From extraction to contamination
Illegal refineries, polluted waters and environmental activism in Iraqi Kurdistan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4464533 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dobrosława Wiktor-Mach (0000-0002-1158-2574, Krakow University of Economics, corresponding author), Goran Zangana (NHS Lothian) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Publication date | 2024-12-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environment and Planning E Nature and Space (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2514-8486 • E-ISSN: 2514-8494 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/25148486241298515 |
| OpenAlex | W4405693610 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 42 |
This research explores the interplay between extractivism, river pollution, and the proliferation of illegal oil refineries in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Positioned within the framework of the Capitalocene, the study highlights how systemic socio-ecological harm is not merely a by-product of economic activity but a fundamental component of the capitalist systems encouraged locally by power constellations and social dialectics. The paper examines the transformation of the Tanjero River, which became a symbol of ecological disaster, driven by the proliferation of illegal oil refineries and the region's deregulated extractive practices. Through fieldwork conducted in 2021 and 2022, including interviews with environmentalists, governmental officials, and community members, this paper argues that the ecological disaster in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is fundamentally driven by the dynamics of the Capitalocene and extractivism, which find fertile grounds in new frontiers marked by non-governance, fragility of the state and regulatory failures. Recently, however, environmental activists have mobilised to combat pollution and reclaim natural landscapes, highlighting both the destructive impacts of unchecked extractivism and the potential for community-driven resistance and restoration
Business · Corporate governance · Environmental planning · Environmental protection · Geography · Harm · Oil refinery · Political science · Resistance (ecology · Global Energy Security and Policy · Law · Mining and Resource Management · Natural Resources and Economic Development · Ecology
Petrocapitalism
Wasteocene
Agha, shaikh, and state
Capitalism in the web of life
Climate, Society and Subsurface Politics in Greenland
Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
This Is Why We Protect the Rivers, This Is How We Love the Rivers
De facto statehood and natural resources
Land Reform and Kurdish Nationalism in Postcolonial Iraq
Toxic Archipelago
Managing the Waters of Baՙth Country
Does Oil Hinder Democracy
The Extractive Zone
Toxic politics
We want to have a positive impact
Resource curse? governmentality, oil and power in the Niger Delta, Nigeria
Sequestering a River
The Mushroom at the End of the World
The value of the homeland
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |