Variable group

Full name in the EJAtlas

Definition and description of the variable/term/category

Main conflict category

(1st level classification)

Biodiversity conservation conflicts

Conflicts involving terrestrial and aquatic nature conservation initiatives. Examples: protected areas and other conservation zones, REDD+, wildlife corridors, etc.

Biomass and land conflicts (Forests, agriculture, fisheries and livestock management)

Conflicts involving land uses for agriculture, forestry, livestock or fisheries. Examples: land acquisition for agribusiness, tree plantations, livestock farms, aquaculture, timber logging, extraction of non-timber products, etc.

Fossil fuels and climate justice/energy

Conflicts involving energy production or conflicts caused by climate change. Examples: oil and gas exploration, extraction or refining, oil spills, coal extraction or processing, gas flaring, fracking, solar or wind energy mega-projects, geothermal energy installations, climate-change-related conflicts such as the disappearance of glaciers or islands, etc.

Industrial and utilities conflicts

Conflicts involving industrial activities and related pollution. Examples: chemical industries, metal refineries, manufacturing activities, cement or aluminium factories, industrial zones, etc. It also includes military installations and related pollution.

Infrastructure and built environment

Conflicts involving the construction of infrastructures, such as urban development projects, and transportation infrastructures, as well as the pollution resulting from them. Examples: ports, airports, highways, roads, railways, pipelines, canals, housing plots, etc.

Mineral ores and building materials extraction

Conflicts involving mining, including extraction, transportation, waste material disposal, and raw processing. Examples: conflicts linked to mineral ore exploration and processing, tailings from mines, extraction of building materials such as sand, gravel, quarries, etc.

Nuclear

Conflicts involving nuclear energy production and waste disposal, including uranium extraction, transportation, nuclear power plants, nuclear waste storage, etc.

Tourism recreation

Conflicts involving the construction of tourism facilities or the establishment of exclusive recreational areas that are mainly used as tourist attractions. Examples: hotels or marinas, fun parks, ski resorts, enclosure of coastal areas for mass tourism, urban speculation, cruises or exclusive touristic airports, etc.

Waste management

Conflicts involving waste management either creating unequal environmental burdens and/or health problems in specific areas or over privatisation of waste. Examples include incinerators, co-incineration facilities, toxic and e-waste disposal, polluting landfills, uncontrolled or unwanted dumping sites, ship-breaking yards, waste privatisation, excluding waste pickers from their recycling practices etc.

Water management

Conflicts linked to the access to and control over (mainly fresh-) water resources. Examples include dams, transboundary water conflicts, inter-basin water transfers, desalination plants, water access rights and entitlements, water privatisation, water treatment and access to sewage facilities, etc.

Mobilising groups (actors)

Waste pickers, informal recyclers

People that collect and segregate recyclable waste, in order to sell the materials to make a livelihood.

Artisanal miners

Informal workers extracting minerals as a source of subsistence.

Pastoralists

Farmers dedicated to animal husbandry, normally moving herds in search of fresh pastures and water.

Industrial workers

Workers in different types of industries, including oil, mineral, chemical and waste facilities, as well as in infrastructure buildings such as airports, highways and industrial corridors, etc.

Informal workers

People performing different types of informal labour, often not registered or regulated. Examples include construction workers, plantation seasonal workers, etc.

Recreational users

Groups mobilising for recreational activities and spaces of cultural, ecological and aesthetic importance, which are at risk due to a contentious project. Examples include promoters of water sports on rivers vs. dam industries, supporters of ecological tourism vs forest industry, etc.

Landless peasants

People who do not have any land for farming or are prevented from owning the land they farm.

Trade unions

Formal or institutionalised organisation of workers who coordinate to achieve common interests regarding their working conditions (safety standards, wages, social security, etc.).

Religious groups

Spiritual or religious institutions, religious movements (e.g. liberation theology groups, Buddhist monks, etc.) and individuals mobilising through their spiritual beliefs against projects affecting their sacred grounds, activities, values, etc.

Ethnically/racially discriminated communities

Groups defined by their ethnic or racial status discriminated in their region, due to misrecognition by the government, by old and new forms of colonialism, or due to general social discrimination. Examples include Roma communities, Latino, afro or migrant collectives in big cities, etc.

Women

Women collectives or women organisations play a key role in the mobilisation against the contentious activity, either because they are affected by specific impacts (health, labour, household conditions, sexual exploitation, discrimination or murder), or because they lead the main narratives of resistance and transformation.

Fisher people

Fisher communities, who obtain their main source of nutrition and/or income from fishing (both from marine and freshwater areas), and small-scale commercial fishers usually organised through cooperatives or associations.

International EJOs

Transnational civil society organisations supporting the resistance and counter-knowledge production in conflicts over resource extraction or waste disposal. They have an international profile (scope and influence beyond national borders) and include NGOs, coalitions, formal and informal activist networks, etc.

Government, political parties

Actors within different levels of government (executive, legislative and judicial powers at national or local level, political parties and government bodies) involved in a specific environmental conflict, by supporting claims of affected populations.

Social movements

Networks of a plurality of individuals, groups and/or organisations that recognize themselves as part of one movement, operating on the basis of shared collective identities or scopes. They may have existed before the conflict event or formed as a response to it.

Local scientists/professionals

Individuals or collectives providing professional, scientific, and technical knowledge to support claims for environmental justice. Some examples include toxicological evidence of health risks or independent assessments regarding social and environmental impacts.

Indigenous groups or traditional communities

Communities and ethnic groups that recognize themselves as indigenous, tribal or traditional. Indigenous and tribal peoples are often known by national terms such as native peoples, aboriginal peoples, first nations, Adivasi, etc. Traditional communities include afro-descendent communities, such as quilombos, Garifuna, etc.

Farmers

People performing agriculture, raising field crops for food or raw materials, as well as livestock. This category refers to farmers who own and work on their own land. It includes both small-scale subsistence farmers, as well as larger landowners.

Neighbours, citizens, communities

Urban and rural community members are defined by proximity or common interest for an EJ cause and mobilising together against a specific project that affects their immediate environment or interest. They include people not necessarily organised into formal collectives or associations.

Local EJOs

Civil society organisations or informal collectives involved in the conflicts at a local scale. They frequently have a local profile when their scope and influence focus on a specific territory, or can act on the country level. They include NGOs, associations and other grassroots organisations.

Other actors

This category includes all other actors not included above. If checked, please explain.

Mobilisation forms (actions)

Appeals/recourse to economic valuation of the environment

Arguments and methods valuing nature in economic terms as a means to defend against its destruction. This may include 'natural capital accounting', 'ecosystem services' and 'biodiversity offsets'.

Street protests

A protest march is a type of protest or demonstration that generally involves a group of people walking from an assembly point to a predetermined destination, usually culminating in a political rally.

Development of a collective action/network

Creation of a collective subject and first organised actions that did not exist before the specific conflict, often in terms of a committee, an association or even a network. These can be at local, national or transnational levels.

Blockades

Actions or means of sealing off a place to prevent goods or people from entering or leaving, often preventing access to a disputed area.

Involvement of (inter)national NGOs

The involvement of national and international NGOs to strengthen, support, increase outreach, or integrate the resistance into a broader overarching theme and agenda.

Media-based activism

Massive use of different forms of media- be it print or online-, as well as social media as one of the main strategies of the mobilisation. A few examples could be video clips, alternative media channels, viral songs and videos in support of the community's protests etc.

Arguments for the right of nature

Mobilisation arguing that nature is not merely a property to be owned, but rather an entity which has an independent right to exist and flourish.

Occupation of buildings/public spaces

Occupation of public spaces or buildings, which could include public offices, such as district headquarters, or offices of the involved companies. In these cases, people protest by physically placing themselves, or other materials, in strategic spots to make their demands heard.

Land occupation

Protestors physically occupy an area of land for an extended period, frequently sleeping and living there. Such occupations usually take place on the site of a conflictive project or contested land, to physically prevent the project from taking off and/or continuing while engaging in forms of alternative living and collectivity building.

Artistic and creative actions

Use of creative ways, art and humour to draw attention to environmental conflicts. It can range from guerilla theatre, street plays, fairs and parties, music, and puppet shows to murals, graffiti, banners, etc.

Hunger strikes and self-immolation

Bodily harming oneself, by hunger strike or other forms of self-immolation. It brings across the message that if a particular project is carried forward, then the only option left for a person or community would be to perish.

Boycotts of companies/products

Collective action against or ban of a company, by not purchasing or using its products. It aims to diminish the economic performance of conflictive companies, or/and generate awareness about a company's policies, plans or industries which are causing environmental injustices

Official complaint letters and petitions

Official or public complaint letters which are often directed at government bodies, financial actors and banks, or companies, as well as online and offline petitions to collect signatures against a specific project.

Lawsuits, court cases, judicial activism

Legal actions using the existing environmental laws and regulations, which can happen at the local or national fora level, or international courts. It includes collective or individual legal initiatives.

Objections to EIAs

Formal objections to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) through official, legal, procedural or administrative channels.

Strikes

Refusal to work or carry out a certain activity, performed in an organised fashion, typically used in an attempt to gain concessions from their employer or from the government.

Referendum and other local consultations

This refers to both regulatory or consultation processes in which the public is asked to provide input in matters which directly affect them through official and publicly recognized procedures (sometimes even binding) as well as community-organised consultations. This category includes both officially recognized and self-organised consultations, both at the local and national levels.

Boycotts of official procedures

Intentional non-cooperation and non-participation in official procedures, such as public hearings or official consultations.

Refusal of compensation

Rejection of the form or criteria for assessing reparations, or directly rejecting money offered as compensation.

Shareholder/financial activism

Actions by shareholders to support claims of affected groups. For example, buying shares in a publicly traded company that is causing environmental injustices so as to be able to attend the stakeholders' meetings and influence decision-making.

Creation of alternative reports, knowledge

Production of new and alternative knowledge by activists, communities, or scientists, to challenge information produced by the state or companies. It includes performing alternative studies and preparing reports based on local knowledge and wisdom.

Development of alternative proposals

Proposals for alternatives to the contentious project. It includes alternative proposals from communities' traditional knowledge and/or participative research with other collectives. It can be issued in the form of a formal report or through narrative claims-making.

Community-based participatory research

Collection and analysis of data, performed by the communities themselves, or in collaboration with supportive organisations or committed researchers. Examples include popular epidemiology instances on local health and the local environment, forming coalitions with scientists and building citizen–scientist collaborations to advance their claims and seek legitimacy for their views.

Property damage

Physically targeting objects, infrastructures or buildings, as a symbol of the causes of environmental injustices. It includes setting property or objects on fire, breaking or vandalising houses and offices, puncturing tires of vehicles, burning effigies etc.

Sabotage

Destruction or vandalism of property, often in order to prevent any project from beginning or continue operating. An example of sabotage could be the destruction of fences or walls created for enclosing common land.

Threats to use arms

Non-peaceful and potentially violent forms of mobilisation. It refers to the use of arms and ammunition, be it guns and grenades, or even locally used arms such as bows and arrows, axes, etc.

Public campaigns

Actions aiming at generating awareness about the harmful impacts of certain projects or the destructive policies of certain companies involved in environmental conflicts. They can be of local, national or transnational nature, formally led by a set of organisations and promoters or animated by general slogans that are later picked up locally in multiple forms and narratives.

Other mobilisation forms

This category includes all other forms of mobilisation not included above. If checked, please explain.

Outcomes

Deaths, Assassinations, Murders

Death of one or more protests, intentionally caused by a third party. Death can occur on the spot, for example when shooting to death environmental defenders, or be caused by wounds, rapes, tortures, etc.

Criminalization of activists

It includes criminal prosecutions of individuals and abuses of civil and human rights, the opening of criminal investigations unlikely to reach the trial stage used to disarticulate, demoralise and discourage social protest, and the use of disproportionate sentences for offences to punish practices often deployed in social protests.

Repression

Threat to subdue or act of subduing protests by institutional or physical force. Includes a variety of tactics (frequently including violent and coercive actions, violating rights) taken by the government, security staff, militias or corporate actors, to quell dissent and protests.

Violent targeting of activists

Physical harassment, injuring or assassinations of specifically targeted persons, usually key activists, or to implant fear in order to defer environmental defenders’ actions. Examples include violent threats to activists and their relatives, death threats, sexual threats, accident attempts, etc.

Strengthening of participation

Increased civic engagement and public participation in consultation, planning and politics as an outcome of mobilisation and collective organising in the conflict.

Project cancelled

The contested project, or activity, is stopped. The decision can be made by the government or the company itself, both in the initial or later stages. The decision is usually confirmed in official documents or announcements. However, it does not necessarily mean that the conflict is over, nor that the impacts are not there anymore.

Environmental improvements, rehabilitation/restoration of area

Reparations, interventions or restoration of the environment so as to improve the ecological conditions of the area.

Court decision (victory for environmental justice)

Cases where legal action is taken, and the courts rule in favour of the environmental defenders. Such legal victories can include for example cancellation of projects, orders for creating better regulations, a total ban on the contentious activity or for a stipulated period of time, orders for re-evaluation of impact assessments, compensation demands, etc.

Court decision (undecided)

Cases where legal action has been taken but no clear decision has yet been issued or the case is ongoing.

Court decision (failure for environmental justice)

Cases where legal action has been taken but the ruling is in favour of the industries or the projects which triggered the conflict, or cases that dismissed the claims of affected people.

Negotiated alternative solution

Cases where some project parameters are modified, or where some affected groups gain benefits, through processes of negotiation with involved actors such as companies, governments and project authorities. Such negotiated solutions do not necessarily meet the demands and claims raised by all.

Application of existing regulations

Cases in which regulations that already existed before the conflict but were not being applied, are applied following a court order, government action or as a result of public pressure.

Compensation

Compensation by the state or company to address loss and impacts related to the project, either through financial transfers or through in-kind compensations (goods and services aiming to amend the impacts suffered).

Corruption

Abuse of entrusted power for private financial or political gain. Here, this category captures those cases where corruption has been proven and/or condemned by a court judgement or evidenced and documented by mobilising groups.

Fostering a culture of peace

Despite the conflict, communities and mobilising groups have worked for peaceful resistance and for fostering a culture of peace.

Institutional changes

Cases where the conflictive situation has brought to changes in the institutional systems, for example by setting up government bodies for monitoring impacts, or new local authority systems.

Land demarcation

Demarcation of lands is the formal process of identifying the actual locations and boundaries of Indigenous lands or territories or more broadly of clarifying territorial boundaries.

Migration/displacement

Forced or otherwise induced movement of peoples due to the conflictive project or activity. It includes displacement according to resettlement programs or without any such scheme. It can be a direct impact of the conflictive project or an indirect, gradual consequence of it across time.

Moratoria

Temporary or indefinite suspension of the conflictive activity beyond a specific project, through legal tools. Moratoria delay the contentious activity but do not necessarily ban it over longer periods. It includes moratoria to future projects, or to specific aspects and practices of current activities. Examples are provincial or countrywide bans on timber logging, large-scale agricultural concessions, fossil fuel extraction, open-cast mining, GMOs, approval of new nuclear power plants, etc.

New Environmental Impact Assessment/Study

Cases in which, as a result of the mobilizations, public authorities decide to conduct a new environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the proposed investment project. It includes both cases where there were no initial EIAs at all and those where an environmental impact study was previously submitted but was deemed incomplete or flawed.

New legislation

Cases in which, as a result of mobilizations and political debates around them, public authorities issue new legislation. It includes new legislation either in favour or against the mobilised groups.

Project temporarily suspended

Suspension of the contentious project due to protests and claims, or for financial and political reasons. The suspension can last days, months or even years. During the suspension, the project can be re-negotiated, and/or another EIA can be carried out, or the project can be finally scrapped.

Technical solutions to improve resource supply/quality/distribution

It refers to technical solutions to minimise impacts or the number of affected people and land. For example, new filters in incinerations to reduce emissions.

Under negotiation

Cases where a process of dialogue or negotiation is in place among some of the actors involved in the conflict. This negotiation can take place while the contentious project is planned, operating, in construction, or suspended.

Withdrawal of company/investment

Cases where companies involved in the conflict withdraw or stop their investment. Reasons for their withdrawal could include economic viability, internal business decisions, pressure from the environmental movement, etc. However, it does not necessarily imply the suspension of the contentious project, as other companies or investors can get involved.

Other outcomes

This category includes all other types of outcomes not included above. If checked, please explain.

Mobilisation start

LATENT (no visible resistance)

This category refers to conflicts without visible resistance and mobilizations, but where there are reasonable signals that it might appear anytime.

PREVENTIVE resistance (precautionary phase)

This category refers to those conflicts, in which mobilisation begins before the project begins to be operated or constructed. Examples include those cases when mobilizations begin during public consultation processes.

In REACTION to the implementation (during construction or operation)

This category refers to those mobilizations starting after the construction or operation of a contentious project.

Mobilisation for reparations once impacts have been felt

This category refers to those cases, in which the project already produced harm and caused adverse impacts to the environment and/or to local groups, and where mobilisation begins once the impacts have been felt.

UNKNOWN mobilisation start

This category refers to those cases, in which the inception of the mobilisation is not certain.

Environmental Impacts

Air pollution

Air pollution is the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings or cause damage to the climate or to materials. Air pollutants include gases (such as ammonia, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane and chlorofluorocarbons), particulates (both organic and inorganic), and biological molecules.

Fires

Fire in its most common form can result in conflagration, which has the potential to cause physical damage through burning. A conflagration can begin accidentally (e.g. fires at oil refineries), be naturally caused (wildfire), or intentionally created (arson). The negative effects of fires include hazards to life (human and non-human) and property, atmospheric pollution, and water contamination.

Genetic contamination

Uncontrolled spread of genetic information (frequently referring to transgenes) into the genomes of organisms in which such genes are not present in nature. Though controversial, the term also refers to the effects of introducing invasive species that may hybridise with native species, causing genetic pollution.

Noise pollution

Also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, it refers to unwanted noise or vibration, or excessive sound that can have negative impacts on human and wildlife health, environmental quality, and orientation behaviours (such as echolocation for bats). The source of outdoor noise is mainly caused by machines, transport, and propagation systems, explosions, etc.

Waste overflow

The overflowing of waste of various types when the disposal and accumulation speed is faster than waste treatment, causing not only air pollution like bad odours but also negative health and environmental impacts, such as intoxication and soil contamination.

Surface water pollution / Decreasing water (Physico-chemical, biological) quality

Surface water pollution refers to the pollution of lakes, oceans, streams, rivers, ponds, reservoirs, wetlands, and other surface water bodies, caused by anthropogenic contaminants and/or anthropogenic activities. Examples include surface water pollution resulting from activities related to agriculture, mining, industries, infrastructure development, landfills, and human/animal waste, among other sources.

Reduced ecological / hydrological connectivity

Ecological/ Hydrologic connectivity refers to species/water-mediated transfer of matter, energy and/or organisms within or between elements of the ecologic/hydrologic cycle. The reduced ecological/hydrological connectivity can be caused by projects like dams when these prevent or impede movement of water, migratory animals, plants, etc.

Biodiversity loss (wildlife, agro-diversity)

Biodiversity loss refers to the loss of forms of life, including the decline and extinction of species, habitats, and ecosystems. Examples are loss of wildlife, loss of agro-diversity caused by diverse human activities, decrease in fish population in rivers due to dams, etc.

Floods (river, coastal, mudflow)

Floods refer to the overflowing of a large amount of water from its natural or artificial water bodies. Floods can occur unexpectedly or due to poor prevention in the management of infrastructures, for instance, when an overflow of water or mud submerges surrounding areas. Consequences of floods might be exacerbated by heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt or a storm. Besides natural factors, human activities often increase the intensity and frequency of flooding. These include deforestation, removal of wetlands, diverting river courses, and excessive groundwater pumping, among others. 

Global warming

Global warming, as used in the EJAtlas database, refers to the direct contributions of a  contentious project to climate change due to the emission of substantial amounts of greenhouse gases.

Soil contamination

Soil contamination refers to land degradation caused by a range of pollutants that disturb the previously established or prevailing soil environment. Examples include soil contamination through pollutants such as chemicals, heavy metals, organic residues, radioactive substances, plastic, and other non-degradable substances, waste-related substances, and other pollutants released by anthropogenic activities.

Oil spills

Oil spills refer to incidents in which liquid petroleum hydrocarbons are discharged, accidentally or intentionally, into the environment, such as soils or water bodies. Oil spills can occur as a consequence of an unexpected event (i.e. malfunctioning or breaking down of a  pipeline, ship sinking, etc) or poor infrastructure maintenance.  

Groundwater pollution or depletion

Groundwater pollution refers to the transmission of a range of pollutants into groundwater bodies. Examples include groundwater pollution caused by industrial and household chemicals, garbage landfills, industrial waste lagoons, tailings and processed wastewater from mines, oil field brine pits, leaking underground oil storage tanks and pipelines, sewage sludge, and septic systems. Groundwater depletion refers to a long-term decline in water levels, caused for example by sustained groundwater pumping.

Mine tailing spills

Mine tailing spills are leakages or overflows of tailings, a mixture of fine mineral particles, chemicals, and water. The spills can happen from tailing dams failures or other inappropriate mine safety measures. Tailing spills are highly contaminant as they release toxic substances, radioactive content, or sulfites into the environment. 

Desertification / Drought

Desertification refers to the process by which the biological productivity of lands is reduced, typically as a result of human-led drought, deforestation, inappropriate agriculture or global warming. Drought is the lack or insufficiency of rain for an extended period that causes a considerable hydrologic (water) imbalance and, consequently, water shortages, crop damage, streamflow reduction, and depletion of groundwater and soil moisture.

Food insecurity (crop damage)

Food insecurity refers to the limited or uncertain availability of a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy, and nutritious food due to the changes brought by the contentious project, or the limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable and affordable food. Food insecurity could also be the consequence of crop failure or damage due to the disruptions caused by the contentious project.

Loss of landscape/aesthetic degradation

Loss of landscape and aesthetic degradation refers to disruptive changes and modifications in the aesthetic appearance of traditional, customary, or previously prevailing landscapes, including landscapes created and maintained for generations by human activities, as part of local cultures and identities. Examples include disruptions, changes, and modifications in traditional small-scale agricultural landscapes, agro-forests, grazing landscapes, fishponds, rice terraces, traditional wood-pastures, meadows, and other landscapes.

Soil erosion

Soil erosion is a form of soil degradation that refers to the denudation and loss of the upper level of the soil. Soil erosion entails or can lead to soil fertility decreases or desertification. Soil erosion occurs for example when the impacts of water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, animals, and human activities remove the nutrient-rich upper layer of the soil.

Deforestation and loss of vegetation cover

Deforestation refers to the removal of forests and stands of trees from land subsequently converted into other, non-forested land. Loss of vegetation cover refers to significant losses in other forest-like, perennial vegetation cover. Examples of deforestation include the removal of trees for farming or livestock activities, timber extraction for fuels, construction or manufacturing, forest clearance for infrastructure development, or illegal timber logging, among other causes of deforestation.

Large-scale disturbance of hydro and geological systems

This category refers to large-scale changes in the aquatic, marine or terrestrial environment that hinder or harm their ecological functioning.

Other Environmental impacts

Any other environmental impact that is not included in the previous list of impacts. Please explain.

Health Impacts

Accidents

Events happening unexpectedly, intentionally or unintentionally, resulting in damages or injury to surrounding dwellers and/or the environment. It can occur because of human errors, miscalculations or deliberate carelessness (e.g dam collapse due to poor maintenance of infrastructures, or as a result of extending the capacity of dumping sites beyond its safe level). 

Mental problems including stress, depression and suicide

All forms of mental illnesses or severe emotional distress or caused by stress, depression, fear, rage, and/or a feeling of helplessness caused by the contentious project. It includes mental problems linked to pollution (exposure to heavy metals, toxic substances in one's body or the environment) and extreme actions such as suicide related to or triggered by the loss of livelihoods, familiar landscapes, and social and ecological bonds.

Occupational disease and accidents

Diseases and accidents caused by ­or closely linked to working conditions. They often are a result of inadequate equipment protecting workers from different types of hazards and/or potential diseases (e.g. asbestosis). Accidents refer to events that occur unexpectedly and unintentionally within the working environment, sometimes closely linked to careless and poor maintenance of the working place.

Other environmental-related diseases

All other possible illnesses related to environmental factors (e.g. chronic diseases, acute poisoning, asthma, kidney failure, etc).

Exposure to unknown or uncertain complex risks (radiation, etc…)

Exposure to pollutants, hazards and/or toxic or radioactive substances in the air, soil or water and of which there is insufficient knowledge on how they can affect human and ecosystem health in the short, middle and/or long term.

Violence-related health impacts (homicides, rape, etc..)

This category refers to the health consequences (e.g. diseases or severe mental stress) of violent acts. These can include homicides, rape, and injuries, occurring or increasing because of the conflictive project. Examples include community violence, sexual violence or violent acts committed by new actors in the territory (workers, security guards, etc.)

Infectious diseases

Diseases caused by the invasion of an organism’s body tissues such as bacteria, viruses, vector-borne diseases, parasites, or fungi as a consequence of the ecosystem disruption or modification by a contentious project. For instance, the appearance of such organisms can be the result of poor maintenance of water management (i.e. cholera) or mosquitoes (i.e. dengue, malaria).

Malnutrition

Deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. It includes undernutrition or being overweight. Environmental degradation leading to a decrease and/or pollution of available natural resources (water, fish, crops) often threatens local people's accessibility to food and causes illnesses.

Health problems related to alcoholism, prostitution

This category refers to health issues resulting from harmful addictions such as alcoholism or drug addiction, human trafficking, and prostitution.

Deaths

Deaths resulting from chronic diseases linked to environmental pollution (e.g., cancer) or as a result of accidents around the affected area due to the conflictive project (e.g. landslides caused by a conflictive infrastructure).

Other Health impacts

Other health impacts that are not included in the former categories. Please explain.

Socio-economic Impacts

Increase in Corruption/Co-optation of different actors

This category refers to an increase in reported cases (in the media, civil society reports, or judicial proceedings) of corruption and cooptation of different actors, resulting from the planning, implementation or operation of the project. It can refer to corruption and cooptation among state or public authorities as well as in the companies, state utilities, construction work authorities, social leadership and local authorities.

Lack of work security, labour absenteeism, firings, unemployment

This category assembles several occupational impacts of a project, such as lack or deterioration of work security, the phenomenon of labour absenteeism, workforce firings, and resulting unemployment. 

Militarization and increased police presence

Militarization and increased police presence refers to the increase and consolidation of armed forces in a given area as a consequence of extractive, industrial, or other conflictive activities. The EJAtlas accounts for diverse forms of militarisation, including the increased presence of state military forces, state guards, police forces, non-state armed groups, and private security armed groups, among others.

Violations of human rights

Violation of any expression of human rights.

Displacement

Displacement refers to the involuntary or coerced migration and movement of people from their homeland, dwelling site or working site, or country of origins. Examples include displacement caused by disasters, conflicts, industrial development, land acquisitions, land grabbing, or gentrification, among other causes.

Loss of livelihood

Loss of livelihood refers to the loss or decline of one’s ability to sustain their life through their previously prevailing or traditional way of living. For example, loss of livelihood may include losses or declines in monetary or environmental incomes, declining control over or access to lands, forests, waters, labour markets, employment opportunities, and other assets and flows that sustained previously prevailing livelihoods.

Social problems (alcoholism, prostitution, etc..)

This category refers to severe social issues in the social and cultural fabric as a consequence of the contentious project, for example, derived from increasing harmful addictions such as alcoholism, drug addiction, human trafficking, prostitution, crime and juvenile delinquency, among others). 

Land dispossession

Land dispossession refers to the acts of depriving a person, household, or community of their previously used land resources, properties, and rights. Examples include land dispossession of locals for agribusiness development, conservation areas, infrastructure projects, mining sites, and concessions, among others.

Increase in violence and crime

This category refers to a perceived and/or objective rise in violent and/or criminal activities, as a result of a project’s planned or actual implementation.

Loss of traditional knowledge/practices/cultures

Loss of traditional knowledge refers to the loss, decline, or distortion of knowledge, practice, and beliefs maintained through generations by cultural transmission, including the relation between humans and their environment. Examples include loss, decline, or distortion of knowledge about animals, crops, plants and medicine, sacred meanings and sounds of forests, lands, rocks, mountains, and rivers; oral traditions such as storytelling, songs, and arts; spiritual and religious rituals, tribal laws, identities, cultural practices, among others.

Specific impacts on women

Specific impacts on women refer to the occurrence of social, political, economic, environmental, and/or health impacts that particularly affect women or women-centred groups and social collectives. This impact category includes those consequences that are particularly severe or worrisome either due to the social role women have (for example, additional labor burdens imposed on women as a consequence of a conflictive project), or for specific health and body conditions (for example, more severe impacts of contamination on women's bodies and health during pregnancy), or for the cultural and/or political symbolism they often represent in repressive societies (for example, women forbidden to go out due to the presence of foreign workers, rape used as repressive means in conflicts, and other forms of violence targeted against women, bordels being created around construction works, etc.). 

Loss of landscape/sense of place

Loss of landscape and sense of place refers to those changes provoked in a landscape that lead to a loss of associated meanings, feelings, and attachments to a place experienced by people. Examples include the destruction of lands with a collective or family history to which people hold emotional bonds, or the loss or destruction of landscapes with sacred, cultural, and/or spiritual meanings. 

Other socio-economic impacts

Other socio-economic impacts that are not included in the previous list of impacts. Please explain.

Name in the EJAtlas

Definition

Current status of the project development:

A categorical variable that describes the status of the project development at the time of entering information about the conflict caused by the project. The variable has six levels: Unknown; Proposed (exploration phase); Planned (decision to go ahead eg EIA undertaken, etc.); Under construction; In operation; Stopped. 

Unknown

No information is available about the project status

Proposed (exploration phase)

The project is in an early exploration phase during which plans for the projects are evaluated, however, it is not yet decided whether the project is feasible and will move forward. This phase includes for example projects for which early plans have been proposed, but no feasibility studies or social and environmental impact assessments have been undertaken or finalised, and where no final decisions to move forward with the projects have been taken yet.

Planned (decision to go ahead eg EIA undertaken, etc)

The project status "planned" indicates that the project has already finalised the exploration phase, that some feasibility studies and/or impact assessments have been already undertaken and that final investment decisions or  formal decision to move forward have been taken by all the appointed authorities. During this stage, construction has not yet started.

Under construction

The project status "under construction" indicates that the development of the project has already started but has not yet been finalised. For projects involving infrastructures, it means that the preparation and construction work has already started. For other projects (e.g. development of national parks, mining, etc.) it means that the preparations to set up the necessary physical and institutional infrastructures have started.

In operation

The project status "in operation" indicates that the construction phase has terminated and that the project is currently under operation, at least in some parts of the project area.

Stopped

The project status "stopped" indicates that construction and/or operations have ceased for any kind of reasons, temporarily, or in the long run. The reasons for stopping the project could be, but are not necessarily, related to the conflict associated with the project. For example, projects can appear as stopped if the project has been cancelled (see the outcome "cancelled"), if it has been temporarily suspended (see the outcome "temporarily suspended"), if the project turned out to be economically not viable, if the investor filed bankruptcy if the project developer faced technical issues in developing and/or operating the project, if the project achieved the end of its lifespan (e.g. exhaustion of natural resources exploited by the project) if new legislations required additional studies for the project to continue (e.g. additional impact assessments, etc.) and the company ceased its activities until it is allowed to restart operations and any other reasons that could lead to a temporary or complete stop of the project.