“A Salute to the Bandido”: A Political Ecology of Voice Exploration into Peru’s Freedom of Voice Surrounding Hydrocarbon Development

ABSTRACT

This paper sets out to evaluate the freedom of voice for Peruvian stakeholders affected by hydrocarbon development. This occurs through the utilization of a political ecology of voice (PEV) theoretical framework based upon the theory of voice by Albert Hirschman and political ecology. PEV can be defined as the study of economic, political, social, and geographical factors over a specific time period and their impact upon the use of voice by stakeholders. Peru’s case study was focused on its main oil-producing Loreto Region and incorporated evaluation of hydrocarbon voice mechanisms (prior consultation and environmental impact assessments) supported by interview testimony of stakeholders and state officials. PEV analysis reveals a political environment which is dangerous, inflexible, and intolerant of Peruvian stakeholders voicing over hydrocarbon development. This is due to the state’s zealous pursuit of its “selva (rainforest) hydrocarbon and development vision” which severely undermines Peruvian stakeholder’s freedom of voice.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental impact assessments
• freedom of voice
• hydrocarbon development
• law of prior consultation
• natural resource governance
• political ecology of voice

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Notes

The Peru Mission representative had three interviews labeled a, b, and c (NGO2R1a, b, c). A similar categorization was used for ProNaturaleza representative 2 (NGO4R2) and Catholic Church interviewee 1 (CBO4R1).

The pipeline is the 10.5-km extension to the Camisea Gas pipeline project in Block 88 in the Ucayali Basin, south-eastern Peru. Almost 75% of this Block overlaps the KNN Territorial Reserve and Manu Buffer Zone (Hill 2014a).

The waterway is a reference to the Amazon Waterway project (InfraPPP 2015).

On the Marañón River, 20 dams have been proposed (Hill 2015a).

The Moyobamba–Iquitos electricity concession is a project to construct a 600 km 220 kV transmission line across the selva to Iquitos (Prolnversión n.d.).

The transport projects include the Pucallpa-Cruzeiro do Sul road that would link the Peruvian city of Pucallpa in eastern Peru to the western Brazilian town of Cruzeiro do Sul (Mandle et al. 2013, 4) and the Twin Ocean Railroad, a 5,300-km inter-oceanic railway between Brazil’s Porto do Acu Atlantic port and Peru’s Puerto Ilo on the Pacific coast (Lee 2015).

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by a Royal Holloway, University of London Irene Marshal Scholarship and Paul Broome Development Research Prize.