The Limits of Social Protection: The Case of Hydropower Dams and Indigenous Peoples' Land

• DOI: 10.1002/app5.187
• Publication Date: 2017-07-05T04:32:38Z
• Authors: Fadzilah Majid Cooke; Johan Nordensvard; Gusni Bin Saat; Frauke Urban; Giuseppina Siciliano
• Keywords: Sociology and Political Science; Economics; FOS: Political science; Social Sciences; Sustainable Development in Mining and Minerals Industry; 01 natural sciences; Environmental Justice and Inequality in Urban Development; Livelihood; Engineering; 11. Sustainability; Commodification; 3902; Political science; Biology; Economic growth; Environmental planning; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences; 2. Zero hunger; Geography; Ecology; Social and Environmental Impacts of Dam-induced Displacement; 1. No poverty; Agriculture; Building and Construction; Economy; 15. Life on land; 320; 300; Indigenous; 8690; Archaeology; FOS: Biological sciences; Physical Sciences; Hydropower

AbstractHydropower dams have been criticised for their social and environmental implications. There have been attempts to create international social standards for hydropower dam projects, but these standards have had limited impact. This article uses an extended environmental justice framework to make sense of the resettlement and compensation schemes for Indigenous peoples who were resettled for the construction of the Bakun dam in Borneo, East Malaysia. The article therefore analyses the social protection measures designed for the protection of Indigenous peoples and their livelihoods. The case study is based on in‐depth interviews and focus group discussions with local communities, institutional actors in Malaysia, Chinese actors and dam builders. The article concludes that the social protection policies did not protect Indigenous people and their land sufficiently, but it facilitated a commodification process of both land and people. This should also be understood as a colonisation of their land and their cultures.