Energy Research & Social Science 92 (2022) 102772 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy Research & Social Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/erss Perspective Stop burning garbage! Exploring an anti-waste-to-energy social movement and its effects on local politics in Spain Oriol Barat-Auleda *, Miquel Domènech Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Keywords: In 2019, news of the opening of a waste incinerator sparked a socio-environmental controversy in a village in the Environmental controversy Pyrenees in Catalonia (Spain). With the aim of influencing local public policies and taking part in the decision Local politics making around the project, a group of neighbors formed a citizen platform called the Cercs Anti-incineration Participations Platform (PAIC). In this case study, we present the strategies that the activists followed to become an influen­ Activism tial actor in local and regional politics. We describe how a group of citizens became a translocal assemblage and Translocal assemblage Decision making what obstacles were encountered with interaction and administrations. Finally, we highlight the need to broaden the concept of public participation within administrations. 1. Introduction However, environmental conflicts have intrinsic characteristics that distinguish them from other political or social conflicts. In environ­ It is now commonplace to say that the consequences of searching for mental controversies, the technical and scientific dimensions of the new resources and cheap economic growth are a problem for the envi­ object in dispute are particularly relevant. From environmental experts ronment and nature and a concern for an important part of society. It is to engineers, biologists, chemists, ecologists, and so on, the range of not surprising, then, that many environmental controversies have arisen experts who have some kind of specialized knowledge in the environ­ as a result. Academia has focused a substantial part of its efforts on the mental field is enormous. From the social sciences, it has become clear study of this type of controversies, generating a large literature around that there is a need to recognize the specificity of experts and scientists environmental activism and dealing with questions such as its origin, its participating in a social controversy as such participation has direct internal organization, its impact on the population, or the changes that it effects on decision making and public participation. generates in behavior and consumption patterns in the societies in which Science and technology studies (STS) provide the theoretical it develops [1–9]. However, most articles and studies have theorized framework necessary to incorporate, identify, and recognize the around these movements, paying little attention to practical cases in participation of the notions of expertise, science, and technology in a which environmental organizations are seen to act and thus missing the useful way into the analysis of social phenomena as well as being an opportunity to explore their local policy impact strategies. While con­ ideal starting point for studying the nature of the democratic processes cepts related to environmental activism, such as preservation, risk of participation, illuminating their limitations, possibilities, and com­ perception, security, and the NIMBY phenomenon, have been exten­ plexities in general. STS rose on the claim that the intellectual contents sively theorized [10–13], we can see that the vast majority of theoretical of science were not off-limits to sociological analysis and are meant to and empirical approaches to environmental activist movements have study the processes by which scientific knowledge and technological been built on perspectives that pay special attention to politics and artifacts are constructed as well as the changes in the broader social and governance, grassroots innovation, and cultural change [14] and even to material worlds that occur as part of the mutual shaping, co- the psychological bases of participation in environmental issues, as constitution, or co-production of science and technology with society illustrated by so-called environmental psychology, a field concerned and the natural environment [18]. STS recognize the role that science with studying transactions between humans and their environments and technology play in the development of democratic decision making with specific sensitivity to the role of culture in the ways in which re­ and highlights the fact that decision making relegated to experts may be searchers theorize human behavior [15–17]. a barrier to the development of democratic decision making [19–21]. * Corresponding author at: Dept. of Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Edifici B. Campus UAB. Bellaterra, 08193, Spain. E-mail addresses: oriol.barat@uab.cat (O. Barat-Auleda), miquel.domenech@uab.cat (M. Domènech). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102772 Received 4 March 2022; Received in revised form 3 August 2022; Accepted 12 August 2022 Available online 30 August 2022 2214-6296/© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc/4.0/). O. Barat-Auleda and M. Domènech Energy Research & Social Science 92 (2022) 102772 In particular, STS are interested in the environment, nature, and the policies. We will also explain how the interaction between the admin­ relationships between all human and non-human actors in ecosystems istrations and the activist groups developed, identifying the difficulties [22]. STS study the techno-scientific institutions, practices, and knowl­ that local administrations faced in establishing a useful dialogue with edge production concerned with the dynamics of natural systems, with the informal voices that made up the opposition network. social intervention and impacts on the natural world, and with the planet's capacity to sustain life. Environmental STS thus embody two 1.1. Theoretical insights: STS' contributions to environmental activism types of politics: a politics of knowledge and techno-scientific authority studies or “expertise” that they share with all STS and a politics of nature and sustainability that they share with environmental sociology and political The need and importance of including local actors and local policy ecology [18]. Despite the appropriateness of the application of the STS makers in planning processes and political governance on energy issues framework in environmental studies, its increasing relevance in have been pointed out previously [27,28], but existing studies on academia, and the opportunities that it provides for future research di­ participatory spaces have found a recurrent situation in which in­ rections [23], the work to date is not predominant in the literature. stitutions create excessively technocratic and exclusive decision-making If we focus our attention on the different types of conflicts con­ spaces [29,30]. In this vein, we can observe that the administrations' cerning environmental issues, controversies revolving around energy conception of participation is often excessively restrictive and does not production have even more discreet prominence in the literature. It has take into account the real needs, capacities, and demands of the citizens been noticed that, given the critical role of political factors and gover­ who want to participate [31]. It has been reported as necessary to open nance in transformative energy transitions, especially in national and spaces in which to promote a useful and close participation regime international action on climate change, there is a clear need to pay more within the governance exercises in issues that concern science and attention to politics [24]. Studies conducted all over the world have technology [32]. shown how the political noise generated around environmental conflicts STS have been shown to be a useful tool to consider the role that related to energy production often leads to the debate on the suitability technoscientific components play in technological, and especially of the project being transformed into a techno-scientific discussion in environmental, issues [33,34]. In this type of controversies, the idea that which, on the basis of reports and counter-reports that assess the impacts science and technology should take a decisive role in decision making is and technical characteristics, a solution is sought outside the political a widespread imaginary both within the realm of policy makers and for arena [25]. The technical language, bureaucracy, and techno-scientific many activist groups that have focused their activity on the generation studies that are formulated around controversies of these characteris­ of scientific knowledge to articulate proposals and defend their positions tics often act as a barrier to the democratic development of the decision- [35]. There is a large literature on the role that science and scientists making process, which remains in the hands of experts and technicians play in environmental controversies [36,37], providing multiple exam­ and eludes citizen participation as a method to reach the final decision. ples of scientists and technologists acting as the main voices and de­ Nevertheless, the environmental associations and organizations that ciders in situations with a direct impact on social matters in emerge around environmental conflicts do not give up their efforts to be development policies in areas such as agriculture [38,39], energy [40], decisive and very often succeed. On the one hand, we see how activists and economics [41,42]. manage to bring together a great variety of actors around each conflict However, using science and technology to engage decision making and how they create a support network in which economic, legal, sci­ has been problematized by many scholars. Latour [43] defined this use entific, and data resources are shared. On the other hand, the actions do of science as one that cancels politics since, for him, this looking-for not focus exclusively on localized acts in the immediate geographical objectivity responds to “the polemic type of objectivity that is of no environment where the controversy is taking place but rather alliances use except as a weapon to wage a political war against politics” (p.34). In are woven with a multitude of actors and acts are carried out with an line with this idea, several studies have been published on how scientific impact that influences an entire territory and even involves interna­ practices participate, and limit participation, in politic spaces and tional institutions. These forms of activism involve the constant politi­ democratic actions, and this question has been addressed by many STS cization of everyday life. Latour [26] situates this fact in a conceptual scholars concerned about the role of scientific expertise in democratic framework around the relationship between the human and the natural decision making. It has been reported that there are some practices in that is explained through his redefinition of “political ecology.” In which expert knowledge builds a separation between the non-expert Latour's proposal, political ecology advocates a rapprochement between public and the decision making [21,44–47]. Parthasarathy [48] culture and nature, between the human and the non-human, and rep­ named this separation between public and technical decision making resents a new way of understanding the relations between what has so “the expertise barrier” and carried out interesting work identifying far been conceived as two different worlds. In addition, political ecology various strategies that activists follow to break it. One of these strategies, presents the need for an uncomplicated dialogue between the political called “attack on bureaucratic rules” is the one that we have been able to question and the scientific–technical question, both of which are identify as the key to explaining how opponents of the Cercs waste-to- strongly present in the discourses of environmental organizations and energy plant acted. Parthasarathy defined the attack on bureaucratic NGOs. rules as that strategy by which “activists attack bureaucratic rules […] In this paper, we focus on describing an activist movement against by arguing that decision-making that appears detached and objective the opening of a waste-to-energy facility in Cercs, a village located in masks systematic biases that do not necessarily serve the public interest” Spain, within the framework of study that STS offer us. In this article, we [48] (p. 358). This can be a particularly powerful line of attack because identify the roles that technical, scientific, and expert actors played in bureaucracies play central roles in science and technology policy do­ the development of the controversy as well as describing the strategies mains and have traditionally established and maintained their political that activists followed to influence decision making. Our study in­ legitimacy by emphasizing the rationality of their technical decision- corporates the analysis of the activity from a citizen platform called making processes [49–51]. The vision of bureaucratic processes as Plataforma Antiincineradora de Cercs (PAIC) from its birth in October barriers to participation is not new [52], and the presence of reports, 2019 until October 2020, when urban planning incompatibility data, systematizations, formalities, rules, and standardizations leads to temporarily stopped the project. To contextualize this conflict, we will an increasingly narrow perception of decision-making procedures, briefly explain why and how waste incinerators are situated in the which are increasingly reserved for fewer and fewer people [53]. current energy context and locate Cercs and its sociodemographic reality To understand how the public may establish active participation in to understand better how the PAIC acted. We will then describe how technical decision-making processes, author–network theory (ANT) also activists organized themselves and acted to influence local public provides an appropriate framework. ANT is a sociotechnical approach in 2 O. Barat-Auleda and M. Domènech Energy Research & Social Science 92 (2022) 102772 STS studies that offers conceptual tools that can show how a complex and recycling practices. For all these reasons, the construction of waste network of interacting actors defines the success or failure of a techno­ incineration plants provokes complex debates that take place on logical intervention. ANT assumes, as one of its premises, that society different layers. On the one hand, promoters frame them in legislation cannot exist without technology [54,55] and rejects the notion of social that seeks to encourage the abandonment of the dependence on fossil purity, understanding that non-human actors and materials play a fuels and reduce landfill volumes. On the other hand, waste recovery is fundamental role in the structure and function of social networks (Law, not seen as a solution by many social entities that oppose the current 1993). In this way, instead of social networks, it is more appropriate to consumption model and see the construction of incinerators as an speak of sociotechnical networks, designating a set of interactions in the outdated and harmful solution. world in which agency is not only a human attribute. Agency is exclu­ sively a mediated achievement, brought about by forging associations. 1.3. The Cercs waste incineration plant (Catalonia) There is nothing outside associations, and, to become capable of action and “use” their agency, entities need to form aggregates and find allies to Cercs is the location of the last power plant to produce electricity produce an actor network [56]. from burning coal in Catalonia (Spain). The stoppage of the Cercs In this sense, ANT allows for the analysis of actors' relations at a Thermal Power Plant was promoted by a lawsuit filed by farmers and micro-scale of a social movement [57]. To explain how a group of ac­ organizations in the area to denounce serious episodes of acid rain. In tivists in Cercs could influence technical decision making politically, we 1988, this case led to the first criminal conviction for environmental take into account an ANT concept referred to by McFarlane [58] as crimes in Spain [60]. First, and as a result of this complaint, coal translocal assemblage. To understand this notion, it is important to bear extracted from local mines was no longer burned and coal imported from its two principles in mind. The first, that of assemblage, refers to a space South Africa, a fuel with lower sulfur content and higher calorific value, of gathering, coherence, and dispersion. An assemblage is a heteroge­ began to be used. The change of fuel, the new European directives on neous group of actors that has the capacity to situate itself in a tempo­ emissions, the implementation of the agreements signed in the Kyoto rality and in a space where the elements that make it up converge, Protocol, and several changes of ownership of the plant led to the disperse, realign, and change shape according to the conjuncture of the definitive closure of the thermal power plant in 2011. moment. Actors seek to create constant and diverse alignments with a The plant, which had been in operation for 40 years, was thus shut multitude of other actors of different natures. The second principle that down. The environmental impact of its coal burning disappeared, the the notion of translocal assemblage evokes is the principle of trans­ forests in the area were restored, and there has never again been any locality. Translocality is distinguished by the idea of a composition of episode of acid rain or death of crops or pastures due to this cause. locally identifiable, but scattered, actors sharing ideas, resources, Conversely, however, the closure of the plant meant the shutting down knowledge, practices, and materials. The links between these actors are of the local coal mines, causing a great socioeconomic impact in a region more than just connections. This translocality gives the assemblage the where the mining sector had been one of the main economic engines. In capacity to decontextualize and recontextualize itself through social fact, a large part of the urban centers that today form part of the mu­ diversity and the different cultural spheres that are part of a network. nicipality of Cercs emerged as industrial colonies dedicated to this These relationships and translocality allow the assemblage to make, sector, which has now disappeared. perform, and create events. STS, ANT, and the concept of an “expertise Today, Cercs, a municipality in the Berguedà region, has just over barrier” become the main concepts for drawing and understanding how 1100 inhabitants, according to the population census, which was technoscientific issues develop in our democracies and drive this study updated in 2019. The active population is mostly dedicated to services through the analysis of an environmental controversy and the aim of a and the industrial sector, and livestock and tourism have been taking group of activists to become relevant to the decision-making process. prominence but are still far from achieving the economic performance and jobs that mining and the thermal power plant provided. Cercs, 1.2. Waste incineration: revalorization or the last step in the consumption moreover, cannot escape from a demographic reality that is evolving society? toward increasingly accentuated depopulation. Young people are migrating to the cities in search of better job opportunities, causing a As a result of the so-called Green Pact approved by the EU [59], the vacuum of talent and new possibilities for a territory with an increas­ member countries have committed themselves to reaching emission ingly aging and dependent population. In this context, local and regional neutrality by 2050, which will necessitate a complete restructuring of administrations have focused their efforts on promoting different eco­ the energy production systems of European countries. In this context of nomic sectors, seeking to stimulate the economy of a region where work energy transition, the planning and inauguration of new plants that was once plentiful. generate electricity from practices considered to be renewable follow The reopening of the old thermal power plant, converted into a waste one after the other, not always with the agreement of the inhabitants of incinerator, was the latest of these initiatives. Thus, the company EM the areas where they are planned. One of these ways of generating en­ Spain Waste & Treatment SL submitted a public tender with the aim of ergy, and a strategy to reduce the volume of landfills, is the use of so- refurbishing the old facilities and reopening them to produce electricity called waste revalorization plants, where thermal energy is generated by burning, this time, industrial waste instead of coal. The plan to from the incineration of industrial and/or domestic waste, which is then refurbish the plant, as with other initiatives mentioned above, met with transformed into electricity. Revalorization is defined as an operation by opposition from a significant part of the population. Different entities, which waste acquires utility by replacing other materials that would organizations, and associations mobilized to protest against the otherwise have been used to fulfill a particular function. In the case of reopening of the facilities, fearing a repetition of the pollution and acid waste incinerators, energy is obtained from materials left over from rain episodes that they had suffered years ago. people's daily lives (urban waste) or from materials from industrial ac­ In the midst of the controversy, the COVID-19 pandemic erupted. tivity (industrial waste). However, this type of power plant raises serious The saturation of the administration, the confinement measures, and the questions related to public health concerning matters such as the vapors stoppage of all non-essential services cooled the conflict, which, for a or suspended materials that are released from combustion or the man­ few months, remained silent. With the start of the new academic year, agement of heavy metals and the resulting ash. In addition, the latest however, the controversy returned. Today, in November 2021, the European Union directives are committed to models that favor the protests have not stopped and there is still a chance that the incinerator prudent and rational use of resources to move toward a circular econ­ project will go ahead. omy, a model of economy in which incineration is not considered to be a good option but in which waste management should be based on reuse 3 O. Barat-Auleda and M. Domènech Energy Research & Social Science 92 (2022) 102772 2. Materials and methods impossibility of continuing with participant observation. Even so, since we had identified the main actors, we proceeded to prepare telematic To answer adequately questions about “who” is participating in the interviews that were conducted and recorded during the months of controversy and “how” they do so, we conducted data collection through confinement. We continued by means of semi-structured interviews with focal ethnographic work. Focal ethnography [61,62] is a type of pre-formulated questions, which allow the possibility of generating new ethnography that presents a shift from extensive research over time, questions during the interviews. typical of classical ethnographies, to the intensive analysis of concrete The interviews were conducted telematically through video calls on data decided by the researchers. In our case, we focused our attention on the Zoom platform. A total of 14 interviews of about 1 h each were three distinct aspects: first, the presence of the controversy in the press conducted. The interviews were distributed among six people with po­ and social networks; second, the activities of activists; and, third, the sitions in the regulatory agencies and eight other people linked to the discourses of those actors involved in the controversy. Accordingly, we organizations involved with the Anti-Incineration Platform. Subse­ monitored some local newspapers and social networks. We visited the quently, the interviews were subjected to the same thematic analysis as physical sites where the plant would be built as well as attending and the data extracted from the press, thus enabling us to identify and following the protests, rallies, and plenary sessions of the city council organize the wide variety of topics circulating around the controversy. and the Parliament related to the issue. Finally, semi-structured in­ terviews with actors holding different positions regarding the plant and 3. Results and discussion its suitability were conducted and recorded. Both the data collected in the analysis of the press and social networks and those obtained from Since our main interest in this article concerns the ability of activists interviews were subjected to a thematic analysis, based on the work of to influence local policies and overcome the barrier of expertise, we will Attride-Stirling [63] and Clarke and Braun [64], in which themes or identify two key processes in the development of the controversy: how patterns of common meanings were identified and structured, classi­ citizens organized themselves to form an influential pressure group—the fying and systematizing them through thematic networks into three PAIC—and how the dialogue between this pressure group and the ad­ types of themes—basic, organizing, and global—to facilitate their ministrations developed. It is important to note that these two processes, description. and their internal specifications, occurred simultaneously and do not imply a chronological history. The PAIC continued to expand and grow 2.1. Press and social networks as an activist movement while seeking to articulate mechanisms to establish a dialogue with regulators. We need to imagine the processes In total, more than 135 press articles dealing with the controversy identified below as dimensions of constant change, activity, and inter­ were identified. News, opinion articles, investigative articles, press re­ action while understanding that their weight in the development of the leases, and editorials related to the controversy, from two newspapers in conflict varied according to the pandemic context and restrictions on their digital editions, were analyzed. The two criteria for selecting the mobility and meetings. newspapers were that they were leading in the territory and that they We will begin by describing the two starting positions of the city were geographically established in it. Although national newspapers council on the one hand and the opponents of the project on the other. were occasionally consulted when they echoed the protests or important For the anti-incineration activists, the plant made no sense because it decisions regarding the controversy, to ensure systematized and was an activity of the past and an inefficient and environmentally continuous data collection, we chose the regional newspaper Regió7, damaging system: which was the one that gave the news of the opening of the plant for the first time, and the news portal Aquí Berguedà, a digital news portal Incinerators burn resources, while the European Union says they specializing in regional events. In addition, the social networks Face­ should not be burned. Incineration is a technology of the past. The book, Telegram, Twitter, and Instagram, the platforms on which the 332,000 tons of waste—1000 tons a day will be burned!—will be Anti-Incineration Platform was most active, were monitored. brought in from Barcelona, but also from the south of France, Italy and the United Kingdom … It is a real sabotage to build an incin­ 2.2. Participant observation erator at a time when everyone considers that it is necessary to reduce. We visited the power plant facilities and the town adjacent to them, (Opinion article in the newspaper Regió7 published on October 9, 2019) Cercs, to gain an idea of how close one is to the other and what the On the other hand, from the consistory, which prioritized the alleged communications and the physical and geographical environment are economic effects on the town, the project was not viewed as damaging. like. We also attended two town council meetings and a plenary session This stance was defended by a Cercs town council official in an interview as well as three rallies—two demonstrations and a road blockade—and conducted for this study: we followed parliamentary sessions and town council plenary sessions live via streaming. Nobody has to explain to me what a thermal power plant is. I have This phase of participant observation was of a short duration due to suffered acid rain, I used to go to a school that was a hundred meters the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting measures away in a straight line from the power plant […]. I know what it is. restricting mobility and crowds. The work carried out before the first But I also know what depopulation is, the economic loss we have had mobility restrictions made it possible to expand the list of actors present since we have ceased to be an industrial municipality and I know in the controversy and to identify the individuals behind the organiza­ how hard it is to live here. Faced with an investment of 300 million tions, entities, and political parties taking part in it. Due to the pandemic euros, I can't say no from the get-to, even though I know it's hard. and the resulting restrictions, the number of face-to-face protests orga­ (Interview 5. Min: 21:20) nized from March 2020 onward was drastically reduced and press re­ As can easily be seen, these are two diametrically opposed points of leases, statements, and positions in official and institutional bodies and view that logically led to an intense controversy. To understand their debate sessions in governmental spaces such as the Parliament or city development, we will focus on two processes that seem to us to be council plenary sessions gained prominence. particularly relevant. First, we will present the process by which the PAIC became a relevant actor in the controversy, increasing its influence 2.3. Interviews on the affected people and little by little achieving a position throughout Catalonia. Second, we will show how the dialogue between activists and With the unexpected pandemic reality, we had to face the 4 O. Barat-Auleda and M. Domènech Energy Research & Social Science 92 (2022) 102772 institutions unfolded as well as highlighting the limitations and diffi­ these social mobilizations were intended to make noise and propaganda culties encountered in this dialogue. for the movement: Our action is basically based on public pressure to set the agenda of 3.1. First process: how the PAIC evolved from a group of citizens into a the political parties that then design public policies. They are heterogeneous and complex network attentive to the vote market and, if we manage to make noise, they will listen to us. The news of the reopening of the power plant jumped onto the pages (Interview 4. Min 9:30) of the regional newspaper Regió7 on October 1, 2019. The newspaper first unveiled the project in an article with a cautious but optimistic tone: The rallies, roadblocks, and demonstrations achieved notoriety that managed to appeal to other actors and thus add support to the activists' The project is an opportunity to make a disused industrial complex cause. This sum of support translated into social pressure on the ad­ useful, create economic activity and provide an outlet for waste that ministrations, which, as another interview excerpt tells us, was crucial to today occupies space in landfills. […] This horizon must be qualified achieve their demands: by some unknowns that will have to be clarified: that combustion does not generate any type of pollution […], and that the trans­ All the projects that have been knocked down have been done with portation of the waste does not have an excessive impact. It is, social pressure […] It is our cornerstone. Then you depend on ca­ therefore, a project that will gain credibility as it progresses and suistry, such as influencing someone in the administrations who is provides guarantees. Even good ideas must be demonstrated. more sensitive and can change things. […] in the local world it is The following morning, the same newspaper echoed the beginning of easier to reach city councils and councilors and having the city the controversy by describing “the birth of a platform made up of local councils on your side helps a lot. councilors and environmental groups.” From this point on, the PAIC (Interview 7. Min 45:30) sought to gain weight and influence by resorting to a strategy based on three basic axes: social mobilization, activity on social networks and in Thus, a final objective of the acts of social protest was to show the the press, and the search for support from local organizations and from capacity of mobilization and make it clear that there are people who are outside the municipality. willing to move and act to achieve the objectives demanded, facts that exerted social pressure on the administrations and prompted some 3.1.1. First axis: social mobilization people within them to pick up the demands and act in favor of the Due to its geographical position, Cercs is witness every weekend and protesters. holiday to long queues of people coming from Barcelona and other major Catalan cities to spend a few days of peace and rest in the 3.1.2. Second axis: the role of social networks and the press mountains. On October 4, 2020, in the middle of the “operation return” The same newspaper that first made the project public with a certain of the weekend, the PAIC took one of the actions with a larger impact in favorable tone, weeks later, published an opinion article entitled “We terms of people involved. For 2 h, it intermittently shut down the road, don't want an incinerator in Cercs or anywhere else.” The arguments of causing traffic jams of up to 8 km. While the cars were stopped, the the article, signed by a member of an environmental organization in the activists informed their occupants about the incinerator plan, its region, pointed to the need for a change of energy model and con­ possible harmful effects, and the names of the politicians who had the sumption model and the planning of an economic strategy based on power to make decisions. sustainability and care of the territory. This is just one example of different acts of protest and mobilization We have seen this idea before, when social mobilization sought to that the PAIC has carried out since the news of the incinerator project define the nature of the conflict. Along the same lines, social networks broke. It is worth noting the added difficulty that the pandemic has and the press were the key to the dissemination and construction of the meant for rallies, demonstrations, and similar activities, but, even so, activist discourse. In this sense, the activity on the networks, mainly several protests have been held, each of them attracting about 500 Instagram and Twitter but also Facebook and Telegram, was remarkable people. These acts of protest and citizen mobilization had various effects during the period in which we were studying the controversy: between on the community, and, as the activists themselves pointed out, the October 2019 and October 2020, over 840 posts were made on the actions had different objectives: platform's various official social networks, and it managed to gather 247 followers on its Telegram news channel, 802 on Facebook, 944 on Environmental conflicts are ultimately political. It is about defining a Twitter, and 1416 on Instagram. The most popular platform for activists political model that has environmental but also social and economic was Twitter, with 671 publications in the year that we were monitoring. impacts […]. One of the things we are looking for is to make a The second most active social platform was Instagram, with 138 posts, counter-discourse, to provide information to counter-argue what and Facebook ranked third with 38 posts. If we look at the content of the politicians or businessmen tell us. posts and publications, we can see that four main lines of action were drawn, among which two are prominent. We classified the 847 total (Interview 11. Min 14:15) posts into five different categories, and the results are revealing: those As we can see, one of the intentions of the mobilizations was to publications that involved interactions with other associations totaled define the nature of the conflict itself. During the mobilizations, activists 431 (50.88 %); PAIC communiqués, assessments, and/or official posi­ placed the controversy not only in the environmental sphere but also in tions totaled 279 (32.93 %); calls for or announcements of protest ac­ the political one. The fact of situating the conflict around the incinerator tions accounted for 74 publications (8.73 %); direct interpellations to in the political sphere is vital since it was a quality that would accom­ politicians or administrations accounted for 44 posts (5.19 %); and, pany the entire protest and the key to defining the relationship that was finally, the last category, containing varied content that was not clas­ established between the activists and the administrations. Thus, one of sifiable into the previous categories, such as photographs or contests, the objectives of the mobilizations was to place the conflict on a higher accounted for 19 more posts (2.24 %). Thus, our study of the activity and scale than the environmental impact on the inhabitants and the town of content of the social networks showed that this activity focused on two Cercs. For the activists, the controversy reached further: it was conveyed main objectives: first, to interact with other activist movements; second, through political, economic, and social discourses, and it was through to provide an important symbolic and discursive dimension to the social mobilization that they built this identity. controversy. Other activists, also organizers of the protests, explained to us that 5 O. Barat-Auleda and M. Domènech Energy Research & Social Science 92 (2022) 102772 Along the same lines, the press analysis included 95 articles from the anti-incineration platform explained to us when we asked how they regional newspaper Regió 7 and 38 articles from the local newspaper decided where to ask for support and how they obtained it: Aquí Berguedà. Of these, 126 were journalistic chronicles of the rallies or government resolutions related to the incinerator plant, while only 6 Basically we would call (our) political parties and from there we articles turned out to be opinion articles. Thus, although local newspa­ would pull. Then other parties would join in. We were lucky because pers echoed the demonstrations and positioning of activists, their role in we had relatively open doors of entry. the construction of the activist discourse was not as important as we can (Interview 4. Min 13:30) see in the social networks. This shows that they had an agenda, mainly within certain ideo­ logical frameworks. This fact of resorting to formal political parties 3.1.3. Third axis: seeking support from different local and non-local placed the groups opposed to the controversy in an ideological corre­ organizations spondence that, conversely, would expand over time, incorporating into As is the case in many small towns, people who take on re­ the voices against the incinerator other sensitivities and ideologies of sponsibilities and engage in initiatives in associative movements do not political parties that were far removed from the promoters of the PAIC in usually do so in isolation. The profiles of the citizens involved in the other national matters, even personalities of the same party that local social fabric often mean that the same person is involved in several defended the plant in Cercs. platforms or neighborhood organizations at the same time and may even Finally, the institutional support reached the largest legislative body become part of formal local politics. The PAIC is no exception; most of in Catalonia, the Parliament, in which activists, along with other entities the members who founded the activist platform already had an asso­ from all over Catalonia, presented a motion for a moratorium on all ciative, political, and/or activist background prior to the conflict, which incinerators in Catalonia. This is how one activist explained it to us in meant that they had not only the background and experience that this one of our interviews: entails but also an extensive network of political contacts and other associations that allowed the incorporation of various actors into the We have influenced the Parliament because we know the deputies cause, thus creating a heterogeneous network in which more resources […]. If you talk to them as a party member and also as a member of a and experiences were shared. Thus, through informal channels, such as platform, they can still say less than no to the requested support. We personal calls, e-mails, or messaging, they managed to contact neigh­ explained to them what we were doing from the platform and bors, ranchers, and farmers in the area and different entities and asso­ through them we managed to get them to listen to us and we were ciations in the region that joined or showed their support: the able to hold meetings with all the political groups two or three times. Association for the Defense and Study of Flora and Fauna (ADEFFA), the Group for the Defense of Nature of Berguedà, the Catalan Fishing (Interview 6. Min 13:30) Federation, the Font Gran de Cercs Sport Fishing Society, the Association As we can see, this statement reinforces the idea that meeting people, of People Affected by Cancer of Berguedà Gingko, the association creating alliances, and involving as many actors as possible are impor­ Huellas de Puig-reig, the Association of Livestock Farmers of Catalonia, tant. This great effort in what we can call weaving alliances resulted in the neighborhood associations of San Corneli and Rodonella de Cercs, the construction of a network of actors around a local platform on which the Association of Women of Guardiola, the Airenet Platform, the Center there was a substantial increase in data, information, and expertise for Ecology and Alternative Projects (Cepa), the Catalan Platform Zero while, at the same time, the identity of the platform itself changed. The Waste (PCRZ), the association Anahata Global de Gironella, and others. actors were no longer a group of citizens concerned about the risks In addition, through the internal governance spaces of the political involved in a project at the local level but a deeply heterogeneous parties to which citizens who combined their activist activity with network in which citizens, institutions, environmental organizations, formal politics belonged, they achieved a rapid positioning of two na­ neighborhood associations, political forces, and so on took a position tional political parties with an important representation as well as and acted against the project. In addition, in this framework, relevant pronouncements against the headquarters of the regional institutions non-human elements, such as laws and legal provisions, were sought. governed by these political groups. One of the most important economic efforts made by the activists was to Thus, thanks to this mobilization in the formal and informal spaces of cover the cost of hiring lawyers to study possible legal actions, seeking the political and social network of the territory, the controversy errors in the processing of the project or administrative incompatibilities increased with the number of actors involved. Several city councils of for its implementation. In that effort to interconnect resources, knowl­ nearby municipalities passed motions against the reopening of the plant; edge, and actions, what we finally have is a vast assemblage made up of the PAIC organized talks, colloquiums, rallies, and signature collections citizens, organizations, political parties, and environmental groups from to protest and disseminate its message; channels of dialogue were different parts of the territory. established with the Generalitat of Catalonia—the autonomous body responsible for environmental legislation; and legal actions against the project began to be taken. 3.2. The interactions between the PAIC and the administration This support from public institutions was very important in the controversy and grew increasingly in terms of territory and public rep­ The interactions between activists and administrations are not easy resentation. First, the regional councils—supramunicipal entities to explain, and we will focus on identifying the main obstacles formed by elected representatives of the municipalities of the region encountered by both sides in developing a useful dialogue. These ob­ where they are established, such as the Consell Comarcal del Berguedà, stacles are essentially due to differences in the basic notions of the na­ the Consell Comarcal del Solsonès, and the Consell Comarcal del ture of the conflict, on the one hand, and in the difficulty of the Bages—spoke out against the plant. Then there were the Diputacions, administration itself in relating to informal voices, on the other hand. larger institutions that incorporate several counties, such as the Diputació de Barcelona or the Diputació de Lleida. Their pro­ 3.2.1. First obstacle: differences in notions of the nature of the conflict nouncements were important because they managed to delocalize the There are two basic differences between activists' and administra­ conflict since these bodies represent about 6 million people—78.94 % of tions' definition of the conflict. On the one hand, for activists, the the total population of Catalonia—and cover 61 % of the Catalan problem was global, while, for administrations, it was clearly local. On territory. the other hand, the nature of the controversy was political for the ac­ Such support was possible through formal and informal contact on tivists, while it was a discussion on the adequacy of the incineration the part of the activists, as these testimonies from representatives of the plant based on purely technical aspects for the administrations. 6 O. Barat-Auleda and M. Domènech Energy Research & Social Science 92 (2022) 102772 As we saw above, the vision that the PAIC and its members had of the there is evidence of harsh criticism of the use of science to settle what controversy was global. For them, the incinerator was part of a political, they considered to be a political controversy, claiming the lack of economic, and social discussion that extended beyond local boundaries. participatory tools and their right to be heard. According to them, the However, this confluence of such varied actors is incomprehensible from technical reports that the local authorities wanted to ask about would be a more localist view, such as the one held by local administrations: mere propaganda to drown the activists' political criticisms under a sea of data and standardizations. I think that in this they have gone a bit out of their minds. I don't Cataloging scientific studies as propaganda, the activists accused the understand what all these people and administrations have to do administrations of partisan use of scientific arguments and generated a with the conflict. This is a Cercs issue and that the technicians have to sense of instrumental use of science, far from its supposed impartiality talk and agree and then if the permits and papers are in order there is and its notion of response to the public interest, a fact that is not strange not much more to do. since distrust in scientists, engineers, politicians, and corporations and (Interview 10. Min 50:05) their use of science to push an agenda or promote or boycott a tech­ nology had already been observed [70–72]. As we can see, then, this first difference in the definition of the Given the strong technical dimension that administrations give to the controversy hindered the understanding of and dialogue on the issue decision-making process, it is not surprising that one of the most noto­ between opponents and regulators. More specifically, for the adminis­ rious actions of the city council was to propose an agreement with the trations, the problem was defined in the technical field, in which experts Polytechnic University of Catalonia to carry out a feasibility study and needed to decide on the safety of the plant and make a decision based on produce a subsequent report analyzing the risks and the suitability of the their conclusions: plant based on, obviously, technical criteria. The response of the activ­ ists, nevertheless, was to insist that they were not discussing technical The technical side has to put on the table all the pros and cons so that issues and to see the report as a diversionary maneuver and a way to citizens can decide. […] With this study we will be able to know silence the debate: what is good, what is bad and what we can change, so that we can then make decisions. They tell us that in these studies everything is well done, that we will (Interview 5. Min 12:10) have the information […] They tell you “those of the university are This vision of the controversy led to criticism of the Anti-Incineration very good” and yes, they are, but that is not the issue […]. In my Platform for wanting to make a political conflict out of one that was opinion, what they want to do is drown you in propaganda, because purely environmental: nobody wants it (the incinerator)! (Interview 4. Min 24:36) A possible environmental issue has been used to make a political In any case, and this is important, the insistence of the administra­ opposition against the mayor. There are people who have joined the tions on giving weight to the technical aspect came from a need to protest because they have an environmental concern and other protect themselves from the judicial processes that very often derive people who have a disagreement with the mayor or the government from environmental controversies: team and use that conflict to attack him. (Interview 10. Min 4:05) It happens to us a lot that in any project the environmental part is the We can see that it was the local administration that showed the most weak part. At a formal level, the environmental procedure is evident interest in going through the intermediation of science to extremely cumbersome and punctilious […] It is very easy that due determine the suitability of the incinerator plant. Up to the time when to a formal issue the environmental process and therefore the whole we studied the controversy, the activists did not show any interest in process is cancelled. enrolling scientists and, rather, showed their rejection of the perfor­ (Interview 8. Min 41:40) mance of a prestigious university in the country. This fact contrasts with In addition, legal strategies to stop a project are often not limited to other cases that we can find in the literature in which scientists and their formal issues and involve designing personal lawsuits against politi­ practices were enrolled in activist groups and took part in their political cians, technicians, or officials who make decisions: claims. This is the case of the study by Daniels and Walker [65], in which technicians took the lead in achieving the suspension of industrial What we are rethinking is that perhaps the complaints should go exploitation plans in several U.S. wilderness areas, measuring, through criminal proceedings. That we hold the person responsible describing, and cataloging their biodiversity and sensitive species, or a for the company accountable, with their personal resources. This is study conducted following a toxic spill in Doñana National Park (Spain), where you really do the most damage. in which activists hired experts to measure the toxicity of the sludge (Interview 7. Min 37:30) spilled and monitor migratory birds passing through the park to quantify the damage, present responsibilities, and propose measures to avoid a It is precisely this increase in the judicialization of environmental new episode of contamination [66]. More recently, we can find the study conflicts that has been causing changes in the administrative procedure by Kinchy [67], which explained how, in a campaign to stop the harmful that have paradoxically led to a reinforcement of technocratic criter­ practices of fracking, concerned citizens took measurements through ia—both techno-scientific and legal—when it comes to decision making standardized reports of the state of the water in streams, wells, and by the administrations. Faced with the possible repercussions of the lakes, and the one carried out by Carmona and Jaramillo [68] in a activists' legal struggle, which may even involve actions against the mining region of Colombia where scientists argued that the mining ac­ personal or family assets of the administrators, the technical aspect tivity had affected the headwaters of a stream that irrigated an functions as protection, as a public official explained to us in this ecosystem seriously threatened by climate change. interview excerpt: Although it has been said that the use of science and experts in environmental controversies is a strategy pursued by both protest or­ In this case [he gives as an example a past controversy] they brought ganizations and administrations as a means of finding a common lan­ a criminal complaint against me where my personal assets were at guage with which to dialogue [69], the PAIC activists do not appear to stake. It is very distressing. For all these reasons, it is essential to have have shared this view. Not only did they not make use of scientific technical and legal reports that support the decisions we make. […] knowledge in their arguments or enlist experts but, in their messages, 7 O. Barat-Auleda and M. Domènech Energy Research & Social Science 92 (2022) 102772 We armor ourselves. Not because we are afraid, but because the find popular participation in waste issues in the decision making of decisions must be well made. political institutions, whether local or national [73]. (Interview 1. Min 26:45) The second problem with interaction is that it may be difficult for the administrations to identify the group to which are they speaking. In fact, Another criticism that is drawn from the administrations is the fact some members of the city council claim not to know anything about the that several members of the activist platform were at the same time PAIC: public officials in the local administration itself or other administrations. This accusation of a conflict of interest was responded to by the activists (PAIC) has never tried to talk to us in an orderly and serious way as normal and inevitable in the framework of a small community: […]. In fact I don't even know who they are. You go around seeing some visible faces but it is supposed to be an organization with a A person who is an activist is usually a person who is mobile, president, secretary, a treasurer … we don't know them and it be­ informed and concerned. When you have ideas about your envi­ comes difficult to know who we have to address. ronment, it is normal to have politicized ideas and to dedicate time in (Interview 10. Min 15:55) your life to social work […]. It happens a lot in small towns. There are 20 different associations and there are the same people in all of These two problems in the dialogue between opponents and regu­ them, but not because they want to be there, but because that's the lators have their origin in the strong technocratic tendency of the bu­ way they are. reaucracy that deals with environmental issues. In other words, there is (Interview 4. Min 5:20) no room for political, sociological, or economic discussions around the assessment of the suitability of a project with an environmental impact. In short, what the activists were saying is that the clear divisions that On the contrary, the dialogue is expected to be conducted in techno- the administrations were trying to draw between the political and the scientific language that is too costly in terms of time and financial re­ technical, between formal and informal politics, and between the global sources for organizations such as the PAIC to tackle. For the adminis­ and the local are not so clear in real life. The technical, scientific, and trations, participation involves obviating the subjective, ideological, and social dimensions do not have a clear, distinct, and identifiable sepa­ political and limiting themselves to the objective and calculable. Indeed, ration, and, as we will see in the next point, relating to this reality is a according to a canonical view of participatory spaces organized by ad­ problem for administrations that do not have the tools to attend to ministrations, the citizens who participate in them should come free of informal voices. personal interests and without being deeply involved in the issue at hand [74,75]. Thus, when confronted with activists, the local administration 3.2.2. Problems in interacting with informal voices tried to move the debate to a more aseptic field through the use of It should be noted that interactions between activists and adminis­ technical reports, presenting a good example about the meaning of trations are provided for in the legal system. There are participation “cancellation of politics” [43]. mechanisms that guarantee that any person or organization that wants Here, faced with this cancellation of politics, the anti-incineration to have a say in a project can do so. Specifically, the Catalan legal movement chose not to submit its discourse to scientific–technical lan­ framework that regulates the approval of plans with an environmental guage that would leave aside a large part of its political demands and impact, which include projects such as the one that has generated the opted, again, for its cause to gain followers, social support, and political controversy that we are studying, corresponds to Law 6/2009, of April influence throughout the territory. In short, it insisted on globalizing the 28, on the environmental assessment of plans and programs. This law conflict. provides that “the affected organizations and the interested public, as The activists' efforts to delocalize the conflict were born from their well as the administrations, organizations or natural and legal persons global vocation because, for them, it was not a technical and local linked to the protection of the environment, must be consulted on the problem but a problem framed in a social, economic, and environmental scope and degree of specification of the report” as well as that “the reality that surpassed the limits of the micro-world of the village of 1100 administrations and, where appropriate, the entities and persons con­ inhabitants where the plant was to be located. This was highlighted by sulted may send the environmental body their opinion […] within a an activist: period of one month.” We can see in this way how citizens and entities such as the PAIC can “make their opinion known” in environmental The waste problem is an environmental problem and therefore a assessment processes. However, in practice, this participation must be global problem. If they say that they take it somewhere else, maybe performed in a concrete way, and two basic problems arise for the here we would not have the prominence we have now but we would planned dialogue to develop fruitfully. still be against it. […] That is why we are in contact with other larger The first problem is language. It is necessary for the language to be entities or that cover the entire Catalan territory, because the technical, as reflected in this fragment of an interview with an official of incinerator is an issue that must be faced as a country, or rather as a the Generalitat de Catalunya: world. (Interview 3. Min 4:20) (Environmentalists) must know how to express their opposition based on evaluable criteria […] They must ensure that the criteria However, the material possibilities for activists to create a suffi­ are objectively acceptable. ciently stable and influential network on a large scale were scarce. Being (Interview 1. Min 31:20) a small organization in a small village and with scarce economic, human, and material resources, its activity did not manage to become an We can see that, despite the provision of participation mechanisms organization of global, worldwide reference. However, it did manage to by the administrations, since there are channels through which infor­ collaborate and create synergies with many other local and regional mation can circulate and be taken into consideration, communication activist organizations, institutions, citizen groups, and associations close must be articulated through scientific data and following a narrow to the headquarters and others spread throughout the country. The bureaucratic path marked by deadlines and very strict requirements for PAIC, then, seems to have operated as a translocal assemblage in which form and substance. It may be a problem for non-experts to articulate agency was distributed among all those local actors that formed it. By useful opposition through the standardized procedures. This is not new; enlisting different actors with their own agendas and interests, the PAIC precisely in waste management studies have already suggested that renounced the issue of the Cercs incinerator as the central axis of a more people's participation is found in terms of everyday actions and private far-reaching activist campaign, transforming it into an issue concerning decisions, such as recycling, but it becomes much more complicated to 8 O. Barat-Auleda and M. Domènech Energy Research & Social Science 92 (2022) 102772 the use of incinerators as an energy source in Catalonia. natural and social sciences when it comes to managing nature and would Therefore, on the one hand, there were the administrations trying to be in line with what has been reported by science and technology studies articulate their position and opening spaces for dialogue through science during the last decades. That is, nature and society are not separate and strongly bureaucratized spaces, and, on the other hand, there was entities but constitute what can be named “socionatural assemblages” the PAIC forming a framework that built an opposition based on highly [80], “socionatural worlds” [81], or simply “socionature” [82]. politicized ideas and positions. What we can see here, then, is a lack of Taking this argument to the end, we could say that, if the agreement synchrony in the perspectives of activists and administrations. Such was between activists and administrations were to occur with respect to this the distance between activists and regulators that the institutions, which particular vision of society and nature, then perhaps the disagreement should be able to incorporate and respond to citizens' demands and that they showed regarding technical reports could be overcome. claims, were not even able to recognize who was talking. This difficulty Nowadays, technical reports refer to environmental studies and incor­ for the administrations to communicate with the informal voices is porate scientists such as environmentalists, physicists, chemists, bi­ perfectly represented in that interview in which a member of the local ologists, and so on. Nevertheless, once they can move the split between government complained that they did not know whom they should nature and society forward, a technical report cannot be anything other approach to talk to the activists. We can see here the institutions' lack of than a socio-technical report: a type of report that could hardly be car­ tools to engage in dialogue with informal voices, and, although at no ried out simply by “technical personnel” and that could no longer focus time did the institutions refuse citizen participation, the procedures in solely on what are currently considered to be “technical aspects.” In the which they contemplated it did not turn out to be a practical reality for search for better management of socionature, policy makers should take the type of citizen movement that had been organized. The PAIC's into account that it is a sociotechnical approach that they need, an assemblage acted from the grassroots of citizenship and was organized approach that merges those technical criteria that policy makers tradi­ through very diverse, local, and politically active movements and or­ tionally demand with cultural aspects, social interests, or history. ganizations from across the country. In this global context, PAIC mem­ bers spoke of bad governance and private interests in the construction of 4. Conclusions the incinerator, while the council insisted on the technical discussion being appropriate and necessary to decide on the project and accused Understanding the development of environmental controversies has the activists of having partisan interests. become a key factor for effectively incorporating the demands, opinions, Undoubtedly, one of the problems that is also evident in this case and visions of citizens into public policies. At this time of rising concern involves the meaning of technical for the different actors involved. for the climate and the environment, providing administrations with Latour [26] said that technical is a good adjective but a lousy noun. In democratic tools is a priority to involve citizens in the processes of social this case, it turned out to be, at the very least, a controversial adjective change that will bring about public agendas on energy and industrial insofar as the different uses that can be made of it constituted the and technological transition. warhorse issue between activists and administrations. Indeed, for the In this case, we have been able to see that the form of activism is administrations, it is simply a sub-program (one possible meaning), a adapted to the material possibilities and the specificities of the context of black box that must be opened—and can only be opened by technical activist movements, so knowing how to read the specificities of each (another meaning, expressing their subordinate role) personnel. This case is very important to create useful and open spaces for dialogue and was a detour certainly, but a minor one that should later lead to the main participation. In the case of Cercs, we have seen that the role of science task: deciding on the viability of the plant. For the activists, however, it and technology was not a priority for the activists. Thus, opposing the was not a simple detour. For them, what the administrations presented classic strategy of incorporating experts and scientific practices into the as a means was nothing more than an end, an end that was none other activist ranks, the PAIC opted to create a translocal assemblage as a tool than translating a political problem into another kind of problem—a for political influence. We must give value to this type of work per­ technical problem (another meaning to express the constitutions of an formed by some movements focused on creating a network with a strong obstacle blocking the voice of activists). In Latour's [26] words, it was political component since it is a form of mobilization that represents a like entering a new labyrinth in which to lose oneself forever. very involved and participatory citizenship in local public policy. What is interesting is that the controversy was based on a view of Finally, we must highlight the difficulty that institutions experience nature that the two parties seem to have shared, that is, nature as the in incorporating the political demands of these movements and their other of the social, for the understanding/management of which we inability to relate effectively to informal voices, such as those that made have knowledge that is specific to certain sciences, which we call the up the PAIC and its allies. In this sense, it is important for administra­ sciences of nature. The quid of the question, we could say, is not whether tions to work to equip themselves with the tools to interact effectively this vision of nature and its knowledge can be transcended but whether with these movements while rethinking what they understand by it is the time or the place for this knowledge. For some, the adminis­ participation. The role of regulators in this controversy has evoked an tration, it decidedly was. For others, the activists, it was certainly not. overly formal and restrictive conception of participatory spaces; instead, However, what we propose here is to pay attention to some debates for these processes, public participation in local policies should be un­ that have arisen precisely within these same natural sciences and that derstood as continuous, dynamic, and porous and must be taken into provide arguments to question this vision of nature as the other of the account in the design of participatory spaces. We also suggest that it social. Specifically, we refer to the debate on the role of the social sci­ would be appropriate to rethink the definition of “environment” that is ences in conservation policy issues. Historically, the natural sciences included in technical reports. When regulators ask for these environ­ have tended to be the sole or primary information source used to guide mental impact reports, reference is only made to the natural environ­ conservation actions. Nevertheless, many influential conservation sci­ ment, but, if we understand the environment as a broader and more entists have long recognized the importance of both social and natural inclusive concept, perhaps these impact studies should take into account considerations for conservation [76]. Indeed, Bennett et al. [77] the communities living in the affected territory. It would be appropriate concluded that the social science of conservation is not an optional add- to change the conception of these technical reports and design a sort of on but a vital component, alongside the natural sciences, of effective socio-technical report in which not only trees, air, or water quality but conservation decision making during planning, implementation, and also the imaginaries and cultural and sociological peculiarities of the management. In the same vein, several studies in pure science fields inhabitants that surround the place are taken into account. have suggested that a better understanding of the human or social di­ mensions of environmental issues would improve conservation [78,79]. In a way, such studies would challenge this separation of tasks between 9 O. Barat-Auleda and M. Domènech Energy Research & Social Science 92 (2022) 102772 Funding [25] J. 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