CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Azar Sales, Florencia |
|---|---|
| Title | Local participation for energy justice? Exploring the case of Canaverales community's prior consultation of a projected coal mine |
| Summary | The transition to a low-carbon energy system is urgent to limit the harmful effects of climate change. As the energy sector is deeply intertwined with social aspects and generates multiscale socio-environmental impacts and conflicts, the issue of how to transform the energy system to one that addresses injustices is imperative. The need for higher degrees of public engagement has appeared as an important cornerstone for more sustainable and fair processes and outcomes. However, as this research has found, public engagement does not necessarily equal or lead to energy justice. This research conducted a case-study analysis of the prior consultation (PC) process of Cañaverales community, located in La Guajira, Colombia, for the projection of a coal mine that would impact their territory and livelihoods. Drawing from 17 semi-structured interviews, this thesis explored the multiscale structural injustices that manifested in the PC, as well as the perspective of the community on how their participation would be in a just energy system. This research uses the energy justice framework complemented by the radical energy justice paradigm to comprehensively analyse the power relations and vested interests that affect the studied participatory mechanism. The process and outcomes of the PC in Cañaverales community have not advanced energy justice. However, the community’s contestations and mobilisation have shown how participatory schemes must be reframed. This thesis calls for the need to reconceptualise what meaningful participation entails and what could be expected from it to transform the energy system into a more just one. |
| Supervisor | Michael LaBelle |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/azar-sales_florencia.pdf |
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