Conflictos mineros e institucionalidad estatal: el caso del Proyecto Llurimagua, en el período 2000 - 2014

En el contexto global, los países del norte y del sur han implementado diversos modelos de desarrollo para lograr el crecimiento de sus economías, siendo la tendencia de la región latinoamericana, aprovechar su riqueza natural para impulsar modelos extractivistas. La contraposición entre el modelo extractivista y el desarrollo sustentable, se pone de manifiesto en las acciones que han emprendido los Estados, orientadas a la explotación de los recursos naturales sin considerar los límites de la naturaleza y de la sociedad. Los consecuentes impactos ambientales y sociales resultantes de la actividad extractiva minera, han desembocado en conflictos socioambientales, evidenciándose la incapacidad de respuestas asertivas por parte del aparato estatal, a las demandas sociales de la población. Complementariamente, las actividades mineras al estar reguladas por una normativa débil y permisiva, han facilitado a las empresas mineras la ejecución de proyectos mineros. A fin de aportar elementos para el análisis, en la presente investigación se revisa el proyecto minero Llurimagua, ubicado en la cordillera de Toisán; destacándose cómo la institucionalidad estatal relacionada con la actividad minera brinda las facilidades para la gestión de estos proyectos, que mayoritariamente favorecen a los intereses empresariales; así como, la alta conflictividad generada a causa de los impactos ambientales y sociales derivados de la actividad minera. En el proyecto Llurimagua, se describe la problemática de la resistencia minera de la zona de Intag, en los ámbitos institucionales y normativos, considerando para el análisis aspectos ambientales, sociales y económicos; se identifican los actores involucrados y el rol que han jugado en el proyecto, poniendo énfasis en el aparato estatal en sus distintos niveles de gobierno. Adicionalmente, se han identificado los impactos sociales y ambientales que desde el inicio de la actividad minera se han generado en la zona, y se ha efectuado una aproximación de los potenciales impactos ambientales y sociales que pueden resultar de la exploración avanzada, en curso.

Proceedings of the 10th international conference on disability, virtual reality and associated technologies (ICDVRAT 2014)

The proceedings of the conference

An aggregated wind power generation model based on MERRA reanalysis data: MATLAB model and example data for the April 2014 wind farm distribution of Great Britain.

The MATLAB model is contained within the compressed folders (versions are available as .zip and .tgz). This model uses MERRA reanalysis data (>34 years available) to estimate the hourly aggregated wind power generation for a predefined (fixed) distribution of wind farms. A ready made example is included for the wind farm distribution of Great Britain, April 2014 ("CF.dat"). This consists of an hourly time series of GB-total capacity factor spanning the period 1980-2013 inclusive. Given the global nature of reanalysis data, the model can be applied to any specified distribution of wind farms in any region of the world. Users are, however, strongly advised to bear in mind the limitations of reanalysis data when using this model/data. This is discussed in our paper: Cannon, Brayshaw, Methven, Coker, Lenaghan. "Using reanalysis data to quantify extreme wind power generation statistics: a 33 year case study in Great Britain". Submitted to Renewable Energy in March, 2014. Additional information about the model is contained in the model code itself, in the accompanying ReadMe file, and on our website: http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/~energymet/data/Cannon2014/

Support for the far right in the 2014 European Parliament Elections: a comparative perspective

The May 2014 European Parliament (EP) elections were characterised by the success of far-right Eurosceptic parties, including the French Front National, UKIP, the Danish People’s Party, the Hungarian Jobbik, the Austrian FPÖ, the True Finns and the Greek Golden Dawn. However, a closer look at the results across Europe indicates that the success of far-right parties in the EP elections is neither a linear nor a clear-cut phenomenon: (1) the far right actually declined in many European countries compared to the 2009 results; (2) some of the countries that have experienced the worst of the economic crisis, including Spain, Portugal and Ireland, did not experience a significant rise in far-right party support; and (3) ‘far right’ is too broad an umbrella term, covering parties that are too different from each other to be grouped in one single party family.

Radical left-wing Euroscepticism in the 2014 elections: a cross-European comparison

This article examines the varied performance of radical left-wing Eurosceptic parties during the 2014 EP elections. While the performance of the radical right during this 'earthquake' election has been widely discussed, little attention has been paid to the radical left. The article examines the result comparatively, and identifies that: (1) across Europe, radical left-wing euroscepticism is limited to few countries, including Greece, Cyprus, France and Portugal; (2) the countries that have experienced the worst of the economic crisis did not experience a significant rise in far right-wing party support but did experience the rise of left-wing euroscepticism; (3) from this sample only Greece experienced the rise of both the radical right and radical left.

Transitional justice in Nepal: the Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation Act 2014

The Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation Act 2014 is Nepal’s latest attempt to establish a transitional programme to respond to conflict era abuses. In part, the Act remedies the inadequacies of the 2013 Ordinance. It creates two commissions, on truth and reconciliation and enforced disappearances, makes provision for the establishment of a Special Court to try past abuses and incorporates systems to enable vulnerable witnesses to participate in truth seeking. Yet in a number of respects it continues to fall short of international legal standards, not least in the possibility of amnesty for international crimes and gross violations of human rights. In addition, the relationship between the three mechanisms – truth seeking, amnesty and prosecution – remains unclear and safeguards for individual rights are lacking. This paper explores these recent developments, highlighting issues that must be remedied if transitional justice objectives are to be achieved in Nepal.

En attendant Sarko? France’s mainstream Right and Centre, 2012-2014

In winning the municipal elections of March 2014, France’s mainstream opposition – the Centrists and the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) – benefited not only from the unpopularity of the Left in power, but also from its own (partial) reconstruction. The Centrists had reorganised; the UMP had reaffirmed its right-wing programme and drawn strength from the opposition social movements launched in 2013. The European elections of 2014, however, demonstrated the limitations of this reconstruction. Their weak institutionalisation – the original sin of France’s Right and centre-Right – left internal ideological differences and (above all) personal rivalries unchecked within both forces. These tensions were compounded, in the UMP, by a series of financial scandals. At their heart was former president Nicolas Sarkozy, still the activists’ darling, ever more clearly a candidate for 2017, but also more hobbled by judicial investigations.