Lessons from the “Counter-Environmental Impact Assessment”: A Reflection on the Methods of Community Science
Devralin T. Lagos: University of the Philippines Diliman,
Rodrigo C. Eco: independent researcher,
Vito C. Hernandez: Flinders University,
John Warner M. Carag: University of the Philippines Diliman,
Harianne J. Gasmen: University of the Philippines Diliman
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.13185/PS2023.71107
Published Date: May 3, 2023 | Accepted Date: May 3, 2023 | Submitted Date: May 3, 2023
Abstract
In 2017 San Miguel Corporation proposed the construction of a ₱735-billion “New Manila International Airport” (NMIA), which would destroy 2,500 hectares of coastal environment in northern Manila Bay. Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) should evaluate such large-scale projects; as a scientific process EIAs arguably benefit certain social groups by reserving assessments to accredited scientists but exclude the affected communities. Motivated by the struggles of coastal communities, we facilitated a participatory process, later coined counter-EIA, a practice of community science that is a knowledge coproduction process between university-based “scientist-activists” and “community scientists” from the fishing communities affected by the NMIA. Its potentials and limits as resistance to knowledge production inequities and development aggression are explored in this article.
Keywords
COUNTER-ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT, COMMUNITY SCIENCE, MANILA BAY, LAND RECLAMATION, BULACAN AEROTROPOLIS
Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints is published by the Ateneo de Manila University
ISSN: 2244-1093 (Print) ISSN: 2244-1638 (Online)
© 2024 All Rights Reserved