Struggles Over Dams as Struggles for Justice: The World Commission on Dams (WCD) and Anti-Dam Campaigns in Thailand and Mozambique

Sneddon, Chris; Fox, Coleen

doi:10.1080/08941920701744231

Cited by 71 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Sustainability concerns need to be incorporated into debates and movements for greater democratic control over water This also necessitates a thorough critique of the present development model in India, which gives rise to unsustainable natural resource extraction, destroys livelihoods and generates conflicts (Joy et al 2008; see also Sneddon and Fox 2008). This is largely true for the case of the conflict around the rayon factory as well.…”

Section: The Relevance Of a Water Justice Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 97%

Tribal communities, the forests, the fisher folk and the river: whither water justice?

Krishnan

George

2014

Local Environment

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Excessive exploitation of and skewed access to dwindling water resources raise serious water justice concerns. Environmental justice movements and related literature have raised critical questions regarding the unequal distribution of the costs and benefits of a development paradigm that is founded on excessive exploitation and appropriation of natural resources. This paper explores the growing relevance of a water justice framework that addresses both the social and ecological aspects of water use and appropriation, with reference to a four-decade long water conflict over the Chaliyar River in Kerala, South India. It highlights how ecosystem degradation and denial of justice go hand in hand. The paper argues that the framing and articulation of the conflict in a partisan manner led to the glossing over of certain critical features, thus preventing a full view of water injustices. It also failed to inform subsequent policies and practices in this regard.

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Section: The Relevance Of a Water Justice Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 97%

Tribal communities, the forests, the fisher folk and the river: whither water justice?

Krishnan

George

2014

Local Environment

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“…These riverscapes are climate vulnerable ecosystems, where dam construction is likely to exacerbate climate-related variability in water flows and biodiversity, as well as vulnerability to hydro-climatic disasters (Shah, 2013;Vagholikar & Das, 2010). As a result, accelerated hydropower development has led to a multiplication of social conflicts over diverse issues such as cost-benefit distribution, hazard risks, and indigenous sovereignty among others (Baruah, 2012;Finley-Brook & Thomas, 2011;Matthews, 2012;McCormick, 2010;Sneddon & Fox, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower, Anti-Politics, and the Opening of New Political Spaces in the Eastern Himalayas

Huber

Joshi

2015

World Development

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“…However, more recently, their worldwide planning has gained a new impetus through their representation as important ingredients of the new "green economy" (Sneddon and Fox 2008;Swyngedouw 2014). Hydropower generation is currently a key justification for large dam projects, supported by the discourses of clean development and climate change control.…”

Section: Hydropower and The (Re)patterning Of Hydrosocial Territoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the case of mega-hydraulic projects and large-scale river diversion schemes, these impacts are usually to the advantage of powerful stakeholders outside the project area (such as mega-cities and industries) and mostly to the disadvantage of the vulnerable groups in the affected river basin territory (McCully 2001;Moore, Dore, and Gyawali 2010;Sneddon and Fox 2008;WCD 2000). Development of hydropower plants is an important driver of such transformations, and the case of Hidrosogamoso in the Department of Santander in northeast Colombia is illustrative.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower, Encroachment and the Re-patterning of Hydrosocial Territory: The Case of Hidrosogamoso in Colombia

Duarte-Abadía¹,

Boelens²,

Roa-Avendaño³

2015

Human Organization

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Mega-hydraulic projects tend to produce severe social and environmental impacts, with burdens and benefits unevenly distributed among different social groups, regions, and scales. This triggers socioenvironmental conflicts, since “territory” has incommensurable functions and values for the diverse parties. This article examines the dominant human-nature interactions that underlie recent hydropower developments and the reconfiguration of the hydrosocial network in Colombia's Sogamoso basin. We use the Echelon of Rights Analysis (ERA) to examine conflicts over hydrosocial patterning, involving struggles over resources, norms, authority, and discourses. The Sogamoso mega-project highlights how modernist policies discursively frame clean energy, sustainable development, and public utility, while breaking up existing socioecological relationships and aligning water users, rights, and uses in new hydro-political network hierarchies. In Sogamoso, hydropower development discourse ends up declaring local subsistence activities illegal while denying existing rights frameworks. Therefore, crucial questions about water rights, legitimacy, and justice remain unasked and unanswered within political arenas.

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Struggles Over Dams as Struggles for Justice: The World Commission on Dams (WCD) and Anti-Dam Campaigns in Thailand and Mozambique

Cited by 71 publications

References 11 publications

Tribal communities, the forests, the fisher folk and the river: whither water justice?

Tribal communities, the forests, the fisher folk and the river: whither water justice?

Hydropower, Anti-Politics, and the Opening of New Political Spaces in the Eastern Himalayas

Hydropower, Encroachment and the Re-patterning of Hydrosocial Territory: The Case of Hidrosogamoso in Colombia

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