New contributions to fighting against environmental injustice
20/10/2014
Led by ICTA researchers Beatriz Rodríguez-Labajos and Christos Zografos, the EJOLT team of experts studied the conditions under which tools such as monetary assessments, cost-benefit assessments (CBA) and multi-criteria assessments (MCA) work to explore and demonstrate the unsustainability of controversial environmental projects. In addition to UAB researchers, the team included organisations from Nigeria, Kenya, Colombia, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Turkey which have participated directly in the defence of communities affected by environmental injustices.
The implementation of socio-economic assessment tools is a recent approach in which academics and social organisations devoted to environmental justice are working together. "The assessment tools are of help in some cases, but they are not a panacea: they are the best method when used strategically, when they do not alter or obstruct the forms of expression or priorities of those suffering from environmental injustices, and if they can help to balance out asymmetries", Christos Zografos states on the results of the study.
As an example, researchers explain that the application of cost-benefit analysis on sugar cane plantations of the Tana Delta in Kenya demonstrate that this tool has been relevant in fighting against asymmetries. In the case however of the opposition to the mine exploitation project in Mount Ida, Turkey, putting monetary value on the mine could have harmed social legitimacy in other senses, such as territorial rights and access to natural resources.
The results suggest that these tools are most effective when applied strategically, because they help the local population debate on future implications and serve as an assessment tool for the elaboration of institutional standards. In contrast, they deactivate local mobilisations when they force communities to express their preoccupations within an evaluation scheme which is not adapted to their system of values and interests, when they reproduce relations of unequal power, or in those cases in which public decisions have little to do with what the report refers to as "reasonable arguments".
Beatriz Rodríguez-Labajos explains that “socio-economic assessment tools evaluating environmental impact can be used to dismantle the pretexts often used by project promoters and which lead to perpetuating environmental injustices. Specifically, the excuse that the project 'makes sense at economic level' is usually used to implement projects which are harmful for the environment and the communities depending on its resources.”
The report is the sixteenth report drawn up by EJOLT and highlights the fact that discovering more about these tools is beneficial to both activists and academics. A summary associated with the report offers recommendations on its use and lists ten aspects to be taken into consideration before, during and after a socio-economic assessment.