Atlas of Environmental Justice Tracks Global Conflicts
Escalating Dispute over Environmental Issues
The Atlas of Environmental Justice, a global collaborative database launched in 2012, documents and maps social conflicts around environmental issues, making it the largest repository of its kind worldwide.
Spanish economist Joan Martínez Alier, 81, dean of the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, spoke about the Atlas, which he co-directs with Canadian Leah Temper and is coordinated by Italian Daniela Del Bene.
The interactive map of the Atlas (ejatlas.org) now includes 3,125 documented cases, each with cards, photographs, sources, and data. The conflicts often involve extractive companies on one side and local communities challenging pollution, poisoning, landslides, explosions, or forced displacement on the other.
The globally consulted Atlas also catches the interest of capital giants and sovereign or investment funds who use it to understand potential ecological and social conflicts before investing. The Atlas, initially based on a European research project, has grown exponentially, with a proliferation of disputes that could amount to tens of thousands.
Since its inception, the Atlas has been monitoring similar dynamics worldwide, with some conflicts resulting in violence, such as the coal mine disputes in Gare Pelma. In about 12% of the documented cases, the killing of one or more activists is reported. Some ongoing disputes involve companies like Pan American Silver, spanning from Mexico to Patagonia, and companies like Chevron-Texaco in Ecuador and Shell in the Niger Delta, which have failed to honor agreed-upon compensations.
Currently, attention is on the Arctic, the newest frontier for mining business, due to its opacity and the sparse population. Martínez Alier reiterates that the industrial economy has an insatiable appetite and is not circular but entropic, requiring a new paradigm.
The Atlas serves as a valuable resource for researchers, activists, institutions, and capital giants alike. It provides data for research, documents struggles of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and facilitates collaboration among various stakeholders. By mapping and monitoring environmental conflicts, the Atlas contributes to building science-society relationships and informing policy and action.
- The Atlas of Environmental Justice, a valuable resource for capital giants, helps them understand potential ecological and social conflicts before investing in the energy or finance industry.
- The Atlas, which covers conflicts in fields such as climate-change and environmental-science, documents cases involving extractive companies and local communities, including forced displacement and pollution issues.
- The interactive map of the Atlas includes 3,125 documented cases, with each case featuring cards, photographs, sources, and data, some of which have resulted in violence, such as coal mine disputes or the killing of one or more activists.
- In the Arctic, the newest frontier for mining business, attention is focused on the insatiable appetite of the industrial economy, and the need for a new paradigm that prioritizes sustainable and circular energy practices.
