What justice and for whom? A political ecology of voice study into ‘senses of justice’ in Peru's Loreto Region

Abstract

This article explores community-based organisation and non-governmental organisation ‘senses of justice’ and their interaction with community procedural environmental justice claims. The research was centred on a study of Peru’s Loreto Region and the pollution impacts from oil extraction. This was conducted through the political ecology of voice theoretical framework which can act as a bridge between the fields of environmental justice and political ecology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight relevant non-governmental organisations and four community-based organisations operating in Loreto, alongside testimony from other stakeholders. Results show that sense of justice synergies can occur between non-state actors and local communities, achieved through inclusive participatory mechanisms and equitable partnerships. This synergy enables local struggles to be made visible to the wider world as well as heard, evidenced through the grievances being addressed by the state and resource extraction industries. Nevertheless, how transformative these partnerships are is variable, with procedural legal justice offering the most beneficial way for community-based organisations and non-governmental organisations to support local justice struggles. Moreover, to be truly a transformative process, there is a need for these legal justice partnerships to challenge the deeper structural injustice of misrecognition so that human rights, alternative livelihoods and developmental futures are recognised and safeguarded.