[IYRP General List] Large-scale renewable energy generation and pastoralism

[James O'Rourke]

Ranchers in the Nebraska Sandhills are going through the same issues with wind turbines and pipelines.  Google Sandhills Task Force and see if that brings up anything.

Cheers!  Jim

________________________________
From: IYRPGeneralList <iyrpgenerallist-bounces at list.cals.arizona.edu> on behalf of Ann Waters-Bayer <waters-bayer at web.de>
Sent: Saturday, March 6, 2021 10:35 AM
To: celep-eu at googlegroups.com <celep-eu at googlegroups.com>; ILC Forum on Pastoralists <pastoralists at dgroups.org>; Forum of the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub <pastoralist-hub at dgroups.org>; IYRPGeneralList at list.cals.arizona.edu <IYRPGeneralList at list.cals.arizona.edu>; agr-mitglieder at listen.jpberlin.de <agr-mitglieder at listen.jpberlin.de>
Cc: "Jörg Haas (privat)" <mail at joerghaas.de>
Subject: [IYRP General List] Large-scale renewable energy generation and pastoralism

Dear all,

A member of Agrecol Association, Joerg Haas, has been working for years on issues of climate change and renewable energy. He is aware that “empty” land in the drylands that could be used to generate solar or wind power is often not empty at all and that such energy generation may impact negatively on pastoralists. He would like to know how big this problem is, and he is seeking ideas or examples of creative ways of ensuring that pastoralists can co-exist with large-scale renewable energy development and even benefit from it.

Do you know of reports, ideas or examples of:

a) cases of land grabbing in pastoral areas for generating renewable energy; and/or
b) examples of good practice of reconciling the interests of renewable energy generation and the interests of pastoralists?

If so, please share them with Joerg (mail at joerghaas.de<mailto:mail at joerghaas.de>) and me.

Looking forward to your responses,
Ann

Ann Waters-Bayer
Agrecol Association for AgriCulture & Ecology
Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism (CELEP)
E: waters-bayer at web.de<mailto:waters-bayer at web.de> / waters-bayer at agrecol.de<mailto:waters-bayer at agrecol.de>
S: ann-waters
W: www.agrecol.de<http://www.agrecol.de> / www.celep.info<http://www.celep.info>


On 5 Mar 2021, at 21:21 PM, Jörg Haas (privat) <mail at joerghaas.de<mailto:mail at joerghaas.de>> wrote:


Hi Ann,

many thanks - this is interesting.

I'd be interested to hear if you or others on this list have come across instances of land grabbing in semiarid lands for large scale solar farms?

Due to the massive cost decrease of photovoltaics, solar energy derived vom large scale solar farms in the dry tropics and subtropics is now among the cheapest sources of electricity. This is a good thing, given the climate emergency that we are facing.

But I worry what this means for the land rights of pastoralists in arid and semi-arid regions? Are they going to be pushed aside for the purpose of energy generation?

How could the interests of pastoralist and the interests of renewable energy generation to avoid climate breakdown be reconciled? Do best practices exist, code of conducts, etc.?

Best

Jörg

Am 05.03.2021 um 17:25 schrieb Ann Waters-Bayer:
Dear all,

This 4-pager  entitled “This is our land: why reject the privatization of customary land” is not specifically about pastoralists in Eastern Africa but is certainly very relevant for them.

It is based on the 42-page report “Driving dispossession: the global push to “unlock the economic potential of land” (https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/driving-dispossession.pdf).

Take care -
Ann

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