Environmental justice in Natura 2000 conservation conflicts: The case for resident empowerment. (August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Strzelecka, Marianna; Rechciński, Marcin; Tusznio, Joanna; Akhshik, Arash; Grodzińska-Jurczak, Małgorzata
• Is Part Of: Land use policy. Volume 107(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-08
• Subjects: Justice, empowerment -- Conservation conflicts -- Natura 2000; Land use -- Periodicals; Land use -- Government policy -- Periodicals; Sol, Utilisation du -- Périodiques; Sol, Utilisation du -- Politique gouvernementale -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 333.7305
• DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105494
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-8377

Abstract

Abstract: Literature concerned with Natura 2000 highlights that conflicts emerged when local communities felt the implementation of the policy was unfair. In the paper, we extend those arguments and say that the contested nature of Natura 2000 conflicts is best understood through a framework of environmental justice that embraces the importance of empowering residents and communities in Natura 2000 processes. We draw from Nancy Fraser's critical approach that organizes justice issues within distribution, recognition and representation domains simultaneously. It enables us to look at the Natura 2000 conservation conflicts from a critical standpoint of local communities. With it, we conceptualize the role of resident empowerment to compliment examinations of environmental policy conflicts. To re-construct the case of Natura 2000 conservation conflicts through the lens of pluralistic environmental justice perspective, we revisit processes in which a sense of (in)justice about Natura 2000 policy nourished conservation conflicts in Poland. Highlights: Pluralistic framework of environmental justice that draws upon Nancy Fraser's critical approach to frame conservation conflicts. The justice framework organizes N2000 conflicts in terms of whose visions are recognized, who gets to participate in decision-making, and what kind of values mattered. Empowerment as a glue-like element for just Natura 2000 policy within distribution, recognition and representation domains.