtained via individual interviews, workshops with stakeholders, archival materials from government agencies, and secondary studies. Our findings reinforce the perception of sustainability and higher resistance of these communities in years of severe droughts. Despite their secular sustainability, FPs have been under pressure that may lead to overgrazing, such as reduced grazing areas (on account of land grabbing), population growth, larger herds credit operations that stimulate the substitution of native grazing vegetation, and increasingly serious droughts. Our findings also indicate the existence of tensions between economic development and the sustainability of common resource use systems associated with the conservation of extensive areas. Understanding these tensions requires attention to the dimension of farmers’ political organization, a perspective that goes beyond the measurement of social capital.","PeriodicalId":50505,"journal":{"name":"Erde","volume":"14 1","pages":"150-166"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2017-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75194642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The struggle to stop Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam, whose reservoir was filled in December 2015, has lessons for other resource struggles in Amazonia and beyond. Among the impediments that failed to halt the dam were the resistance efforts of both indigenous and non-indigenous victims of the dam’s impacts, as well as the nongovernmental organizations and other actors supporting their cause. The pro-dam side had massive political and financial support from the top levels of the Brazilian government, including vigorous involvement of the country’s president. At the same time, achievements of the anti-dam side, particularly the local grassroots organizations, have provided inspiration for resource struggles elsewhere (although the victories of the resistance are significantly less definitive than was thought by many at the time).
2015年12月，巴西贝罗蒙特大坝(Belo Monte Dam)的水库被填满，阻止大坝建设的斗争对亚马逊河流域及其他地区的其他资源斗争具有借鉴意义。未能阻止大坝建设的障碍之一是受到大坝影响的土著和非土著受害者的抵抗努力，以及支持他们事业的非政府组织和其他行动者。支持修建大坝的一方得到了巴西政府高层的大量政治和财政支持，包括该国总统的大力参与。与此同时，反坝一方，特别是当地基层组织的成就，为其他地方的资源斗争提供了灵感(尽管抵抗的胜利远不如当时许多人认为的那样具有决定性)。
{"title":"Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam: Lessons of an Amazonian resource struggle","authors":"P. Fearnside","doi":"10.12854/ERDE-148-46","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12854/ERDE-148-46","url":null,"abstract":"The struggle to stop Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam, whose reservoir was filled in December 2015, has lessons for other resource struggles in Amazonia and beyond. Among the impediments that failed to halt the dam were the resistance efforts of both indigenous and non-indigenous victims of the dam’s impacts, as well as the nongovernmental organizations and other actors supporting their cause. The pro-dam side had massive political and financial support from the top levels of the Brazilian government, including vigorous involvement of the country’s president. At the same time, achievements of the anti-dam side, particularly the local grassroots organizations, have provided inspiration for resource struggles elsewhere (although the victories of the resistance are significantly less definitive than was thought by many at the time).","PeriodicalId":50505,"journal":{"name":"Erde","volume":"58 1","pages":"167-184"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2017-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83907019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article focuses on the question of how the worldwide emergence of conflicts over mining, and particularly in Latin America, can be explained. It aims at systematizing contemporary conflicts over mining. Based on existing case studies and our own research in Colombia, it investigates the issues at stake in conflicts over largescale mining, the strategies which local actors apply, and the factors influencing their actions. The analysis combines theoretical concepts from the study of contentious politics with concepts from spatial theory. The empirical examples demonstrate that conflicts over mining are embedded in overriding processes of transformation in which global processes (the resource boom) come together with national politics and the symbolic and material meaning of specific locations. Political opportunity structures – political programs, institutions, laws, regulations, changes in government and regimes – are pivotal for local conflicts. Protest actors search for allies, responsibilities and solutions on the local, national, or transnational scale. An important characteristic of conflicts over mining is the particular meaning of specific places. This is shaped by the physical-material existence of resource deposits and at the same time by various cultural attributions. In this article, it is demonstrated that both these dimensions of place are relevant to the demands and strategies of collective actors.
{"title":"Contested extractivism: actors and strategies in conflicts over mining","authors":"Kristina Dietz, Bettina Engels","doi":"10.12854/ERDE-148-42","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12854/ERDE-148-42","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on the question of how the worldwide emergence of conflicts over mining, and particularly in Latin America, can be explained. It aims at systematizing contemporary conflicts over mining. Based on existing case studies and our own research in Colombia, it investigates the issues at stake in conflicts over largescale mining, the strategies which local actors apply, and the factors influencing their actions. The analysis combines theoretical concepts from the study of contentious politics with concepts from spatial theory. The empirical examples demonstrate that conflicts over mining are embedded in overriding processes of transformation in which global processes (the resource boom) come together with national politics and the symbolic and material meaning of specific locations. Political opportunity structures – political programs, institutions, laws, regulations, changes in government and regimes – are pivotal for local conflicts. Protest actors search for allies, responsibilities and solutions on the local, national, or transnational scale. An important characteristic of conflicts over mining is the particular meaning of specific places. This is shaped by the physical-material existence of resource deposits and at the same time by various cultural attributions. In this article, it is demonstrated that both these dimensions of place are relevant to the demands and strategies of collective actors.","PeriodicalId":50505,"journal":{"name":"Erde","volume":"137 1","pages":"111-120"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2017-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85132480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Alto Nangaritza Valley in southeastern Ecuador constitutes one of the most important hotspots of biodiversity worldwide. Concerns about the exploitation of natural resources in this area have led to the creation of different types of conservation areas and policies during the last 30 years. These territorially-based conservation measures have provoked a series of conflicts between the conservation advocates and the Ecuadorian authorities on one side, and the local population who relies on the exploitation of natural resources on the other side. We analyze these conservation conflicts from a political ecological point of view, beginning with an introduction to the historical context, and then we consider the role of changing national development and spatial transformation priorities in these conflicts. Finally, in the face of the neoextractivist path that Ecuador has taken, we advocate even power relations between resource extraction and conservation policies.
{"title":"Sitting on a ticking bomb? A political ecological analysis of conservation conflicts in the Alto Nangaritza Valley, Ecuador","authors":"A. Gerique, M. F. López, Perdita Pohle","doi":"10.12854/ERDE-148-44","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12854/ERDE-148-44","url":null,"abstract":"The Alto Nangaritza Valley in southeastern Ecuador constitutes one of the most important hotspots of biodiversity worldwide. Concerns about the exploitation of natural resources in this area have led to the creation of different types of conservation areas and policies during the last 30 years. These territorially-based conservation measures have provoked a series of conflicts between the conservation advocates and the Ecuadorian authorities on one side, and the local population who relies on the exploitation of natural resources on the other side. We analyze these conservation conflicts from a political ecological point of view, beginning with an introduction to the historical context, and then we consider the role of changing national development and spatial transformation priorities in these conflicts. Finally, in the face of the neoextractivist path that Ecuador has taken, we advocate even power relations between resource extraction and conservation policies.","PeriodicalId":50505,"journal":{"name":"Erde","volume":"3 1","pages":"134-149"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2017-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87978510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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