Panel details

Panel organiser(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online
Number of paper presentations	4
Location

Abstract

Aligning Large Scale Development Programs with Community Resilience: Innovative Approaches to Dealing with Displacement, Livelihood Disturbances & Ecology

Aligning development programs with community resilience is essential, given the fact that social and environmental transformations resulting from development initiatives may possibly lead to reduced quality of live and livelihood. In fact, unless adequately managed, development programs that entail structural change on environment, socio-economic and political orders, may negatively impact communities. One of this category of development initiatives is large-scale hydropower dam projects. In general, large-scale hydropower dam projects are commonly associated with challenges often manifested by dichotomies of cost and benefits. A considerable number of studies pertinent to hydropower dams put emphasis on the fact that they are associated with economic, environmental, political, and socio-cultural strains on places hosting them. These among others include stresses such as displacement, loss of access to natural resources, disturbances to livelihoods, and ecology. On the contrary, narratives endorsing hydropower dams across counties are justified by boosting economic growth at a national scale. Therefore, there lies a pressing dilemma of integrating divergent dimensions of development dynamics across scales as far as investments in hydropower dam projects are concerned.
This panel invites theoretical papers as well as case studies that explore this dilemma and suggest innovative solutions.

Paper presentations