Socially-Tolerated Practices in Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Reporting: Discourses, Displacement, and Impoverishment
Normative guidelines for addressing project-induced displacement and resettlement have been successful in coercing companies and practitioners to comply with international standards and local requirements. However, good practice has not always been effectively implemented, leading to reduced social...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Land |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/2/33 |
| _version_ | 1830458910322982912 |
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| author | Abosede Ijabadeniyi Frank Vanclay |
| author_facet | Abosede Ijabadeniyi Frank Vanclay |
| author_sort | Abosede Ijabadeniyi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Normative guidelines for addressing project-induced displacement and resettlement have been successful in coercing companies and practitioners to comply with international standards and local requirements. However, good practice has not always been effectively implemented, leading to reduced social wellbeing of people in local communities. We assess how the reciprocal relationships between institutional norms and practitioners’ situated perspectives about company-community interactions can improve social management practice. Drawing on Hajer and Versteeg’s method of environmental discourse analysis, discussions and storylines about a mining project in Mpumalanga in South Africa were assessed against contextualised discursive conventions in the mining industry. It was found that practitioners learn to manipulate legislative requirements, which ultimately perpetuates the impoverishment of project affected communities. The question is not whether or not practitioners understand the requirements of environmental and social management, but the extent to which such understandings are manipulated for corporate gain as opposed to social good. We consider practitioner rationalities about the purpose and function of environmental and social management, and how it is implemented. We suggest that practitioners and companies should construct positive aspirational identity perspectives about social management that would transcend from their current limited view (that achieving minimum compliance is sufficient) to aspiring to achieve better social development outcomes for all, especially the most disadvantaged. This requires a genuine commitment to obtaining and maintaining a social licence to operate, perspective transformation, a commitment to inclusiveness, and increased capacity for critical reflection. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T10:47:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5e6f3937d0a64cc88a36066ea429c1bf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-445X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T10:47:21Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Land |
| spelling | doaj.art-5e6f3937d0a64cc88a36066ea429c1bf2022-12-21T19:06:46ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2020-01-01923310.3390/land9020033land9020033Socially-Tolerated Practices in Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Reporting: Discourses, Displacement, and ImpoverishmentAbosede Ijabadeniyi0Frank Vanclay1Environmental Learning Research Centre, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South AfricaDepartment of Cultural Geography, University of Groningen, 9747 Groningen, The NetherlandsNormative guidelines for addressing project-induced displacement and resettlement have been successful in coercing companies and practitioners to comply with international standards and local requirements. However, good practice has not always been effectively implemented, leading to reduced social wellbeing of people in local communities. We assess how the reciprocal relationships between institutional norms and practitioners’ situated perspectives about company-community interactions can improve social management practice. Drawing on Hajer and Versteeg’s method of environmental discourse analysis, discussions and storylines about a mining project in Mpumalanga in South Africa were assessed against contextualised discursive conventions in the mining industry. It was found that practitioners learn to manipulate legislative requirements, which ultimately perpetuates the impoverishment of project affected communities. The question is not whether or not practitioners understand the requirements of environmental and social management, but the extent to which such understandings are manipulated for corporate gain as opposed to social good. We consider practitioner rationalities about the purpose and function of environmental and social management, and how it is implemented. We suggest that practitioners and companies should construct positive aspirational identity perspectives about social management that would transcend from their current limited view (that achieving minimum compliance is sufficient) to aspiring to achieve better social development outcomes for all, especially the most disadvantaged. This requires a genuine commitment to obtaining and maintaining a social licence to operate, perspective transformation, a commitment to inclusiveness, and increased capacity for critical reflection.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/2/33mining-induced displacement and resettlementsocial impact assessmentsocial license to operatecorporate social responsibilitydiscourse analysisstorylinessocial performancecorporate social investmentsustainable developmentenvironmental justice |
| spellingShingle | Abosede Ijabadeniyi Frank Vanclay Socially-Tolerated Practices in Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Reporting: Discourses, Displacement, and Impoverishment Land mining-induced displacement and resettlement social impact assessment social license to operate corporate social responsibility discourse analysis storylines social performance corporate social investment sustainable development environmental justice |
| title | Socially-Tolerated Practices in Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Reporting: Discourses, Displacement, and Impoverishment |
| title_full | Socially-Tolerated Practices in Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Reporting: Discourses, Displacement, and Impoverishment |
| title_fullStr | Socially-Tolerated Practices in Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Reporting: Discourses, Displacement, and Impoverishment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Socially-Tolerated Practices in Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Reporting: Discourses, Displacement, and Impoverishment |
| title_short | Socially-Tolerated Practices in Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Reporting: Discourses, Displacement, and Impoverishment |
| title_sort | socially tolerated practices in environmental and social impact assessment reporting discourses displacement and impoverishment |
| topic | mining-induced displacement and resettlement social impact assessment social license to operate corporate social responsibility discourse analysis storylines social performance corporate social investment sustainable development environmental justice |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/2/33 |
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