IPBES VA Chapter 4. - Review on outcomes in big development projects (mining and dams)

IPBES VA Chapter 4. - Review on outcomes in big development projects (mining and dams) / IPBES values assessment (4.9)

Code: IPBES_VA_4.9

Versioning 01: (26.12.2020)

Versioning 02: (30.04.2022)

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4395985

Description

The IPBES Scoping document for the values assessment highlights the need to assess the types of values of nature that have (or have not) been incorporated into decision-making, the types of valuation approaches incorporated into decision-making, the challenges that have hindered the incorporation of diverse conceptualizations of values of nature in a range of decision and policy-making contexts and the implications for different stakeholders. As major environmentally disruptive and irreversible projects, such as large dams and mines, pose a special challenge to decision-making, we ask whether the inclusion of marginalised values and values of marginalised people, and more inclusive approaches to incorporating knowledge in the design, appraisal and decision-making on such environmentally disruptive projects can lead to a better balance between individual and aggregate well-being, sustainability and justice, across multiple dimensions and scales. In particular, using large dams and large mines as examples, we ask,

• to what extent and in what manner have plural values (marginalised values for nature and society, and values of marginalised people) and knowledge been recognized and incorporated into appraisals of such “big, environmentally disruptive, irreversible” projects (recognition justice), and to what extent the affected communities themselves were heard in the appraisal and decision-making process (procedural justice),
• whether this led to better decisions, and translated into better long-term outcomes, and if so,
• what might be the factors enabling such plural appraisal and democratic decision-making about environmentally disruptive projects.