Hossain, Mohammad: Dispossession, Environmental Degradation and Protest: Contested Development in Bangladesh. - Bonn, 2022. - Dissertation, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn.
Online-Ausgabe in bonndoc: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:5-67335
@phdthesis{handle:20.500.11811/10280,
urn: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:5-67335,
author = {{Mohammad Hossain}},
title = {Dispossession, Environmental Degradation and Protest: Contested Development in Bangladesh},
school = {Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn},
year = 2022,
month = sep,

note = {Since 2009, the government of Bangladesh has planned to construct 22 coal-fired power plants. This initiative of the government has been contested by local people, environmental activists, and civil society members from different motivational perspectives. The overall objective of this research is to investigate the political contestations and negotiations of different actors around the construction of the Rampal and Banskhali coal-fired power plants. From the theoretical perspective of political ecology, this research characterises how different actors engage in this contestation from different interest-based motivations within the greater debate of ‘development’. Empirical information has been collected following the qualitative research method. A qualitative content analysis method has been applied for data analysis and the results of the research have been presented narratively.
The results of this research present a contesting position of the actors around the construction of these coal power plants. From the ‘developmentalist’ point of view, the government identified coal-fired electricity generation as the cheapest way to produce electricity in order to accelerate the country’s economic growth, rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, and overall development activities. From the ‘environmentalist’ point of view, on the other hand, the environmental activists and civil society members argue that electricity generation from burning coal compromises environmental protection, human rights, and social and environmental justice. Most importantly, the environmental activists are arguing against the Rampal Power Plant, which is located close to the Sundarbans mangrove forest, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. However, both the ‘developmentalist’ and ‘environmentalist’ perspectives fail to accommodate the interests of local people who have been evicted from their land and traditional way of living due to land acquisition.
Vibrant protests have emerged against these power plants from the environmental activists and dispossessed population who were different in reasoning to join the protest and adopting protest strategies. Towards the environmental activists, the government offered technocratic solutions such as the use of advanced technology that would almost neutralise the environmental pollution that would occur from these coal power plants. Towards the protesters from the dispossessed population, the government reacted violently - some activists were killed, while others were physically assaulted, and also several fabricated cases were filed against them. Despite these protests, however, the government is still determined to construct the power plants according to the planned schedule.},

url = {https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11811/10280}
}

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