Justice, social exclusion and indigenous opposition: A case study of wind energy development on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. (August 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zárate-Toledo, Ezequiel; Patiño, Rodrigo; Fraga, Julia
• Is Part Of: Energy research & social science. Volume 54(2019)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 11
• Publication Date: 2019-08
• Subjects: AMDEE Asociación Mexicana de la Energía Eólica (Mexican Wind Energy Association) -- CFE Comisión Federal de Electricidad (Federal Electricity Commission) -- CRE Comisión Reguladora de Energía (Energy Regulatory Commission) -- IACHR Inter-American Commission on Human Rights -- OS Temporada Abierta de Reserva de Capacidad de Transmisión y Transformación de Energía Eléctrica (Open Season for Electric Energy Transmission and Transformation Reserve Capacity) -- PA Procuraduría Agraria (Agrarian Ombudsman) -- PIE Productores Independientes de Energía (Independent Energy Producers) -- SEMARNAT Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources) -- SENER Secretaría de Energía (Ministry of Energy) -- SIA Social Impact Assessment; Wind farm -- Land use planning -- Social governance -- Indigenous communities -- Energopower; Power resources -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Energy consumption -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 333.7905
• DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2019.03.004
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2214-6296

Abstract

Highlights: The southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec is one of the windiest places on Earth. Mexican government has proposed a policy to exploit wind resources in the last years. Aeolian extractivism disrupts rights of local indigenous communities. Social protests block the project driving the largest wind farm in Latin America. Prior Consult and Social Impact Assessment are proposed to follow next projects without success. Abstract: The southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec is one of the windiest places on Earth and the scene of a large-scale wind energy development plan conceived by the Mexican government in conjunction with multinational companies. We analyze the national wind energy development policy, and the negotiation processes, alliances and popular local indigenous resistance created by what is known as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Wind Energy Megaproject. We observe how the Mexican government, in its eagerness to grant control of regional wind energy resources to private sector companies, generated social schisms and conflicts in regional indigenous communities. These arose largely due to the absence of land use planning rules and conflict resolution mechanisms of the property rights issued for communal and social control, heritage of the Mexican revolution in the 1910's. We describe recent government initiatives implemented in response to this dynamic and aimed at reviving construction of a wind farm previously blocked by popular indigenous protests. This unsuccessful attempt exposed a lack of institutional interest in guaranteeing local involvement in project planning and in correcting existing top-down political and operation practices. Wind energy development in Mexico resembles an extractive model, with no consideration of local cultures or organizations, or the potential for joint ventures with local stakeholders that would treat rural indigenous populations as assets in the national energy transition, begun in 2007 for wind private projects in the region.