Skip navigation
A view from a hill to a green mountainous regions.
Journal article

Anticipating lithium extraction in northern Portugal: a sacrifice zone in the making?

Start reading
Journal article

Anticipating lithium extraction in northern Portugal: a sacrifice zone in the making?

Despite increasing calls for the development of a circular economy, extractive industries are gaining renewed relevance in Europe. The European Commission’s plan to expand domestic sourcing of lithium to scale up the production and use of electric vehicles has been met with social resistance from affected communities who mobilize to protect their livelihoods and nature. This article examines the negotiations around a proposed lithium mine in the Barroso region in northern Portugal.

Ingrid Varov / Published on 13 May 2023

Read the paper  Open access

Citation

Saleth, L. A., & Varov, I. (2023). Anticipating lithium extraction in northern Portugal: a sacrifice zone in the making? Journal of Political Ecology. https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.4849

In a time where effective solutions to tackle the impacts of climate change are urgently needed, lithium extraction is understood by many as a pivotal opportunity to produce vehicle batteries and enable the phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles. In this line, European policymakers have promoted a new era of “green mining”, where
both the use of end products and technologies for extraction are deemed sustainable. Given the European Commission’s pledge to enable a just transition that commits to leaving no one behind on the way toward a green economy, the expectations and fears of Europeans directly affected by new extractive projects are of significant importance.

This article takes a political ecology approach that combines the concepts of place and anticipation to examine negotiations around a proposed lithium mine in the Barroso region in northern Portugal. Drawing on 27 qualitative semi-structured interviews and ethnographic research in August 2021, the authors explore how local residents engage in the politics of anticipation around the mine.

People gathered on the street of a village holding a banner.

Protest against the Mina do Barroso project in Covas do Barroso, August 2021.

Photo: Ingrid Varov & Leonie Alena Saleth

A sign saying "No to Mines, Yes to Life" catches the eye when driving down the winding roads to Covas do Barroso, a small village in northern Portugal.

Photo: Ingrid Varov & Leonie Alena Saleth

The study has two main findings:

  1. While local supporters hope to benefit from the project economically, opponents expect it to undermine agricultural traditions, counteract plans for expanding tourism services, and, as known from mining areas in the past, drive displacement and rural injustices.
  2. As opponents feel restricted in their ability to participate in decision-making around the project, they act upon the future through defensive resistance, connecting across multiple scales and drawing on place-based symbols to mark differences from dominant ideas on extractive development. The study suggests that local activists’ experiences of being disregarded in their concerns and demands indicate that plans to expand resource extraction in the name of the green economy are giving rise to new sacrifice zones.
Read the paper

Open access

SEI author

Ingrid Varov

Junior Expert (Green and Circular Economic Transformations Unit)

SEI Tallinn

Design and development by Soapbox.