TY - JOUR
T1 - Does renewable energy affect violent conflict? Exploring social opposition and injustice in the struggle over the Lake Turkana Wind Farm, Kenya
AU - Lomax, Jake
AU - Mirumachi, Naho
AU - Hautsch, Marine
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development FORMAS grant: 2017–01941 Integrering av. konfliktanalys i projekt för förnybar energi: möjligheter att främja och upprätthålla fred/ Conflict Prevention and Low-Carbon Development: Opportunities for promoting and sustaining peace through renewable energy projects.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/5/1
Y1 - 2023/5/1
N2 - Renewable energy projects offer prospects for sustainable development and meeting climate goals. However, new renewable energy projects, often driven by donor aid and foreign direct investment, have triggered several challenges, notably those related to conflicts. Struggles over renewable energy projects demonstrate a range of social opposition and injustice that needs to be better understood. This study applies a conflict sensitivity framework to examine how changes in energy systems alter conflict. Using the case study of the Lake Turkana Wind Farm (LTWF) and secondary sources, the study analyses the range of conflict mechanisms identified by project implementers, as well as independent analysts. Conflict mechanisms reveal how energy system changes may affect violence in the project area, as well as the kinds of socio-economic consequences of conflict generated by LTWF. The paper critically examines the discrepancies between the project developer, Lake Turkana Wind Power, and analysts of independent studies in how conflict mechanisms are attributed to pathways of increasing or reducing conflict. The paper finds that the project developer evaluates its impact on conflict in a minimal way, making conflict sensitivity limited. The paper extends examination beyond inequalities in project outcomes and indicates a way to understand conflict sensitivity throughout the energy system.
AB - Renewable energy projects offer prospects for sustainable development and meeting climate goals. However, new renewable energy projects, often driven by donor aid and foreign direct investment, have triggered several challenges, notably those related to conflicts. Struggles over renewable energy projects demonstrate a range of social opposition and injustice that needs to be better understood. This study applies a conflict sensitivity framework to examine how changes in energy systems alter conflict. Using the case study of the Lake Turkana Wind Farm (LTWF) and secondary sources, the study analyses the range of conflict mechanisms identified by project implementers, as well as independent analysts. Conflict mechanisms reveal how energy system changes may affect violence in the project area, as well as the kinds of socio-economic consequences of conflict generated by LTWF. The paper critically examines the discrepancies between the project developer, Lake Turkana Wind Power, and analysts of independent studies in how conflict mechanisms are attributed to pathways of increasing or reducing conflict. The paper finds that the project developer evaluates its impact on conflict in a minimal way, making conflict sensitivity limited. The paper extends examination beyond inequalities in project outcomes and indicates a way to understand conflict sensitivity throughout the energy system.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153848282&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.erss.2023.103089
DO - 10.1016/j.erss.2023.103089
M3 - Article
SN - 2214-6296
VL - 100
JO - Energy Research & Social Science
JF - Energy Research & Social Science
M1 - 103089
ER -
