Environmental justice in Natura 2000 conservation conflicts: The case for resident empowerment

Literature concerned with Natura 2000 highlights that conflicts emerged when local communities felt the implementation of the policy was unfair. In the paper, we extend those arguments and say that the contested nature of Natura 2000 conflicts is best understood through a framework of environmental justice that embraces the importance of empowering residents and communities in Natura 2000 processes. We draw from Nancy Fraser's critical approach that organizes justice issues within distribution, recognition and representation domains simultaneously. It enables us to look at the Natura 2000 conservation conflicts from a critical standpoint of local communities. With it, we conceptualize the role of resident empowerment to compliment examinations of environmental policy conflicts. To re-construct the case of Natura 2000 conservation conflicts through the lens of pluralistic environmental justice perspective, we revisit processes in which a sense of (in)justice about Natura 2000 policy nourished conservation conflicts in Poland.

Automated summary

Literature on Natura 2000 shows that conflicts arise when local communities perceive policy implementation as unfair. This paper argues that a framework of environmental justice, which includes empowering residents and communities, is crucial for understanding the contested nature of Natura 2000 conflicts. Drawing on Nancy Fraser's critical approach, justice issues within distribution, recognition, and representation domains are considered simultaneously to analyze conservation conflicts in the context of Natura 2000. By applying a pluralistic environmental justice perspective, this study reexamines how feelings of (in)justice surrounding Natura 2000 policy fueled conservation conflicts in Poland.