Kate J. Neville
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197535585
- eISBN:
- 9780197535615
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197535585.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
This chapter tracks the dynamics of contestation over biofuels projects in Kenya’s Tana River delta, providing the first of two case study chapters that analyze how the dynamics of financing, ...
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This chapter tracks the dynamics of contestation over biofuels projects in Kenya’s Tana River delta, providing the first of two case study chapters that analyze how the dynamics of financing, ownership, and trade shaped local responses to proposed energy projects. Enthusiasm from some community members for producing bioethanol and biodiesel in coastal Kenya collided with concerns about land transformation and access, livelihoods and identities, and the distribution of benefits and burdens. By examining the adaptive strategies and shifting composition of pro- and anti-biofuels coalitions and campaigns in and beyond the delta, the chapter reveals how political economy characteristics of development initiatives shape mobilization efforts. The chapter exposes that biofuels debates bring together local social histories and economies, national interests, transnational activists, foreign investors, and international markets. As a result, it argues, a blended political economy and contentious politics analysis is needed to understand resistance to agriculturally based renewable energy projects.Less
This chapter tracks the dynamics of contestation over biofuels projects in Kenya’s Tana River delta, providing the first of two case study chapters that analyze how the dynamics of financing, ownership, and trade shaped local responses to proposed energy projects. Enthusiasm from some community members for producing bioethanol and biodiesel in coastal Kenya collided with concerns about land transformation and access, livelihoods and identities, and the distribution of benefits and burdens. By examining the adaptive strategies and shifting composition of pro- and anti-biofuels coalitions and campaigns in and beyond the delta, the chapter reveals how political economy characteristics of development initiatives shape mobilization efforts. The chapter exposes that biofuels debates bring together local social histories and economies, national interests, transnational activists, foreign investors, and international markets. As a result, it argues, a blended political economy and contentious politics analysis is needed to understand resistance to agriculturally based renewable energy projects.
