Territory in conflict: land dispossession, water grabbing and mobilization for environmental justice in southern Spain

Abstract

This paper analyses the socio-territorial conflict prompted by Los Merinos: a residential-tourism project constructed in an ecological reserve that is vital to Andalusian livelihoods. It examines disputes concerning discourses, authorities and rules in order to understand the struggle over land and water. Using the echelons of rights analysis (ERA) framework, the paper scrutinizes the multiscale forces and strategies adopted by business and opposing movement networks in order to shape territory, thereby engaging local and supra-local governments. The authors' political-ecology lens on environmental justice and territorialization enhances the understanding of the relevance of social movements in contesting the misappropriation of socio-natural environments.

Can agriculture and conservation be compatible in a coastal wetland? Balancing stakeholders’ narratives and interactions in the management of El Hondo Natural Park, Spain

“…Stakeholder analysis and water governance have usually been applied to studies on environmental justice and conflicts affecting vulnerable populations, such as informal settlements, indigenous communities, racial segregation, and popular movements (Lombard and Rakodi 2016;Manosalvas et al 2021). However, asymmetrical power relationships and human-nature conflicts are global and replicable phenomena, notably when they are motivated by water infrastructure construction, ecosystem degradation, or competing water interests (Ferguson et al 2017;García et al 2020;Stepanova et al 2020;Prieto-López et al 2021;Shah et al 2021). Therefore, stakeholder narratives can be complemented by new conceptual and methodological issues that synthesize individual and collective stakeholders' behaviour (Wesselink et al 2016).…”

“…As socio-ecological systems, coastal wetlands cover different and sometimes conflicting water resources supply and management expectations that reflect environmental, economic, social, cultural, and political interests (Everard 2019). Therefore, coastal wetlands management has been discussed considering a dual narrative able to highlight (1) socio-economic progress, based on private benefits from water and land management, or (2) socio-environmental justice, recognizing non-economic values and common goods and based on public participation (Svarstad and Benjaminsen 2020;Prieto-López et al 2021). This dual interpretation of coastal wetlands has been used to justify their consideration as 'hydrosocial territories': spatial configurations in which humans and water co-construct themselves based upon complex interactions of contrasting narratives and local knowledge concerning the use, control, and management of land and water resources (Schmidt 2014;Boelens et al 2016;Wilfong and Pavao-Zuckerman 2020).…”