IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v33y2019i14d10.1007_s11269-019-02383-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding Public Views on a Dam Construction Boom: the Role of Values

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher Schulz

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Julia Martin-Ortega

    (University of Leeds)

  • Klaus Glenk

    (Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC))

Abstract

Large numbers of dams for hydroelectric power production are currently planned or under construction in many areas around the world. While positive and negative social and environmental impacts of dams are increasingly well understood, little is known about attitudes of the general public towards dams, even though benefits to wider society are often cited to legitimise their construction. In Brazil’s Upper Paraguay River Basin, more than 100 mostly small-scale hydropower dams are planned or under construction in what can be considered a regional dam construction boom. Here we analyse public preferences for strategies to manage dam impacts in the area by investigating the value base that underpins such preferences, drawing on the recently proposed Value Landscapes Approach as our theoretical framework and data from a large representative household survey (N = 1067). We find that contrasting attitudes towards dams, expressed in preferences for economically or ecologically oriented water policies are informed by opposing underlying value landscapes, that is, groups of closely related fundamental, governance-related, and assigned (water) values. While such tensions between opposing values can never be fully eliminated, our research nevertheless gives insights to policy-makers seeking to minimise value conflict and to improve the political legitimacy of public decision-making on dam construction. Moreover, we find that a majority of members of the general public would prefer concentrating dam construction on some rivers while keeping others free-flowing, with direct implications for ecosystems and inland fisheries. This finding may guide policy-makers wishing to develop publicly supported water resources management strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Schulz & Julia Martin-Ortega & Klaus Glenk, 2019. "Understanding Public Views on a Dam Construction Boom: the Role of Values," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(14), pages 4687-4700, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:33:y:2019:i:14:d:10.1007_s11269-019-02383-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-019-02383-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-019-02383-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-019-02383-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angelini, Ronaldo & de Morais, Ronny José & Catella, Agostinho Carlos & Resende, Emiko Kawakami & Libralato, Simone, 2013. "Aquatic food webs of the oxbow lakes in the Pantanal: A new site for fisheries guaranteed by alternated control?," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 82-96.
    2. Tundisi, J.G. & Goldemberg, J. & Matsumura-Tundisi, T. & Saraiva, A.C.F., 2014. "How many more dams in the Amazon?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 703-708.
    3. Koen Arts & Maiara Thaisa Oliveira Rabelo & Daniela Maimoni De Figueiredo & Georgina Maffey & Antonio Augusto Rossotto Ioris & Pierre Girard, 2018. "Online and Offline Representations of Biocultural Diversity: A Political Ecology Perspective on Nature-Based Tourism and Indigenous Communities in the Brazilian Pantanal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-20, October.
    4. Daeryong Park & Myoung-Jin Um, 2018. "Robust Decision-Making Technique for Strategic Environment Assessment with Deficient Information," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 32(15), pages 4953-4970, December.
    5. R. Roozbahani & B. Abbasi & S. Schreider, 2017. "Determining Location and Capacity of Dams through Economic and Environmental Indicators," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(14), pages 4539-4556, November.
    6. Glenk, Klaus & Fischer, Anke, 2010. "Insurance, prevention or just wait and see? Public preferences for water management strategies in the context of climate change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2279-2291, September.
    7. Zorica Srdjevic & Naoyuki Funamizu & Bojan Srdjevic & Ratko Bajčetić, 2018. "Public Participation in Water Management of Krivaja River, Serbia: Understanding the Problem through Grounded Theory Methodology," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 32(15), pages 5081-5092, December.
    8. Kilbourne, William & Grünhagen, Marko & Foley, Janice, 2005. "A cross-cultural examination of the relationship between materialism and individual values," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 624-641, October.
    9. Shrestha, Ram K. & Seidl, Andrew F. & Moraes, Andre S., 2002. "Value of recreational fishing in the Brazilian Pantanal: a travel cost analysis using count data models," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 289-299, August.
    10. Albizua, Amaia & Pascual, Unai & Corbera, Esteve, 2019. "Large-scale Irrigation Impacts Socio-cultural Values: An Example from Rural Navarre, Spain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 354-361.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vassilios A. Tsihrintzis & Harris Vangelis, 2018. "Water Resources and Environment," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 32(15), pages 4813-4817, December.
    2. Marianela Denegri & María Baeza & Natalia Salinas-Oñate & Verónica Peñaloza & Horacio Miranda & Ligia Orellana, 2014. "Materialism in Pedagogy Students in Chile," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 505-521, June.
    3. Stathopoulou, Anastasia & Balabanis, George, 2019. "The effect of cultural value orientation on consumers' perceptions of luxury value and proclivity for luxury consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 298-312.
    4. Pablo Aragonés‐Beltrán & Mª. Carmen González‐Cruz & Astrid León‐Camargo & Rosario Viñoles‐Cebolla, 2023. "Assessment of regional development needs according to criteria based on the Sustainable Development Goals in the Meta Region (Colombia)," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 1101-1121, April.
    5. Holger Strulik, 2016. "Secularization And Long-Run Economic Growth," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(1), pages 177-200, January.
    6. Dominic Moran & Esmond Tresidder & Alistair McVittie, 2006. "Estimating the Recreational Value of Mountain Biking Sites in Scotland Using Count Data Models," Tourism Economics, , vol. 12(1), pages 123-135, March.
    7. Daeryong Park & Huan-Jung Fan & Jun-Jie Zhu & Taesoon Kim & Myoung-Jin Um & Siyeon Kim & Seol Jeon & Kichul Jung, 2021. "Prioritization in Strategic Environmental Assessment Using Fuzzy TOPSIS Method with Random Generation for Absent Information in South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-16, January.
    8. Hélène Rey-Valette & Marie-Laure Lambert & Gisèle Vianey & Bénédicte Rulleau & Camille André & Nicole Lautrédou-Audouy, 2018. "Acceptabilité des relocalisations des biens face à l’élévation du niveau de la mer : perceptions de nouveaux dispositifs de gouvernance du foncier," Géographie, économie, société, Lavoisier, vol. 20(3), pages 359-379.
    9. Gabriel Leite Mota, 2007. "Why Should Happiness Have a Role in Welfare Economics? Happiness versus Orthodoxy and Capabilities," FEP Working Papers 253, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    10. Zampieri Grohmann Márcia & Flores Batistella Luciana & Antonio Beuron Thiago & Aita Riss Luciana & Moura Carpes Aletéia de & Lutz Carolina, 2012. "Relação entre materialismo e estilo de consumo: homens e mulheres com comportamento díspare?," Contaduría y Administración, Accounting and Management, vol. 57(1), pages 185-214, enero-mar.
    11. Jegnie, Alemken & Hailu, Atakelty & Burton, Michael P., 2017. "Boat-based and other recreational fishing in Western Australia: Analysis of site choice, access values and bag limit effects," Working Papers 257167, University of Western Australia, School of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    12. W. J. Wouter Botzen & Howard Kunreuther & Jeffrey Czajkowski & Hans de Moel, 2019. "Adoption of Individual Flood Damage Mitigation Measures in New York City: An Extension of Protection Motivation Theory," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(10), pages 2143-2159, October.
    13. Mainolfi, Giada, 2020. "Exploring materialistic bandwagon behaviour in online fashion consumption: A survey of Chinese luxury consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 286-293.
    14. Pascoe, Sean, 2019. "Recreational beach use values with multiple activities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 137-144.
    15. Gea Hoogendoorn & Bernadette Sütterlin & Michael Siegrist, 2021. "Tampering with Nature: A Systematic Review," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 141-156, January.
    16. Van Truong, Nguyen & Shimizu, Tetsuo & Choi, Sunkyung, 2020. "Generating reliable tourist accommodation statistics: Bootstrapping regression model for overdispersed long-tailed data," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 6(2), pages 30-37.
    17. Hajkowicz, Stefan, 2006. "Multi-attributed environmental index construction," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 122-139, April.
    18. Simões, Paula & Barata, Eduardo & Cruz, Luís, 2013. "Joint estimation using revealed and stated preference data: An application using a national forest," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 249-266.
    19. Paula Simões & Luís Cruz & Eduardo Barata, 2012. "Non-market Recreational Value of a National Forest: Survey Design and Results," GEMF Working Papers 2012-09, GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra.
    20. Andrea Ghermandi & J.C.J.M. van den Bergh & L.M. Brander & H.L.F. de Groot & P.A.L.D. Nunes, 2008. "The Economic Value of Wetland Conservation and Creation: A Meta-Analysis," Working Papers 2008.79, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:33:y:2019:i:14:d:10.1007_s11269-019-02383-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.