Project description
Labour relations and groundwater metabolism
Spain’s Doñana National Park is a World Heritage Site and one of Europe’s most important nature preserves and bird habitats. The region is also one of the largest areas of strawberry cultivation worldwide. However, intensive farming is affecting the reproduction of this significant wetland system. The EU-funded ORIGINSOFSCARCITY project will study the interaction between aquifer depletion and mass farming in the Doñana wetlands by exploring the impact of intensive export-oriented agriculture on ecosystems. The project will target labour as a key issue where employment and groundwater conservation conflict. It will address the metabolism of water extractivism and shed new light on the resilience of growth imperatives and their environmental impacts by considering agricultural labour relations as environmental processes.
Objective
ORIGINSOFSCARCITY explores the dynamics underlying aquifer depletion through a focus on agricultural labour in export-oriented water intensive farming. Opening the black box of “human-induced environmental change”, the project addresses not only the uneven distribution of environmental harm, but the processes through which people become unequal participants in its production, thus furthering the integrated study of labour and ecological distribution conflicts. ORIGINSOFSCARCITY is a historical ethnography of groundwater depletion and the conflicts surrounding it. The dynamics underlying aquifer depletion are analyzed through the case of the Doñana Wetlands, a World Heritage Site and one of Europe’s most important nature reserves. Located in southwestern Spain, the Doñana National Park has figured prominently in the European environmental conservation agenda for more than half a century. The Doñana region is also one of the most important areas of strawberry farming in the world. The use of groundwater as a primary input in export-oriented strawberry farming is the main process affecting the reproduction of the largest wetland system in the European Union. Attempts to curtail agricultural water use for the purposes of environmental conservation have been portrayed as inimical to job creation and economic growth and more than two decades of administrative measures have not led to the stabilization of groundwater consumption. The project addresses the metabolism of water extractivism in Doñana by focusing on its neglected component: labour. It casts new light on the resilience of growth imperatives and their environmental consequences by showing the ways in which these are anchored by prevailing relations of production and reproduction. The analysis of agricultural labour relations as ecological processes opens a privileged window onto the articulation of social and environmental processes and advances ongoing conversations about overcoming nature-society dualisms.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
08007 BARCELONA
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.