Abstract: There has been limited academic research exploring the combined effects of mining and climate change on water resources, particularly in developing countries. The adverse weather patterns resulting from climate change are expected to worsen water insecurity in rural areas. Mining activities not only contribute to climate change but also have significant impacts on already limited water resources, posing challenges for communities hosting these mining operations. This study investigates the interconnectedness between climate change, mining development, and water security, shedding light on the vulnerability of rural communities to water scarcity induced by mining and climate change. The primary focus of this paper is the Somkhele rural community, located in the uMkhanyakude District Municipality of Northern KwaZulu-Natal, which experiences water scarcity due to climate change. Despite the prevailing drought conditions, mining operations continue in this region. Data for this research was collected through semi-structured interviews with key social actors in the Fuleni community, located near Somkhele and opposing mining development, as well as with the residents of Somkhele who are already burdened by mining activities. Additionally, a questionnaire was administered to 424 households in Somkhele to gather their perspectives on the impacts of climate variability and mining on their livelihoods and water resources. The study findings reveal a complex interplay among climate change, mining impacts, and water (and food) security. Unfortunately, instances of government and traditional leadership corruption to support mining have exacerbated water insecurity for residents.

Abstract: There has been limited academic research exploring the combined effects of mining and climate change on water resources, particularly in developing countries. The adverse weather patterns resulting from climate change are expected to worsen water insecurity in rural areas. Mining activities not only contribute to climate change but also have significant impacts on already limited water resources, posing challenges for communities hosting these mining operations. This study investigates the interconnectedness between climate change, mining development, and water security, shedding light on the vulnerability of rural communities to water scarcity induced by mining and climate change. The primary focus of this paper is the Somkhele rural community, located in the uMkhanyakude District Municipality of Northern KwaZulu-Natal, which experiences water scarcity due to climate change. Despite the prevailing drought conditions, mining operations continue in this region. Data for this research was collected through semi-structured interviews with key social actors in the Fuleni community, located near Somkhele and opposing mining development, as well as with the residents of Somkhele who are already burdened by mining activities. Additionally, a questionnaire was administered to 424 households in Somkhele to gather their perspectives on the impacts of climate variability and mining on their livelihoods and water resources. The study findings reveal a complex interplay among climate change, mining impacts, and water (and food) security. Unfortunately, instances of government and traditional leadership corruption to support mining have exacerbated water insecurity for residents.

Individual Presentation Submission

The paper investigates the relationship between mining activities and local community development at the now dysfunctional Connemara Mine in Zimbabwe. It uses ethnographic evidence collected at/around the mining site to challenge the notion that mining equates to development. It explores how the host community benefitted from mining at the site and weighs it against the livelihood and environmental costs. Findings suggest that while Connemara Gold Mine was rated as one of the top gold producers in Zimbabwe, the host community has very little to nothing to show in terms of benefits after hosting the mine for almost a century. The paper also discovers some huge gaps in terms of implementation of a range of mining and environmental laws and regulation with the miners extracting the precious mineral in destructive ways – all unfolding in the eyes of the responsible authorities. Connemara mine is now an abandoned mine, which besides posing serious environmental health and safety problems, is also accused of impoverishing the host community in several ways. The study provides a critique of mining/environmental governance in Zimbabwe. It poses critical questions as to how most miners successfully disregard mining laws at all mining stages from exploration to decommissioning without facing any consequences. It also exposes the continued exclusion of local communities in important issues that affect their lives as they are systematically left in the dark as to the next step at the mine.

Keyword: Mining, Environment, Livelihoods, Treadmills of production

Individual Presentation Submission

This paper examines contemporary processes of subject formation associated with extractive infrastructure in the Peruvian Amazon. It first introduces the historical and geographical development of the Amazonian oil complex, and the 'ethnopolitical field' through which its spatial and social contradictions are expressed. Through the examination of the case of Urarina territories, the paper analyses the ways moral economies constituted through local spatio-political strategies vis-a-vis previous extractive cycles combine with rapid processes of commodification of subsistence and the 'ethnobureaucratic field' of extraction in the constitution of new forms of political subjectivity and dynamics dependant antagonism.
Keywords: Amazon, oil extraction, uneven and combined development, indigenous territories, extractivism, subjectivity, Peru

This is a 1 paper submission (late)

The Infrastructure of Sustainable Development: roads, extraction & finance in the Amazon
Dr Jessica Hope, University of St Andrews, Scotland

New roads lead Latin America's infrastructural turn, pitched as a necessary first step in securing sustainable development by national governments, global development institutes and private finance. These roads constitute multi-lane highways that connect remote markets and communities, whilst helping global actors invest and increase capital. For their proponents, the COVID19 pandemic has increased the need for such infrastructure, to ensure economic growth. Roads are known, however, to extend fossil fuel mining, increase deforestation, and reduce biodiversity, as well as to impact citizenship, influence politics and shape development imaginaries. In this paper, I explore the political ecology of this new road infrastructure by first outlining how and where the roads of sustainable development are also the roads of fossil fuel extraction. Second, I explore how these roads as a new entry point to understanding the global sustainable development project and its relationship to global capitalism.