Impacts of Wind Energy on Family and Local Economies in the ISTMO of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca

Abstract

The implementation of wind farms in the Istmo of Tehuantepec is a clear example of the use of the green economy as a strategy for capitalist accumulation, based on the use of the discourse of environmental mitigation to ensure the accumulation of large volumes of capital, for the benefit of national and transnational corporations. All this at the cost of the territorial rights of peasant societies, the dispossession of their resources and the destruction of their cultural landscape. Wind energy has become a symbol of the type of "sustainable" development sought by the new local, state and federal administrations. They promote social and environmental impact studies that consolidate wind projects as the option for the energy transition, where the only difficulty is the lack of adequate negotiation spaces regarding land rent. The wind potential in the Istmo of Tehuantepec is imperative, as it favors the development companies, limiting the benefits for local communities and increasing social rejection to the projects.