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Resistance to Mining

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Resistance to Mining Resistance to Mining Enabling Factors and control of knowledge in uranium mining conflicts in Africa PhD Thesis Marta Conde Puigmal Directors September 2015 Dr. Joan Martinez Alier Doctorate programme in Dr. Giorgos Kalis Environmental Sciences (ICTA-UAB) Resistance to mining Enabling factors and control of knowledge in uranium mining conflicts in Africa PhD Thesis Marta Conde September 2015 Supervisors: PhD programme in Environmental Sciences Dr. Joan Martinez Alier (Ecological Economics and Environmental Dr. Giorgos Kallis Management) Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Resumen ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Resum ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Preface ....................................................................................................................................... 11 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 13 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 15 1. Aims and Research Questions ................................................................................................. 17 2. Literature overview .................................................................................................................... 15 2.1 Social Metabolism and Ecological Distribution Conflicts ...................................................... 19 2.2 Political Ecology ...................................................................................................................................... 23 2.3 Power, knowledge and activism ...................................................................................................... 25 2.4 Environmental Justice .......................................................................................................................... 19 2.5 Why uranium mining? Why Africa? ................................................................................................ 28 3 Methodology .................................................................................................................................. 30 3. 1 Research strategies .............................................................................................................................. 30 3. 2 Sources of evidence .............................................................................................................................. 34 Chapter 1 The global uranium rush and its Africa frontier Effects, reactions and social movements in Namibia ............................................................................................ 39 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 40 2. Theory and Method .................................................................................................................... 41 3. The global metabolism of uranium ....................................................................................... 46 3.1 The commodity chain ........................................................................................................................... 46 3.2 Demand patterns .................................................................................................................................... 46 3.3 Production ................................................................................................................................................. 48 3.4 Industry and the market ..................................................................................................................... 49 4. The effects of the global uranium rush in Namibia .......................................................... 51 4.1 Namibia’s uranium rush ...................................................................................................................... 51 4.2. The Rio Tinto mine in Arandis ......................................................................................................... 55 4.3. Snapshots from Namibia’s current uranium rush ................................................................... 58 5. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 64 Chapter 2 Activism mobilising science ........................................................................... 67 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 68 2. Uranium mining and the manufacture of uncertainty ................................................... 70 3. Theory ............................................................................................................................................. 71 4. Methods .......................................................................................................................................... 74 5. Uranium mining in Niger and Namibia ................................................................................ 75 5.1 How is AMS carried out? ..................................................................................................................... 76 5.2 Why AMS? .................................................................................................................................................. 80 6. Avoiding co-optation .................................................................................................................. 84 7. AMS and participatory processes .......................................................................................... 86 8. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 87 Appendix ............................................................................................................................................. 90 A testimony from the scientific side .......................................................................................... 90 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 90 2. Moran’s background ................................................................................................................................ 91 3. Is Moran part of an ‘Activism Mobilising Science’ process? ................................................... 94 4. Differences with AMS process in uranium mining in Africa ................................................. 101 5. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................ 103 Chapter 3 Resistance to mining. A review .................................................................. 105 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 106 2. Historical analysis of mining conflicts ............................................................................... 108 3. From labour to ecological distribution conflicts ............................................................ 110 4. Are conflicts increasing? ......................................................................................................... 113 5. Why do some communities resist while others do not? ............................................... 114 6. Discourses and scales .............................................................................................................. 116 7. Strategies of resistance ........................................................................................................... 119 8. Is resistance to mining projects effective? ........................................................................ 121 9. The state and resistance ......................................................................................................... 123 10. Corporations and resistance ............................................................................................... 126 11. Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 130 12. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 133 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 137 Future research agenda ............................................................................................................... 141 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 147 Abstract Resistance to mining is not new and nonetheless,
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