Environmental justice and the politics of risk: Water resource controversies in Taiwan

I assess the outcomes of issues related to environmental justice under conditions of scientific uncertainty and cultural diversity using the case of the Tseng-Wen Reservoir TransbasinWater Diversion Project, Taiwan, to explore policy stakeholders’ perceptions and the policy implications of indigenous struggles and local action. This water conflict reflects the expansion of a development-focused and resourcesecuring state, and represents a pattern of exclusion and control that disturbs traditional indigenous land and water systems. This study underscores the interrelationship among problems related to the inequitable distribution of interests and risk; the lack of recognition of cultural differences, local knowledge, and perspectives; and exclusion from the environmental impact assessment and decision-making processes. The findings also highlight local distrust of experts and the conflicts and confrontations among experts in differing disciplines. I argue that in order to reach a consensus through intercultural and interdisciplinary dialogue, local circumstances and knowledge must be included in knowledge production and policymaking.