Joan%Martinez,Alier

28%March%2017

ECOLOGICAL
DISTRIBUTION//
CONFLICTS
 Ecological Distribution%Conflicts
• Martinez,Alier,%J.%1995,%Distributional%Issues%in%Ecological%
Economics,%Rev.%of%Social%Economy,%53(4):511,528.
• Martinez,Alier,%J.,%O’Connor,%M.,%1996.%Ecological%and%
economic%distribution%conflicts.%In:%R.%Costanza,%J.%Martinez,
Alier and%O.%Segura%(eds.),%Getting%down%to%Earth:%Practical%
Applications%of%Ecological%Economics.%Island%Press/ISEE,%
Washington,%DC.
• Martinez,Alier,%J.,%2003.%The%environmentalism%of%the%poor:%a%
study%of%ecological%conflicts%and%valuation.%Edward%Elgar.%
Cheltenham.
• A%definition%in:%www.ejolt.org/2016/04/ecological,
distribution,conflicts/
• Many%new%examples%in%the%EJAtlas (www.ejatlas.org).
The EJAtlas
Conflicts at the commodity extraction
frontiers,/and also on/waste disposal

• Even%a%non,growing%industrial%economy%would%
require%new%supplies%of%fossil%fuels%and%other%
materials%from%the%commodity%extraction%
frontiers%because%energy%is%not%recycled%and%
materials%are%recycled%only%in%part.%
• The%economy%is%not%circular,%but%entropic:%there%
are%therefore%many%resource%extraction%and%
waste%disposal%conflicts,%at%different%scales,%such%
as%those%on%responsibility%for%the%excessive%
amount%of%greenhouse%gases.%%
Externalities%are%not%so%much%market%failures%as%
“cost,shifting%successes”%(K.W.%Kapp)%that%
nevertheless%sometimes%give%rise%to%complaints.

“No%Liability%!!!%for%climate%change”%Ambassador%
Todd%Stern%since%Copenhagen%2009%to%the%COP%21%
Paris,%while%Laudato si has%two%full%paragraphs%(51%
and%52)%on%the%Ecological%Debt%from%North%to%South.

http://www.ejolt.org/2015/12/todd,stern,dont,
acknowledge,ecological,debt/
The EnvJustice project www.envjustice.org
and the EJAtlas www.ejatlas.org
• The EJAtlas collects ecological distribution
conflicts around the world in%10%main
categories%(fossil fuels%and climate change,%
minerals,%biomass,%waste,%water,%industry,%
nuclear%energy,%infrastructures,%biodiversity
conservation,%tourism).%
• Each case contains 6 pages of%information,%
including sources
• It was launched in/March/2014/with 920/cases/
reaching 2040/in/March/2017./
The%EnvJustice project%www.envjustice.org
and%the%EJAtlas www.ejatlas.org

• Directed%at%ICTA%UAB%Barcelona%by%Leah%Temper%and%
JMA,%coordinated%by%Daniela%Del%Bene,%>%100%outside%
collaborators%(academics%and%activists)%over%the%years.%
• Funded%by%a%European%Research%Council%Advanced%
Grant%2016,21%
• In%about%18%per%cent%of%cases%environmental%justice%is%
said%to%be%achieved%(with%short%explanations%provided).%
In%about%14%per%cent%of%cases,%one%of%the%outcomes%is%
deaths%of%environmental%defenders.%Many%other%coded%
variables.%
 Four cases%(out of%2040)%from the EJAtlas

1) https://ejatlas.org/conflict/fishers,protest,
destruction,of,mangroves,in,ennore,india
Ennore creek,%north%of%Chennai,%a%sacrifice%zone%
with%coal%fired%power%plants%(CFPP),%chemical%
industries,%a%port,%a%landfill.%Fisherfolk defend%the%
commons,%against%the%pollution%and%encroachments%
affecting%their%livelihood.%
A%new%song by T.M.%Krishna defends the Poromboke
(commons).%
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82jFyeV5AHM
 2)%Berta%Cáceres’%death
• https://ejatlas.org/conflict/proyecto,hidroelectrico,agua,zarca,
honduras
• Lenca indigenous%sacred%territory%affected%by%a%hydropower%
plant,%funded%by%international%banks%and%climate%funds.%Lenca
people%are%denied%the%use%of%water%and%their%leaders%are%
criminalized%and%murdered.%Berta%Caceres%was%killed,%03.03.16
 3)%Gloria%Capitan,%Philippines
She%opposed%the%construction%of%coal%stockpile%facilities%and%a%
CFPP%as%leader%of%the%local%anti,coal%movement%in%Mariveles,%60%
km%from%Manila,%member%of%the%Philippine%Movement%for%
Climate%Justice.%She%was%a%grandmother,%she%was%shot%on%1st July%
2016.%https://ejatlas.org/conflict/coal,mining,leading,to,the,
killing,of,gloria,capitan
 4)%https://ejatlas.org/conflict/ooi,
nuclear,plants,fukui,prefecture,japan
Kansai%Electric%Power%Company’s%application%to%resume%operation%
of% two%nuclear%energy%units%met%strong%protests.%The%regional%court%
granted%injunction%against%the%operation%in%2014.%Not%an%issue%of%
economic%compensation%for%uncertain%risks.%
Lawyers: The%court%ordered%suspension;%Justice%given%and%surviving.
 Goals of%the project EnvJustice,%2016,21
• The%project%will%expand%the%EJAtlas,%improving%geographical%
coverage%reaching%3000%cases%by%2020.%It%will%update%some%old%
cases.%It%will%do%country%based%and%transversal%studies%of%
comparative,%statistical%Political%Ecology.
• It%will%compile%a%global%Vocabulary%of%Environmental%Justice,%
drawing%on%the%EJAtlas and%other%sources.%%The%EJ%movement%
in%the%USA%c.%1982%introduced%terms%like%“environmental%
racism”,%“popular%epidemiology”.%We%collect%many%other%
manifestations%of%EJ%in%the%world%(banners,%videos,%songs…).
• The%project%will%also%analyze%the%alliance%between%the%Global%
Environmental%Justice%Movement%and%the%Degrowth
(Décroissance, PostBWachstum,%Prosperity%without%Growth)%
movement%in%Europe.%
 The%key%questions%asked%in%the%project:%%
• Is%there%a%Global%Movement%for%Environmental%
Justice%helping%to%push%society%and%economy%
towards%environmental%sustainability?%
• What%are%the%links%from%the%growth%and%the%
changes%in%the%Social%Metabolism%to%Ecological%
Distribution%Conflicts,%to%Movements%for%
Environmental%Justice,%and%then%to%
Sustainability? (next%slide)
 Some publications
2017.%Ecological%distribution%conflicts%as%forces%for%sustainability:%Why,%
who,%how%and%when?%A.%Scheidel,%F.%Demaria,%L.Temper,%J.%Martinez,
Alier,%Sustainability Science.
2017.%Commercial and%biophysical deficits in%South%America 1990,
2013.%P.%Samaniego,%M.C.%Vallejo,%J.%Martinez,Alier,%Ecol.%Economics
133:%62,73.
2016.%Changing social%metabolism and%environmental conflicts in%India%
and%South%America.%J.%Martinez,Alier,%F.%Demaria,%Leah Temper,%
Mariana%Walter,%J.%of%Political Ecology,%23:%467,491.
2016.%Ecologically unequal exchange and%ecological debt.%Introduction
to%the special section.%A.%Hornborg,%J.%Martinez,Alier,%J.%of%Political
Ecology,%23:%328,333.
2016.%Socially Sustainable Economic Degrowth,%J.%Martinez,Alier,%ch.%13
in%J.%Farley and%Deepak Malghan eds.%Beyond Uneconomic Growth.%
Economics,%Equity and%the Ecological Predicament.%Edward%Elgar,%
Cheltenham,%p.%280,301.
 Some publications
• *%2016.%Is there a%global%environmental justice movement?%J.%
Martinez,Alier,%Leah Temper,%Daniela%Del%Bene,%Arnim
Scheidel,%J.%of%Peasant Studies,%43%(3):%731,755.
• 2016.%Social%metabolism and%conflicts over extractivism.%J.%
Martinez,Alier and%Mariana%Walter,%in%F.%de%Castro,%B.%
Hogenboom,%M.%Baud.%(eds.),%Environmental Governance in%
Latin America,%%Palgrave Macmillan,%London,%p.%58,85.
• *%2015.%Mapping the frontiers and%front lines of%global%
environmental justice:%the EJAtlas.%L.%Temper,%D.%Del%Bene,%J.%
Martinez,Alier.%J.%of%Political Ecology.%22:%255,278.
• *%2014,%J.%Martinez,Alier et%al.%Between activism and%science:%
grassroots concepts for sustainability coined by Environmental
Justice Organizations.%J.%of%Political Ecology.%21:%19,60.