Environmental Contestation, Planning and Political Change: The Save Bisri Campaign in Lebanon

Abstract

Though environmental contestation in the Global South is hardly effective (Haynes, 1999), scholars of social and environmental movements have observed new forms of collective action with increased potential for success (MJ, 2017; Haynes, 1999; DeLuca, 1999; Dellaporta and Diani, 2020). These movements are loosely organized and dealing with diverse localized issues, yet increasingly coordinating with each other, joining efforts through multi-scalar networks and coalitions, and building common discourses based on socioeconomic grounds.

The role of urban and regional planners in this regard is crucial. Advocacy planning theorists have highlighted the responsibility of planners in achieving social and environmental justice by redistributing resources, political power, and participation toward disadvantaged groups. However, as planners continue to struggle to challenge the capitalist forces and influence decision-making, they are encouraged to engage directly in politics either through representative democracy processes (Grooms and Boamah, 2018), or within the realm of activism and social movements (Sager, 2016).

This thesis analyzes the environmental campaign to save the Bisri Valley in Lebanon threatened by a World Bank-funded dam project. Coordinated by the author, the campaign emerged in a context where large dams are regarded as symbols of modernization and are subject to sectarian profit-sharing (Riachi, 2016), and where environmental activism is often unable to challenge the clientelist dynamics (Karam, 2006). This thesis argues that the Save the Bisri Valley campaign has been able to threaten the feasibility of the project by elaborating a set of strategies which incorporate advocacy planning and social movement logics. These strategies are distinguished by their multi-scalar and diverse modalities, and by their abilities to mobilize local and international support. Further, the campaign has operated effectively within the political landscape, challenging the state’s power structure and shifting the paradigm that determines the making of water and development policies in Lebanon.