UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Understanding Anti-Dam Resistance Politics: A Historical and Territorial Study of Two Megadams in Coastal Ecuador

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.3390/w15234132

Authors

Juan Pablo

Reported year

2023

Reported language

en · eng

Source type

Article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:07:01.642769+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:07:01.642769+00:00

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Not checked

Documentary abstract — original language

Megadams are controversial ventures. Despite their contentious benefits, the negative impacts on local communities are enormous. This has prompted substantial disapproval and resistance, particularly from the communities that endure the most of its adverse effects. While many megadams have been constructed in the face of opposition, others have been halted or altered as a result of the fierce protests of affected people and their allies. A better understanding of the latter is key to promoting equitable and just water governance throughout the implementation of hydraulic infrastructure. Based on ethnographic and historical research carried out between 2014 and 2017, the article shows the power relations, social actors and historical-contextual factors that have influenced the development of the Daule-Peripa and Baba megadams on the Ecuadorian coast. From a political ecology and subaltern studies perspective, this article describes and analyses the social, territorial, and historical interconnectedness of the local communities of Patricia Pilar and Daule-Peripa dam in coastal Ecuador that successfully stopped the construction of a dam and had a great influence on its final hydraulic design. I argue that, given the adequate socio-political conditions and a systematic process of knowledge and experience exchange among affected communities, anti-dam struggles can emerge with significant capacity to influence in their favour the megadam implementation processes and other hydraulic infrastructures.

Identifiers

DOI

10.3390/w15234132

OPENAIRE

doi_dedup___::7c22b84b0965009341c66474c85a70d5

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

Article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

EC

Natural entities mentioned

Territory

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAIRE · Record 1

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.3390/w15234132

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Relevance pending

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