Conflictividad asociada a grandes obras hidráulicas: El pantano de Jánovas, España y la presa Tenosique, México

Under the hegemonic vision of the ‘hydraulic paradigm’, water is considered a biophysical element and a politically neutral resource to be submitted to neoliberal logics of efficiency and competitiveness. Such a vision legitimises the construction of large hydraulic infrastructures, such as dams, water transfers and desalination plants all over the world.

However, there is often little consideration for the unequal access, control, and distribution of benefits and impacts that can arise from such infrastructures, especially when they are associated with various processes of accumulation by dispossession, such as the privatisation of water resources and the forced expulsion of local inhabitants. This can generate intense, complex and long-lasting disputes over the hydraulic infrastructures, two of which we reflect upon in this chapter: the Jánovas reservoir (Spain) and the Tenosique dam (Mexico). Through the two case studies, we display what global processes influence these conflicts; in what ways they are productive in reshaping the hydro-social territory; and how the ‘where’ plays a role in the emergence and persistence of these conflicts.

Ottolini, Isabeau; Fabiola Nava, Luzma & Torres Bernardino, Lorena (2021). Conflictividad asociada a grandes obras hidráulicas: El pantano de Jánovas, España y la presa Tenosique, México. In del Romero Renau, Luís; Castro, Hortensia & Lozano Valera, Antonio (Eds.) Conflictividad ambiental y territorial en América Latina y Europa. Valencia: Ed. Tirant Lo Blanch.