BartdeSwart

INDIGENOUS POWER
Renewableelectricityandlocalsustainability inMexicoandSouthAmerica

ISA Master Thesis

Bart de Swart

INDIGENOUS POWER
Renewable electricity and local sustainability in Mexico and South America

Master thesis for the degree of MSc. Globalisation and Latin American Development Institute for the Study of the Americas (ISA), School of Advanced Study, University of London Supervision by Graham Woodgate Date of submission 28 August 2012

Preface and acknowledgements

This dissertation partly results from a six month working placement and apprenticeship as a secretary at the Group Science, Technology and Society (STS) of Utrecht University. Inspired by the maturity of interdisciplinary research at this institute, I decided to embark on an ambitious plan to combine an energy science approach with a social science approach towards the themes described in this thesis. Aiming to become pop group Queen's new lead guitarist might have been less of an ambitious goal, especially since I am not trained in the field of energy science (moreover, many believe my guitar skills are promising). However, since Sir Brian May managed to write an entire PhD thesis all the while serving his Queen, this comparison might be just as irrelevant as comparing the present dissertation with Hoffmann's master piece on a closely related topic (Hoffmann 2012). I strongly believe, however, that both the subject of this thesis and the people involved should be considered to be all but irrelevant. Therefore I would like to express my gratitude and deep respect to Aln Monroy, Alejo Girn, Carlos Carbrera, Chelsea Mozen, Maribel Gonzlez, Samuel Herculano, Sergio Oceransky, Steph & Ivn, and especially Vicente Vsquez for their time and hospitality during and after my field trip to Mexico. Great thanks to Aisha Elfring and Petra Ekdom and the other people at STS for their good advice and company; to Benjamin Cok, Richard, Robert Coates, and Graham Woodgate for their comments on initial research proposals; and to Pepijn van Kesteren who gave me some crucial tips on how to get from 28.000 words to 15.000 words in less then 48 hours (simply delete every second word). Last but not least I would like to thank Willemijn and Maarten and my real parents for their support, patience, and hospitality, and Isha, to whom I dedicate this piece of work, perhaps most aptly described as 'a teachable moment'.

Table of Contents

Preface and acknowledgements 1. Questions, aims and methods.........................................................................................1 2 . Theoretical framework.....................................................................................................5 3 . Current trends for power generation in Latin America and Mexico................................13 4 . Opposing wind in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec: A tilting at windmills?...........................2 6 5. Towards the first community-owned wind farm of Latin America ..................................4 2 6. Conclusions...................................................................................................................50 Bibliography Appendix: Land-lease contracts analysed for Table 4 .1

CHAPTER 1

Questions, aims and methods

1.1. INTRODUCTION An increasing amount of empirical evidence suggests that our planet is heating up in a pace that is likely to have dire consequences around the globe, including sea level rise, floods, desertification, extreme weather events, and, perhaps most significantly, drought (Lovelock 2009). According to a study by the World Bank (2010), the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is likely to be severely hit by climate change, with severe consequences for people and environment, the most important of which are summarised in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1. Expected impacts of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean
Area Andes Description of impact Disappearance of tropical glaciers Observed or expected consequence Water stress for people and hydroelectric dams

Caribbean Bleaching and decreasing Decreases in marine biodiversity and tourism; of coral reefs decreased protection against tropical storms Gulf of Mexico Amazon Damage to wetlands Large rain forest areas turning into savannah Augmented vulnerability in the Gulf coast to hurricanes, which will increase in intensity and frequency Further changes in regional and global climate

Source: Author's elaboration based on a summary provided by World Bank (2010: 6)

In 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was founded after scientists had discovered a link between human-induced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and climate change. Reports of the IPCC have repeatedly suggested that human induced emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHG) should be drastically scaled back in order to mitigate climate change (cf IPCC 2007). One way to do this is to scale back the use of fossil fuels for energy production and other economic activities. An additional motivation for bringing down fossil fuel consumption is that reserves of oil, coal and gas are finite, and diminishing1. It is increasingly becoming clear that tackling this dual problem of climate change and declining energy resources requires a global strategy of curbing carbon emissions through a reduction in fossil fuel consumption. However, the widely documented correlation between energy use and economic activity (cf Arbex & Perobelli 2010; Apergis et al. 2010) suggests that compromising on economic growth could throw back millions into a situation of poverty, especially in recently emerging economies in Africa, Latin America and SouthEast Asia (Collier 2010). Moreover, governments and business emphasise that tempering economic growth would cause political and financial instability. It should be viewed in this context that discourses on sustainable development and 'clean' energy have come to dominate the global discussion on development and climate change. Increasingly, these discourses are contributing to a widespread belief that through technology and innovation it might be possible to cut carbon emissions while at the same time alleviating poverty and sustaining economic growth. It is not my aim here to contribute to the technical and economical debates on to what extent this idea is based on realistic expectations. Rather, the aim of this dissertation is to show how discourses on sustainable development and 'clean technology' have facilitated the promotion of development projects 1 While the exact time frame in which all reserves will be finished is subject to debate, this is expected to 2

occur before the end of this century for oil and gas, and in the following century for coal (Shafiee & Topal 2009; Lior 2008; IEA 2006).

that have not always been sustainable, especially related to local social and environmental impacts. The structure of the dissertation is as follows. First, mainly within the context of Latin America, a modest but generalisable theory will be suggested in Chapter 2. The technical and regulatory conditions for power generation from renewable energy (RE) sources in general, and wind energy sources in particular, will be mapped out for Latin America and Mexico in Chapter 3. Subsequently, Chapter 4 will assess the social impacts of contemporary wind project in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and will try to identify factors that have contributed (and are still contributing) to the current conflict situation between companies and communities. Complementing the excellent work carried out by Hoffmann (2012), Chapter 5 will explore to what extent a community owned wind farm (COWF) in Mexico is likely to avoid the irregularities commonly associated with other wind projects in the region. In Chapter 6, finally, the answers to my research questions (Table 1.1) will be presented to arrive at some tentative conclusions.

Table 1.1 Research questions and corresponding chapters

N Research question 1 How should local socio-environmental externalities and conflicts resulting from RE projects in Latin America be contextualised, and what denominating factors can be identified that may lead to a generalisable theory? How is the use of RE for electric power generation in Mexico and Latin America to be contextualised, and what factors contributed to the recent growth of wind energy projects in Mexico? In what ways have wind energy projects been affecting local communities and their environment in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec? To what extent can the community-owned wind farm in Ixtepec be expected to avoid the mistakes of its privately-owned counterparts? Chapter(s) 2

3 4 and 5 5

3 4

1.2. METHODOLOGY The research for this dissertation has been carried out in two stages. The first stage consisted of an intense, but obviously limited, retraining in the field of energy science2. In the second stage, fieldwork was carried out in Mexico for a relatively short period (five weeks). In this limited time frame, depth interviews were carried out with stakeholders in and around Juchitn de Zaragoza and Ixtepec, and with representatives from the Yansa Group in New York and London (see bibliography). Moreover, participant observation was carried out in Ixtepec on several occasions by accompanying one of the members of the indigenous governing body and his assistant in their daily activities. At the time of this research, their main activity consisted of consultations with posesionarios (usufruct rights holders), of the lands currently being considered for the COWF. Observation of this process served to assess the extent to which the autonomy and rights to 'prior and informed consent' of the posesionarios was respected. Finally, primary sources such as land lease contracts, constitutional laws, and crude numbers on electricity generation, as well as secondary sources have been consulted and analysed.

2 A six months working placement at the department of Science, Technology and Society at Utrecht University facilitated access to a great part of the consulted literature, most of which has been omitted from the bibliography since it has not directly been used for the dissertation

CHAPTER 2

Theoretical framework

2.1. INTRODUCTION The need to curb carbon emissions discussed in the previous chapter has had such influential institutions as the World Bank applaud initiatives by countries such as Brazil among the fastest growing economies of the current decade and as such expected to significantly increase energy consumptions patterns to increase their electric capacity through the construction of hydroelectric dams. For instance, a joint report of the Office of the Chief Economist and the Sustainable Development Department of the Banks Latin America and the Caribbean division made the following recommendation concerning the LAC region:

Continuing high-income growthand the consequent growth in demand for electricitywill require that LAC continue to rely on clean energy sources for a relatively large fraction of its generation capacity. The most obvious way to do this is to develop more hydropower generation, in which the Region has huge untapped potential.

(De La Torre, Faijnzybler and Nash 2009: 57)

Hydroelectric dams are often promoted as a sustainable source of energy because virtually no waste is produced once a dam is operational, and CO2 emissions during the dam's life cycle are low compared to most other sources of electricity. Moreover, since 5

hydroelectric dams generate electricity from a RE source, they potentially contribute to a secure supply of electricity. Finally, some technical advantages of hydroelectric dams include their storage capacity and quick response to sudden changes in demand (Tweidell & Weir 2006; Andrews & Jelly 2007; Batlle et al. 2010). However, it is increasingly becoming clear that hydroelectric dams are not as sustainable as is often argued. As will be discussed in the following section, the building of large dams in Latin America has often led to social displacement and loss of biodiversity and related economic activities. This in turn means a loss in social, economic, cultural and biological diversity arguably still not sufficiently valued in sustainability discourses. More importantly, it completely goes against the main principle of sustainable development3.

2.2. BELO MONTE Rarely had the friction between global discourses on sustainable development and the unsustainable impact these discourses can have locally become so eminent as during the 2012 edition of the UN Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro. It was perhaps not so much the conference itself that displayed this contrast, but the events that were occurring simultaneously in relation to the building of a gigantic hydroelectric dam on the Xingu river basin of the Brazilian Amazon. In what recalled images of James Cameron's epic movie Avatar (2009), hundreds of indigenous people occupied the dam site, while in Rio mass protests were held outside the conference. The seriousness of the protesters' cause can hardly be overstated. Before completion, set for 2015, the Belo Monte dam project will divert over eighty per cent of the Xingu rivers natural flow, predicted to displace up to 40.000 people and to cause substantial losses of aquatic and terrestrial fauna (Diamond & Poirier 2010: 26). Apart from local effects on livelihoods, cultural diversity, and biodiversity, the project is expected to contribute to global
3 A much cited description by Brundlandt (1987: 54) holds that sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

climate change by clearing forest and emitting greenhouse gases, particularly methane and CO24. Although currently less than eight per cent of the hydroelectric potential in the Brazils Legal Amazon area has been developed (Caetano de Souza 2008: Table 1), at least seventy more plants are planned (Verweij et al 2009). The socio-environmental externalities that will likely result from the building of the dam stand in sharp contrast to the expected benefits, at least locally. It could be argued that the expansion of electric capacity might have positive effects on the population as well, because local people may gain access to electricity, and, more generally, the addition of 11 GW to the grid might in theory have the effect of lowering consumer prices somewhat5. However, as Fearnside (2006: 8) points out, most of the generated electricity will be used for aluminium and alumina processing plants, largely owned by multinationals companies (MNC)6 that, partly as a result of the highly energy intensive nature of the aluminium industry employ a minuscule workforce in Brazil. Unfortunately, externalities caused by dam projects are not confined to a specific place, such as the Brazilian Amazon. For instance, as Lokey (2009) points out, the building of the Chicoy dam in Guatemala, the Bayeno dam in Panama and the Ro Cajon dam in Honduras have caused similar, sometimes violent conflict, and these cases are not isolated. Indeed, the surroundings of major river basins such as the Amazon river in countries like Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, the Bobo river in Chile, and the Usumacinta river in Mexico and Guatemala, are home to hundreds of indigenous communities, whose livelihoods have been or are being threatened by (planned) hydroelectric dams. Thus, while specific environmental, social and political
4 It is important to note here that the emission of 1 tonne methane contributes as much to global warming as 25 tonnes carbon dioxide (Demarty & Bastien 2011) 5 This might especially be relevant to the poorest section of society, for whom energy costs typically represent a large share of total expenses 6 In addition to the abundance of raw material (mainly bauxite) in the Amazon, many of these aluminium refining MNCs were attracted to Brazil by the high electricity subsidies granted to companies. For example, Turton (2002: 40) states that the Alumar Aluminum Smelter plant owned by the US based MNC Alcoa Inc, received its electricity for reduced prices that were so low in 1997 that the State-owned utility Eletronorte subsidised Alumar to the tune of US$200 million

conditions of each case may differ, the displacement of local (indigenous) communities and the negative impacts on their livelihoods caused by these dams appear to be a recurrent phenomenon, at least in Latin America.

2.3. NCRE: A TECHNOLOGICAL FIX? Many opponents of large hydro point to alternative sources of RE that could be harnessed instead of large hydro, especially so-called non-conventional energy sources (NCRE) such as wind and solar energy7. However, the problems caused by 'clean' energy development described above do not seem to be restricted to a specific technology8. While for solar and wind energy, no rivers need to be diverted, large-scale deployment of these technologies may cause other or similar potential socio-environmental problems (Chapter 4). Despite the fact that widespread large-scale deployment of these technologies is still only starting to emerge in many countries, some NCRE projects have already caused conflicts in various parts of the world. For instance, wind development has caused conflicts with local communities in Chile, Mexico, Scotland, Spain, United States, and other places (cf Pasqualetti 2011). Similarly, large scale solar power development, while still in its infancy, has already created externalities and conflicts with local indigenous peoples, as currently witnessed in the Californian Mojave Desert (cf Hunold & Leitner 2011; Helmore 2012). As these technologies are becoming increasingly cost-effective, and are expected to become cost-competitive with cheap sources of electricity in the course of the decade, the number of conflicts in these sectors is likely to increase in coming years. So while opponents of large hydro projects in culturally and environmentally sensitive areas are right to point to
7 There is a technical discussion beyond the aim ans scope of this dissertation on whether NCRE would indeed be capable of substituting for the planned hydroelectric capacity in some countries. Beyond this discussion, however, it should be acknowledged that the use of both wind and solar power for utility scale power generation is becoming increasingly common, not least because the improved cost-efficiency of NCRE projects as a result of learning (Junginger, Van Sark & Faaij 2010), economies of scale, and innovation. 8 Or, for that matter, 'dirty' energy development, as suggested by, for instance, experiences with oil and gas projects in the Amazon (Finer et al. 2008)

the availability of alternative RE sources, the implicit assumption that a change in power generation technology will solve the problem may at least be questioned9.

2.4. TOWARDS A GENERALISABLE THEORY As discussed above, the general occurrence of local socio-environmental externalities related to 'clean' energy development projects is not confined by place or type of technology, although both may cause significant variations in the nature and intensity of these externalities. What, then, might be identified as a common denominator of these projects? While context specific factors undoubtedly play a role in many cases10, I would argue that the following characteristics are crucial in the majority of cases: (1) local communities are not informed, consulted, and engaged sufficiently prior to a project; (2) local communities do not benefit directly from the energy produced or generated by the project; and (3) in general environmental impact assessment carried out by companies focus mainly on the 'clean' (low GHG emission) aspects of these projects, while underestimating local impacts. In essence, I argue, this is a consequence of the fact that in general, the main purpose of this type of large scale RE projects is not that of creating positive (and avoiding negative) local impact11. To be sure, these may be secondary goals; however, these will always be subordinated to whatever the primary goal is, especially since the costs of these projects are typically in the multi-billion dollar range, of which the majority has to be paid up-front. Thus, because of the enormous amounts of money and financial risk that are
9 That said, these and similar statements should not be misread as an indirect celebration of nuclear power. The social and economic consequences of nuclear accidents as that of Chernobyl (1989) and Fukushima (2011) and other problems such as the underestimated and increasing GHG emissions of uranium mining (Mudd & Diesendorf 2010), among other things, suggest that nuclear power is all but free from socioenvironmental externalities. See Simonian (1995) for socio-environmental impacts of the only active nuclear power plant in Mexico 10 For instance, case-specific factors in problems associated with wind energy in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec may include, but not be limited to, caciquismo (Oceransky 2008) and the importance of this region Isthmus as a major corridor for bird migration (see Chapter 4) 11 In contrast to, for instance, small scale RE projects aimed at reducing energy poverty

involved, the principal goal of the companies and organisations behind the project is in most cases to make the project succeed at the lowest costs possible, to maximise revenues, and to minimise and possibly externalise (Baker 2010) financial risk. This fact is exacerbated by an extremely narrow conceptualisation of costs and benefits. The recent shift from development to sustainable development discourses that could be noted in such influential institutions as the World Bank brought with it a promise of steering the dominant discourse(s) towards more pluralist and inclusive views, and of stimulating discussion about the end goals of development in relation to their means12. In essence, it seems that an almost autistic13 focus on (fast) economic growth and profit-maximisation has not been replaced, but complemented by other goals, mainly aimed at mitigating climate change. Where the two come together, as is often the case in RE projects, it becomes clear that the label of sustainability can easily legitimate projects that are in many aspects unsustainable. In this way, the co-option of sustainable development discourse by companies, governments and other organisations involved in large-scale energy projects may well facilitate, rather than impede or modify development projects that, due to a too narrowly defined conceptualisation of 'sustainability', cause externalities and conflicts, as in the case studies described in chapter 2 and 4. One solution to this problem is provided by post-development theorists14, and indigenous and peasant movements, many of which argue for a total rejection of both development' and sustainable development discourses. From a theoretical point of view

12 Admittedly, in some international finance mechanisms, such as the REDD and the Clean Development Mechanism promoted by the UN, the meaning of costs and benefits has clearly been expanded to include environmental services. As yet, however, both the extent and scope of broadening the meaning of benefits and costs have been insufficient to speak of a paradigm shift 13 The use of the term 'autistic' in this context is partially inspired by the 'Post-autistic economics' movement that emerged in France at the close of the twentieth century (cf Fullbrook 2007). 14 Post-development theory emerged in the 1980s as a critical theory that, mainly focusing on Latin America (Ahorro 2008), combined Foucauldian discourse analysis with a wide variety of critiques on the functioning of dominant discourses on development. Rather than suggesting better ways of carrying out development, or criticising a specific method or theory, it questioned the very premises on which development theory was based. For a critical analysis of the post-development theory see, for example, Jan Nederveen Pieterse (2000) and Morse (2008)

10

there is much to say for taking such a stance, especially in cases where local communities and livelihoods are severely threatened by both of these discourses. From a pragmatic perspective, however, an all too radical rejection of the concept of sustainable development might be little effective if no convincing alternative is provided to address the urgent social and environmental problems facing current and future generations. To be sure, some alternatives that have been proposed by Post-development theory and related social movements, when implemented on a very large scale, might prove more effective in curbing CO2 emissions and reducing rural poverty and migration than any other proposal15. However, even in the unforeseeable scenario that these proposals are adopted as widely as discourses on sustainable development have been, and continue to be, their impact might be limited to certain areas, both in the geographical and topical spheres. In this light, and given the pretentiousness and widespread adoption of discourses on sustainable development, it seems to make more sense to use this very concept as a vehicle for change. To take this theory beyond beautiful sounding words, I concretely propose a critical embrace of two phenomena that have gained importance in recent discourses on development: 'responsible investment' and 'social enterprise', and especially the combination of the two. Admittedly, discourses on 'responsible investment' have been often misused to promote investments that are irresponsible in many aspects, as demonstrated, for instance, by the Mareas project (Chapter 3 and 5). However, that does not imply that the 'responsible investment' or 'sustainable banking' discourses that have increasingly been gaining in importance over the last years, are entirely useless. On the contrary: as Chapter 5 will try to demonstrate, 'responsible investment' criteria can help social enterprises such as Yansa to attract low interest loans from ethical banks and

15 For instance, the international peasant organisation La Via Campesina claims that peasant and indigenous agricultures (with integrated polycultures of perennial and annual plants together with livestock) can sequester and store huge amounts of carbon and thus cool the planet as well as feed the world (Woodgate 2012)

11

socially oriented investors that are ready to accept low financial returns on their investments. The concept of 'social enterprise' (an organisation designed to induce positive social and/or environmental change through commercial activity) has equally been questioned, especially by those who question the viability of such an entity in a market oriented world (cf Bylund & Mondelli 2009). Moreover, as Hoffmann (2012) points out, there is a danger that the people behind a social enterprise, in their determination to induce 'positive change', unconsciously impose their values and beliefs upon the communities they are working with16. In short, the most important risks of a social enterprise are related to (1) the viability of a project when competing with market oriented companies and (2) unconscious dominance in ownership and design of a project. However, if these risks can be overcome, RE projects carried out by a social enterprise financed by responsible investment institutions and foundations should in theory be able to avoid most, if not all, of the problems caused by the companies carrying out 'sustainable development' through RE projects in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and other socially and environmentally vulnerable areas.

16 This is similar to a phenomenon that has been all too often witnessed in (international) development projects and NGOs (cf Escobar 1988; Petras 1997)

12

CHAPTER 3

Current trends for power generation in Latin America and Mexico

3.1. SECTOR REFORMS AND RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY In the 1980s and early 1990s, countries in the LAC region were encouraged by global development imperatives and structural adjustment policies dictated by international financial institutions such as the World Bank to liberalise and unbundle their vertically integrated, publicly owned, electricity utilities. As Dubash (2003) points out, by the early 1990s this was a common pattern throughout the developing and, for that matter, industrialised world. For example, after the US in the 1970s had been one of the first countries to allow private participation in its electricity sector, Chile and the UK both icons for neoliberal orthodoxy at the time implemented even more rigorous reforms in the following decade (ibid). Liberalisation has generally led to the entry of independent power producers (IPPs) to the market (Andrs et al. 2008), which some argue is a necessary factor for achieving a successful transition to a low carbon economy17, although these assumptions might 17

For example, in trying to identify barriers to a fast and effective implementation of RE in Latin America, Lokey (2009) points towards the fact that many countries have not fully liberalised their electricity markets, which generally leads to state-owned companies or joint-ventures dominating the market, with little incentive to switch to more 'sustainable' forms of energy production. In addition, low levels of market liberalisation might prevent innovators from entering the market with 'technological learning' taking place regardless of what these innovators actually achieve (Miller 2009).

13

especially apply to NCRE technologies such as solar, wind, tide and wave energy18. In theory, then, the existence of a causal relation between privatisation of the electricity generation sector and the use of RE and especially NCRE would implicate that countries with high privatisation rates have higher shares of (NC)RE in their electricity generation matrices than countries with low privatisation rates. It is clearly beyond the scope of this paper to prove or disprove a statistical correlation between the use of RE sources and private sector participation in the electricity sector. Nevertheless, an analysis of the energy matrices for 15 countries in the LAC region and their shares of private sector participation19 suggests that if anything can be said about factors that influence the use of RE sources in the electricity sector in Latin America, it clearly does not depend on the amount of private sector participation alone.

3.2. POWER GENERATION IN MEXICO Contrary to the global and regional trend, Mexico kept liberalisation of its electricity sector to a minimum during much of the XX century. Even today, the sector in essence still consists of one vertically integrated public power utility, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), which owns and controls the generation, transmission and delivery of gridconnected electricity20. However, in 1992, the Law of Public Service of Electric Energy, was approved, which opened up the sector somewhat by allowing IPPs to generate

electricity in Mexico. Nevertheless, this is only allowed in the case of self-supply, independent production, small scale production, co-generation, and import and export, and only under the conditions specified in this law (Mexico 2012a). The CFE thus remained the

18 In spite of being a source of RE, hydroelectricity is not a NCRE but a well-established technology, and historically has played an important part in the electricity matrices of many Latin American countries (Arango & Larsen 2010). 19 Because of the limited space available here, this analysis has been left out of the final version of this dissertation. 20 To be sure, until recently, that task was divided between the CFE and the Light and Power Company (Luz y Fuerza del Centro, LyFC), but the latter was liquidated in 2009 by presidential decree

14

most important producer of electric power in Mexico and in 2008 still as little as 19 percent of electricity generation was privately owned (Lokey 2009).

3.2.1. Brief overview of electricity sources Over the course of the XX century, through a variety of constitutional laws and amendments, Mexico had nationalised both its petroleum and electricity sectors (Randall 1989; Uri & Boyd 1997; Carreon-Rodriguez, Jimenez & Juan Rosellon 2007). In this context, it should be of no surprise that for much of the past century electricity generation in the country was dominated by oil (Figure 3.1). In 1997, the country generated three quarters of its electricity with primarily refined oil, with residual fuel oil used for base load and diesel for peak power and off-grid solutions (Uri & Boyd 1997). The relative importance of oil diminished somewhat in the 1990s, while nuclear power, RE, coal and gas gained importance, to varying extents. Following a global trend (IEA 2011d), by 2005 natural gas had established itself as an important player in the Mexican power generation sector, a trend that is expected and proposed (SENER 2012) to continue in the following decades. This scenario becomes even more likely21 if the country's enormous untapped reserve of natural gas are considered, estimated to be the fourth largest in the world (EIA 2011; Rosenberg & Barrera 2011).

21 Some would applaud this development in light of global warming concerns. In the particular case of Mexican electricity generation, life cycle CO2 emissions of gas were found to be half that of heavy fuel oil and diesel, and even less than half that of coal (Santoyo-Castelazo et al. 2011). However, most of the gas found in Mexico is locked up in shale formations, which means it would have to be recovered through a method called hydraulic fracturing or fracking (EIA 2011). Fracking generally causes local environmental externalities (Groat & Grimshaw 2012) and increases the GHG footprint of natural gas to levels that surpass that of oil and coal (Howarth, Santoro & Ingraffea 2011: 679)

15

Figure 3.1. Mexico Electricity generation by fuel

a Source: IEA (2011c) Note: [a] includes geothermal, solar, wind, biofuels and waste

Figure 3.2. Mexico wind power growth 2005-2010

600
Inst alled capacit y (MW)

519

500 400 300 200 100 0 3 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 85 85 85 202

Source: GWEC (2010: 49)

16

3.2.2. RE and NCRE While RE has played an important role in Mexico's electricity generation matrix, this can be contributed almost uniquely to the presence of large hydro. In 2011, Mexico's installed hydroelectric capacity totalled 11,600 MW, of which all but 1 percent consisted of large hydroelectric dams. Apart from hydroelectricity, RE sources have historically played a surprisingly small role in the Mexican electricity generation sector. The underutilisation of NCRE is especially noteworthy, certainly considering the country's vast and increasingly well-documented geothermal, solar and wind resources. For instance, with over 40 active and extinct volcanoes in its territory, only Indonesia leaves Mexico behind in terms of geothermal potential (DOE 2002). Still, in 2009, installed geothermal capacity accounted for less than 12 percent of the estimated potential of at least 8,000 MWe (IGA 2011; DOE 2002). Even more surprising is the underutilisation of Mexico's solar resource (Sanchez-Juarez cited in Navarro 2012). Although the nation's significant amounts of solar radiation have been acknowledged and studied for decades (Almanza & Lpez 1978; Galindo, Castro & Valdes 1991), comprehensive studies mapping the potential for electricity production from solar energy have been elaborated carried out more recently. These studies unanimously show high irradiation factors for Mexico, with a nationwide average of 5 kWday-1m-2 and in some parts of the country surpassing 6 kWday-1m-2 (NREL 2003). These values are higher than in some of the countries that have been leading the solar power market in the first decade of the new century, such as Germany, Spain and the USA. Still, the entire output of solar PV installations was as little as 18 MW in 2004 (Barns 2006). Useful wind resources are also available in various parts of Mexico. Again, potential seems to be underexploited: only 3 MW of installed capacity was recorded in 2005 (GWEC 2010: 49). However, in the case of wind energy, something remarkable must have occurred, because in 2010, installed capacity had increased with 173 percent, making for an average annual growth rate of almost 35 percent (figure 3.2). 17

3.2.3. Explaining the sudden rise of wind energy in Mexico What explains this sudden and steep expansion of installed wind power capacity in the second half of the first decade? While other factors may have played a role, five factors that are especially noteworthy will be briefly discussed in the remainder of this chapter. The first and, arguably, most important factor is economical. The costs of wind power have fallen significantly in recent decades, mostly due to a phenomenon that economist have called technological change. In short, this implies that due to a variety of factors, innovative technologies become both cheaper and better over time (Junginger, Van Sark & Faaij 2010). In the case of RE technologies, this mostly translates in an improved costefficiency: a lower cost per watt produced. This is especially relevant in the Mexican electricity market because federal electricity company CFE is constitutionally bound to buy electricity at the lowest cost. Relative costs compared to other energy sources have also fallen, mainly because of rising oil prices both on the domestic and international markets22. A second factor, closely related to the first, is resource availability and the availability of accurate data to this respect. Certain areas in Mexico have conditions that are among the best for wind energy development worldwide, making wind power cheaper than most other sources of electricity in Mexico (Oceransky 2012). However, as Wood (2010) points out, only in recent decades have the countrys excellent wind resources fully been appreciated. Whereas in 2003, Mexicos wind energy potential was estimated to be 5 GW, research and new technologies, as well as a heightened national and international interest in the sector has meant a steady upwards revision of these estimates, ranging between 9 and 40 GW (ibid: 23). In 2010, these numbers again turned out to underestimate the countrys potential in wind power capacity, which was estimated in a new study at 71 GW. For

22 For example, Uri and Boyd (1997) explain how Mexicos dependence on oil has contributed not only to higher carbon emissions per unit of GDP than most other countries, but also to a sharp increase in electricity prices starting in the early 1990s

18

comparison, this number represents a potential capacity that is 40 percent more than the nation's entire installed electricity-generating capacity, including coal, gas, and hydro power (Vance 2012). These advancements in wind resource intelligence were facilitated by the 'Action plan to eliminate barriers to the large scale implementation of wind energy in Mexico', initiated in 2003 and executed by the Mexican Institute of Electrical Investigation (IIE). The plan, with estimated projects costs totalling nearly $ 12 billion USD, is partly financed by the Global Environment Facility of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and co-financed with contributions from Federal Institutions, State Governments, and the private sector (UNDP-GEF n.d.: 1). The plan resulted, among other things, in the building of of several wind measurement stations and a regional wind technology centre in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, one of the most promising areas for wind energy development (chapter 4). A third factor consists of a series of government programmes and laws which some way or another have contributed to a more favourable climate for NCRE. For instance, the 1992 Law of Public Service of Electric Energy discussed earlier (3.2.1) made it possible for private (wind) energy companies to play a role in Mexico's electricity market. Moreover, in 2008 the Law for the use of renewable energy and the financing of the energy transition was introduced in order to

regulate the use of renewable energy sources and clean technologies to generate electricity with purposes other than the public service provision of electrical energy, as well as establish the national strategy and the instruments for the finance of the energy transition

(Mexico 2008: 1).

19

Furthermore, according to the Special Programme on Climate Change 2009-2012, 50.65 MtCO2e would have to be mitigated by 2012, 19.36 MtCO2e of which was estimated to be mitigated by projects for self-supply of electric energy with renewable sources (ibid: x). These ambitions were made binding in June 2012, when Mexico passed the General Climate Change Law, which had adopted, among other things, the aspiration to reduce GHG emissions by 50 per cent in 2050 (taking 2000 as a base year) from the Special Programme on Climate Change 2009-2012. A fourth factor that may have facilitated the growth of wind power projects in Mexico is related to multilateral agreements and regional development plans such as the Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), an ambitious strategy initially proposed in 200123 with the goal to link Central America's energy industry and highways and develop its commercial capabilities (Stenzel 2006:557). Apart from the improvement of general infrastructure benefiting wind projects, the plan helps to justify expansion of wind power capacity through its Electric Integration System for Central America (SIEPAC), especially in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, as Cruz Rueda points out.

The wind energy megaproject [in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec] denominated clean electric energy is promoted as having the purpose of meeting the energy needs of the states Oaxaca, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche and Yucatn by the year 2020. But in reality it is obsolete, because the demand can be covered with the currently existing production. Therefore, the government changes its discourse and promotes the idea of selling generated power to Central America (through SIEPAC) and to the United States.

(Cruz Rueda 2011: 264, my translation)

23 In 2008, the PPP was denominated Mesoamerican Integration and Development Project, commonly called Mesoamerica Project

20

In addition, private sector participation in electricity generation for self-supply, which had become possible since the 1992 reform of the energy law (see above), was further facilitated by the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which states that [...] an enterprise may aquire [sic], establish, an/or operate an electricity generating facility in Mexico to meet the enterprise's own supply needs (NAFTA section 6 quoted in USAID 2009). A fifth factor that has contributed to the boom in wind energy investment in Mexico is related to the way discourses on 'sustainable development' have penetrated international development institutions to promote so-called 'clean' development. The most famous example is perhaps the United Nation's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that provided financial assistance to wind energy projects such as La Venta II, Eurus, Bii Nee Stipa (I & II), Parques Ecolgicos de Mxico, and Piedra Larga. Moreover, in addition to receiving funds from the CDM the La Mata and La Ventosa wind farm was partly financed by the Clean Technology Fund of the World Bank (Reyes 2011: 4). Finally, in a less official way, investment in wind projects helped institutional investors and multinationals to nominally allocate part of their investment portfolio to 'sustainable development' projects and meet Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) criteria. For example, the financial stakes in the controversial Marea Renovables project are divided among Dutch pension fund PGGM, Australian investment group Macquarie, Mitsubishi of Japan and Mexican multinational FEMSA. According to PGGM's head infrastructure, the fund's significant stake in the project is completely in line with the ESG criteria in the investment policy of our clients. Similarly, a description of PGGM's investment policy states that [b]ecause PGGM sees no incompatibility between financial and social return, we look for investments on behalf of our client in companies which pay due regard to ESG [...] factors (PGGM, n.d.). However, as we will see in the following chapter, the current controversies over the Mareas project are clearly at odds with such 21

statements.

3.2.4. Wind power in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Some of the best locations for wind energy development in the world are located in the Mexican state Oaxaca (figure 3.3).

Figure 3.3. Oaxaca Wind Resource Map

Source: NREL (2003: Figure 6-1)

As can be derived from Figure 3.3 and 3.4, the area with best quality wind resources roughly coincides with the ethnically diverse region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (figure 3.4). As pointed out in Chapter 3, utility scale wind energy development in Mexico and its Isthmus is a relatively recent phenomenon. In the early 1990s, a pilot wind farm was built by CFE in La Venta, a small locality belonging to the municipality of Juchitn. The pilot project, called La Venta I, consisted of a 7 turbines with a capacity of 225 W each, so that a total capacity of 1,58 MW was reached (Henestroza-Orozco 2008). Technically, the 22

project could be called a great success: the first year, the capacity factor of the power plant reached 50 per cent, to average a still impressive 40 percent in following years (Cardenas Tovar & Saldvar Urquiza 2007). The Global Wind Energy Council states that, because capacity factors in the Isthmus are typically in the range of 40%, a total of 10 GW could be developed in this region alone (GWEC 2011). These promising technical conditions, in combination with the factors identified in the previous chapter, have led to a spectacular growth in wind energy projects in the region, especially in recent years (see Table 3.1). In addition to the completed wind farms showed in Table 3.1, many more projects have been planned.

Figure 3.4. 'Ethnicities of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec'

S o u r c e : V i l l a g m e z Source : Villagmez Velzquez (2004: Figure 1)

23

As can be derived from Table 3.1, the majority of developers and end-users of wind power are (multinational) for-profit corporations or their Mexican subsidiaries, except for CFE. As discussed in the previous chapter, the principal purpose around which each of these corporations are structured is making profit; in a similar vein, the primary function of CFE is the provision of electricity as a public service. In both cases, energy generation is only a means to this goal. Moreover, a narrow focus on economic well-being and global sustainability implies that the local impacts of their activities are subordinated to these companies raison de tre. As will be shown in the following chapter, this has created a situation that is incompatible with the idea of 'sustainable development' that has often helped funding these projects.

25

Table 3.1. Wind power development in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec: projects operational or due in 2012

Ethnic region

El Espinal

Bii Nee Stipa

Capacity (MW)

La Mata, La Ventosa La Venta I La Venta II 1st phase

Oaxaca I La Mata-La Ventosa

La Venta

La Venta

Eurus

ZAPOTEC

Gamesa in cooperation with 26.4 CISA (wind farm bought in 2012 by Iberdrola) Electrica del Valle de Mxico 67.5 (Electricit de France Energies Nouvelles) 1.58 CFE 83.3 Gamesa Acciona Energa Mxico 37.5 Acciona 212.5 Acciona 306 Acciona 79.9 Parques ecolgicos de Mexico (Iberdrola)

La Ventosa 103 Iberdrola

2nd phase Oaxaca II, III, IV La Ventosa Wind Project / Parques ecolgicos de Mexico Bii Nee Stipa II 74 Enel Green Power

Operational

Site location

Project name

Principal developer(s)

Principal off-taker(s)

2009 Coca-Cola FEMSA 2010 Walmart de Mxico 1994 CFE 2007 2009 CEMEX 2010 2012 CFE 2009 CEMEX 2012 2012 Grupo Bimbo, 2012 Calidra, Frialsa, Museo Papalote CFE

Santo Domingo Ingenio

La Venta III

Union Hidalgo

Piedra Larga (1st phase)

90.0 Demex (Renovalia)

Source: Authors elaboration

Chapter 4

Opposing wind in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec: A tilting at windmills?

4.1. INTRODUCTION The state of Oaxaca is arguably one of the regions in Mexico where indigenous cultures have been best preserved (Yannakakis 2008: x). Perhaps one of the most articulated indicators for this preservation of indigenous culture is the extent to which indigenous languages are still being spoken. According to data for 2005, more people speak one or more indigenous languages in Oaxaca than in any other Mexican state (INEGI 2009). An analysis of data provided by INEGI (2009) reveals that at least 30 different indigenous languages are spoken by nearly a third of the population of Oaxaca state; of this group, over 14 per cent speaks no Spanish whatsoever. Special rights for indigenous peoples have been acknowledged in Mexican federal and state constitutions, and through the signing of various declarations. For instance, Mexico was one of the first countries to ratify ILO Convention 169, which explicitly states that indigenous and tribal peoples
shall have the right to decide their own priorities for the process of development as it affects their lives, beliefs, institutions and spiritual well-being and the lands they occupy or otherwise use [...]. In addition, they shall participate in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of plans and programmes for national and regional development which may affect them directly.

26

(ILO 1989: article 7-1)

Moreover, Article 2 of the Mexican Constitution holds that it recognises and guarantees the right of indigenous peoples and communities to self-determination and, consequently, autonomy (Mexico 2012a: 2). Beyond constitutional limitations24 Article 2 is relatively straightforward, especially regarding indigenous self-determination to conserve and improve [their] habitat and preserve the integrity of their lands (Mexico 2012a: 2). Finally, Mexico has signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples introduced in 2007. As will be shown in the following sections, the process of consultation prior to most wind energy projects in the Isthmus has been insufficient, if at all existent.

4.2. PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT In many cases, the first time communities were approached by energy companies or subcontracted intermediaries was to obtain permission for leasing the lands. According to Gonzles Pedro, this is clearly what is meant by 'prior and informed consent' or similar formulations in various indigenous rights declarations:

[The] process of consultation needs to be with all the adequate information. [The companies] need to demonstrate all the environmental impact assessments, they need to show how they will affect the lands, [] the amount of turbines, their size, how much energy they will produce, the importance it has for our region [].

Gonzles Pedro (2012)

24 As argued by Hall (2005), the act of formally recognising indigenous rights also provides the recognising party with the power to define and even delimit these rights. In effect, the Mexican Constitution does set out a set of conditions and restrictions that delimit indigenous autonomy. However, in essence these limitations appear to be formulated to protect the Constitution itself rather than the neoliberal project, as Hall suggests from being undermined

27

Part of this information, especially related to environmental impacts, is presented in the Environmental Impact Manifests (MIA) that companies need to present to the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) in order to have approved their projects. However, as Gonzlez Pedro (2012) explains, in general, none of the companies has prepared an environmental impact assessment before the [land lease] contracts are signed. Moreover, as will be discussed in section 4.6, there is a tendency for MIAs to underestimate negative environmental impacts (Grosselet 2012; Monroy 2012; Gonzlez Pedro 2012).

4.3. LAND LEASE CONTRACTS Wind energy companies in the Isthmus lease the land on which they build their wind farms, instead of buying it. Wind farms need a relatively extensive land area, principally because the space between modern wind turbines in a row needs to be some 250 meters, and the space between two rows of turbines about half a kilometre (CANWEA 2006). In other words, while in most cases large tracks of land are needed to build a wind farm, most of that area solely serves the space between turbines and thus can still be used for other purposes such as farming and grazing, especially when construction has finished (at least in theory25). Since in many cases the lands with the best wind resources are found in rural areas, buying instead of leasing land could unnecessarily interfere with other uses, principally farming and grazing. As will be discussed below, however, the principal reason for companies to prefer lease contracts over buying land is most probably related to financial concerns. An additional reason companies in the Isthmus lease instead of buying land is the complex regulation of land ownership in Mexico that can be traced back to the Mexican

25 As later sections in this chapter will make clear, the conditions for this theory to become fully applicable in practice have not always been met in the wind projects discussed in this case study

28

Revolution (1910-1917). Through a process of drastic land reform starting in 1914, thousands of indigenous communities were issued communal property rights through the establishment of comunidades agrarias, whereas ejido landholding structures were generally allocated to non-indigenous26 peasant communities (Smith et al. 2009). In line with other neoliberal policies promoted by the Washington Consensus, land markets were opened up somewhat in the early 1990s, especially through the reformulation of Article 27 and the Agrarian Law in 1992, and through the Certification Programme of Ejidal Rights and Titling of Urban Lots (PROCEDE). Nonetheless, although land leasing and renting significantly augmented after these counter-reforms, the same was not true for the sale of ejidal and communal lands (Assies 2008). One of the reasons for this is that PROCEDE, the certification programme that would facilitate such a privatisation process, advanced slower than expected. This has especially been the case in Oaxaca, where over three quarters of total surface area is compromised by ejidal and communal lands (Secretara de la Reforma Agraria 2012a).

4.3.1. Landholder consultation From the perspective of energy companies, protests from local landholders against wind energy development in the Isthmus are all too often dismissed as a conscious strategy to get more money, certainly because protests usually began after the contracts were signed. However, an increasing bulk of evidence is supporting claims made by landholders, indigenous/human rights defenders and others, that in many wind projects land lease contracts were obtained through a process that was full of irregularities (Manzo 2011: 391). In the early years of wind development in the Isthmus, landholders had little idea what a
26 Admittedly, this categorisation into indigenous and non-indigenous has not been straightforward, and probably could not have been, not least because of the theoretical and practical complexities inherent to indigenous (self)identification processes in particular (Weaver 2001), and to concepts as ethnicity, indigenous identity and mestizaje in general (Banks 1996; Rubin 1997; Da Silva 2012)

29

wind farm would look like27. As Vance (2012) explains, some landholders had meetings with developers in which model windmills the size of dinner platters were shown and after having signed contracts were shocked to see 15-to-20-story turbines rise across acres of their land. The fact that CFE and other companies developing wind projects in the region have subcontracted intermediaries to obtain the land lease contracts, might have facilitated this process (Manzo 2011). A notorious example is Maderas y Granos, according to Sanchez (2007) a cover name for this speculation company whose representatives go around trying to arrange contracts [], all while saying that they work for the government. A point in case here is the La Venta wind farm, as a publicly funded study reveals:

[T]he ejidatarios that leased their lands did that initially to companies that apparently offered productive projects like that of SEDESOL, such as Maderas y Granos [], which afterwards sold the contracts to other companies that had won bids for the construction and operation of wind farm; this process makes [the landholders] feel betrayed.

(Ciesas, n.d: 105)

A similar example can be found the village of Xadani where, in 2006, the company men made it sound like a government aid program, and [] many small landowners signed up even though they couldn't read the contracts (Hawley 2009). In Unin Hidalgo, landholders were approached on an individual basis by representatives of the Piedra Larga project, who after landholders had agreed to signing a contract returned with the 'official' copies of the contracts [in which] many key terms had been changed, endless clauses added, and the term of the lease had been changed from twenty to thirty years (Sanchez 2007). While some landholders were wisely opted out before the definitive signing of the Piedra Larga contract (Daz 2012), many did not fully
27 In recent years, this can be expected to have changed somewhat due to the the increased visibility of wind turbines in the region, as well as information diffusion through indigenous and human rights groups

30

understand what had happened and signed the contracts anyway, reportedly under pressure of the intermediaries and their notaries (Sanchez 2007). In a similar vein, Girn and Beas Torres (2010) account how Maderos y Granos was charged with the landholder 'consultation' for the Eurus wind project, during which some plots were reportedly seized while no contract had been signed. In most cases, however, Maderos y Granos reportedly manipulated landholders into signing lease contracts, and since no copy was provided, conditions could be and were easily changed afterwards (ibid). In addition, the CFE and multinationals have allegedly obtained land lease contracts illegally through local and regional leaders and caciques28, who received a commission per signed contract (Oceransky 2009). For example, although a court case related to these allegations has as yet been undecided, the then president of the Commission of Ejidal Goods of La Venta allegedly bypassed consultation procedures with the ejido council to negotiate land deals directly with CFE, receiving significant payments in return (Oceransky 2008; Girn 2012). According to some sources, this process has been companied by forging signatures of people who were openly against the project, migrants working abroad, and people that had already died (Girn 2012; Gonzlez Pedro 2012). Finally, translation of the contract terms in indigenous languages has been often selective and sometimes absent in cases where landholders did not speak Spanish, and contracts were not read fully to illiterate farmers (Oceransky 2009). For illustration, it should suffice to mention that in La La Venta, more than three quarters of the population is illiterate (Girn 2012). This fact, in combination with the workings of caciquismo may also partly explain the fact that an order from Ulises Ruiz then governor of Oaxaca for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to sign land lease contracts addressed to the PRI

28 As can be concluded from contemporary works on caciquismo, the exact use and meaning of the term cacique continues to be subject to academic debate (cf Knight & Pansters 2006). Originally, the term was an Awrak term denoting a chief []; in colonial Mexico, caciques were indigenous rulers however, from the nineteenth century the term was detached from its indigenous roots and came to denote a form of political boss, mediator or broker (Knight 2006: 10).

31

dominated La Venta ejido was blindly obeyed by a high percentage of the population (Oceransky 2009: 209).

4.3.2. Financial structure and transparency of land lease payments One reason companies might prefer to lease land instead of buying it, is that the acquisition of large lands areas needed for a wind projects would significantly increase upfront costs, already taking up the greatest share of total project costs for RE. Lease mechanisms, on the other hand, allow for spreading the costs more evenly over the lifetime of a wind farm, typically twenty to thirty years. Moreover, unlike in the case of instalment sale agreements, the financial structure of lease contracts can be designed in a way that makes leasing a more cost-effective option and lowers financial risks. In the contracts reviewed for this section (see Table 4.1), the greatest share of payments is allocated to landholders whose lands are directly affected by power generation equipment and related infrastructure. In a similar vein, Table 4.1 shows that payments structures are generally differentiated by two phases: the pre-operational phase, which can take up several years and in which the technical assessments, environmental assessment, planning and construction are carried out; and the operational phase, which can usually last between 20 and 30 years, depending on the contract. Another way landholders are financially compensated is through royalties payments. This could be perceived as a sympathetic gesture of sharing part of the project revenues or as a conscious company strategy to externalise financial risk29. What is clear is that, by making part of the payments directly dependent upon project revenues, energy companies can mitigate financial risk while at the same time increasing landholders' engagement in the project and their sense of responsibility for the project to succeed. The last column of Table 4.1 shows that in the reviewed contracts, the royalties landholders receive are
29 For a detailed elaboration on the externalisation of risk in wind projects in the region see Baker (2011)

32

calculated by dividing a share of gross revenue (typically 1-1.5 percent) by either the total surface area or by the total amount of landholders. However, as Oceransky (2010) points out, many wind projects in the region are developed by large consortia consisting of a power producer and the final power consumer; consequently since the pricing policy within the consortia is internal, the consortia could establish the value on an arbitrary basis (ibid: 618). In any case, while a detailed comparative analysis of land lease payments is beyond the scope of this thesis, several authors (Pasqualetti 2011; Vance 2012; Girn 2012) have calculated payments to be significantly lower than in other places in the world that have similar wind resources, although there seems to be little agreement on the exact amounts. According to Vance (2012), small landholders in La Venta have been paid a third to a sixth of what farmers receive in south east Wyoming. Girn (2012) holds that according to his calculations based on company figures, landholders in La Venta have been paid up to twelve times less in terms of revenue share than their counterparts in other countries. Arguably, the underpayment of farmers has been facilitated by the disadvantaged position of landholders in the Isthmus (Baker 2011; Oceransky 2009). Soon after the exceptional quality of wind resources in the Isthmus had been mapped out by experts in the first decade of the new century, a group of primarily Spanish and French companies [] moved quickly to identify a strategy that would effectively divide El Istmo into development parcels to serve as individual sites for wind projects (Baker 2011: 280). As Oceransky (2009) points out, this strategy has prevented competition between companies over the same land parcels. Consequently, each company gained a monopsony30 position in the land negotiation processes, allowing contract terms to be dictated entirely by the

30 Similar to a monopoly, where the market is dominated by one supplier, a monopsony implies a situation where many suppliers are dependent on one buyer. Although in this case the transactions are based on lease contracts rather than instalment sale agreements, I still consider the use of the word monopsony adequate in this context.

33

companies31.

31 Exponential increases in land lease offers, which cannot realistically be attributed to other factors, seem to support this assumption (Oceransky 2009).

34

Table 4.1. Financial structure of land use payments (in MXN) by to wind power companies: select lease contracts
Operational phase Fixed annual fee per turbine Royalties a (R) N/A 1. All landholders in project area: R=

Lump sum payment 150 4.000

Pre-operational phase Fixed annual Fixed annual fee per fee per ha turbine Fixed annual fee per ha N/A

1.000

Company and locality Unin Fenosa Juchitn de Zaragoza

(0,010GR ) a

2. Landholders whose plots are

affected by the wind farm (by turbines, access road, cables, etc.) R=

(0,010 GR ) a
R=

+ 0,002 GR turbine on their plot:

3. Landholders with at least one

(0,010GR ) a
15.000
c

+ 0,005 GR

1.500

5.000

10.000

DEMEX Union Hidalgo

R=

(0,015 GR ) a

Endesa e Xadani

plots plots >4 <4 ha: ha: 250 1.000 (486-503) (2388-2474)d + (60-63)

(
(39374078 )t l

(60-63)

(39374078 )t l

R=

(0,014 GR ) l

Source: Authors analysis of original land lease contracts (see Appendix) for Union Fenosa and DEMEX; Hawley (2009) for Endesa. Notes: [a] Royalties in formula (in which R=Royalties; GR=Gross Revenue based on annual (DEMEX) or trimestral (Unin Fenosa) electricity sales (payment period not identified for Endesa); a = total surface area in ha; l = total amount of landholders). All formulas are authors elaboration based on primary (Unin Fenosa; DEMEX) and secondary (Endesa) contract descriptions; [b] aggregation of two payments, at different stages of the preoperational phase, of 1000 and 500 MXN; [c] solely paid to landowners whose land is directly affected by the turbine(s) ;[d] solely includes areas affected by wind farm equipment, such as turbines, access roads, cables, etc.; [e] estimated numbers based on amounts provided in USD by Hawley (2009) converted to MXN using the lowest (1 USD = 13.122 MXN) and highest (1 USD = 13.593 MXN) exchange rate of June 2009, rounded to decimals; [f] payment formula (in which t = amount of turbines; l = total amount of landholders) based on description provided by Hawley (2009).

4.4. IMPACTS ON ARGICULTURE As pointed out earlier, the presence of wind power equipment should in theory not significantly reduce possibilities for agricultural uses of the land, and companies rightly point out that many disruptions caused by construction are temporary32 and mainly restricted to the construction period. However, there are concerns among landholders that not all modifications might be temporary. In La Venta and La Ventosa, for instance, altitude levels of lands in irrigation zones have been modified in order to construct access roads, which may compromise agricultural productivity because in the period of heavy rains, part of the parcel gets filled with water, so [...], the harvest, many harvests, are lost (Gonzles Pedro 2012). However, according to Oceransky, these impacts occur mostly in irrigated areas and could have easily been prevented, especially in the case of La Venta II, where they did it very badly.

It is possible to build wind farms without affecting in this way. They just did not give it priority. There is no need to augment [the level of] roads. It depends on how you design them. And if there is any part where you need to augment levels, you can create drains, based on calculations.

(Oceransky 2012)

Moreover, while the surface area taken up by the turbine foundation is relatively small33, farmers fear that the estimated 1500 ton blocks of concrete that make up each turbine's

32 As Brian (2010) points out, in most cases, the 'local jobs' these companies usually promise are usually equally 'temporary', apparently closely related to this construction period. After this period, maintenance jobs can be filled by a handful of specialists, commonly from outside the region (Vance 2012). At the La Venta wind farm, for example, only 5 persons are currently being employed for maintenance (Girn 2012). Moreover, wind farm labourers have repeatedly put construction on a hold because of unacceptable working conditions and payment uncertainties. 33 According to BP (2012), the surface area taken up by the base of one turbine including the access road is typically between 0,3 and 0,4 hectare.

36

foundation will hinder the natural flow and drainage of water, causing their crops to be flooded (Brian 2010; Manzo 2011; Gonzlez Pedro 2012). A final issue related to agricultural impacts is that, after a land lease contract has been signed, the land becomes automatically fixed (Gonzlez Pedro 2012). In practice this implies that farmers with a type of land right that previously allowed them to use their piece of land as collateral for small agricultural loans (commonly used to buy seeds and fertilizers) are no longer able to do so. According to Gonzlez Pedro, this is not explicitly communicated to landholders and contract details on this clause are usually limited to ambiguous statements on the ample usufruct rights granted the company, articulated in technical juridical language (ibid). Consequently, farmers often do not become aware of this term until asking for a loan at their bank, usually provided on a yearly basis (ibid).

4.5 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS As pointed out earlier, prior to each project, companies need to prepare a MIA in which the expected environmental impact of the project is assessed. However, there are many reasons to assume that negative environmental impacts are generally underestimated in the MIAs (Grosselet 2012; Monroy 2012; Gonzlez Pedro 2012). First, the MIAs consider the impact of individual projects as if they were isolated, rather than being part of an increasingly large scale scale project concentrated in a limited geographical space (Manzo 2011; Gonzlez Pedro 2012). As Manzo (2011: 397) explains, this situation [] favours the approval of the projects []. Another implication of this is that the potential of mitigation efforts is overestimated, especially concerning the effects on local and migrating bird and bat populations (Gonzlez Pedro 2012). Secondly, MIAs are based on a project design that often changes afterwards. For example, in the case of La Venta II, the amount of turbines that was eventually placed exceeded the amount on which the MIA was based by over 16 percent (Manzo 2011: 399). A third factor that may 37

contribute to the underestimation of negative impacts of the projects is that companies pay researchers not to publish their findings (Grosselet 2012; Monroy 2012). Leaving aside any speculations about the companies possible influence on how data is presented, this lack of transparency may well impede wider possibilities of peer review and crossverification that can filter out questionable methodology as well as flawed datainterpretation34. One area in which all the the above mentioned factors can be discerned is the impact on local and migratory bird populations. As pointed out earlier, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is a crucial corridor for migrating birds and habitat of several endemic species, such as Percale sumichrasti, Passerina rositae, and Aimophila sumichrasti (Rodarte Garca 1997; BirdLife International 2012). Each year, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is used as a corridor for about 12 million migrating birds of at least 130 species of which many are protected by Mexican law (Vlaz Ascencio 2012). One effect wind farms has on these birds is causing lethal collisions with wind blades. This problem has been widely recognised, including by a case study of La Venta II under the umbrella of the World Bank (Ledec, Rapp & Aiello 2011). However, the numbers of casualties provided in this study are probably underestimated, as the authors of the report and testimonies by other ornithologists point out (ibid; Grosselet 2012; Monroy 2012). Reasons for this include the fact that measures are taken in a limited area around turbines whereas some birds may still be able to fly some distance after a collision before passing away and that predators removing cadavers are not taken into account (Ledec, Rapp & Aiello 2011; Monroy 2012; Grosselet 2012). Anonymous researchers previously contracted by wind companies argue that the methodology being used is not [] adequate for the aforementioned reasons and because the focus is only on large species, while the bulk of the [migrating birds] are

34 For instance, Manzo (2011) finds that in the MIA of the Mareas project (Chapter 5), the environmental impacts [] were evaluated and approved without any verification of the presented information, in which according to the MIA some data to be evaluated correspond to another region unrelated to the project site

38

missing, the small ones make up millions (Anonymous researcher cited in Rojas 2012). The researchers warn that if the bird mortality assessed for the case of La Venta II is multiplied by the thousands of turbines that are being placed in the Isthmus, serious consequences can be expected for the function of birds and bats in all of the continent, especially in related to their functions in seed dispersal, pollination and as insectivores35 (ibid). This is one of the reasons two ornithologists with extensive knowledge of bird populations in Mexico and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec declare to be in principle in favour of wind energy, but not in the Isthmus (Monroy 2012; Grosselet 2012).

4.6. THE MAREAS PROJECT: THE BELO MONTE OF WIND ENERGY? The Marea Renovables (Mareas) project will be the first wind farm to be located around the interconnected lagoons and estuaries in the coastal area of the southern Isthmus (Figure 4.1 and Figure 4.2). If the Mareas project is constructed according to the original plan, 102 large turbines (3 MW each) will be placed on the Barra Santa Teresa (thin barrier in figure 4.2) and 30 of the same turbines on the Barra Tileme (thick barrier in figure 4.2), making it the biggest wind project in Latin America. Although the map in Figure 4.1 (Chapter 3) would suggest wind conditions in these locations differ little from those found up north, the continuity of the resource in the former area is even better than in the latter. Moreover, building the turbines on sea barriers closely approximates the essence of an offshore wind farm (Vance 2012), which typically catches more wind but is also more expensive than its onshore counterpart. It is in this context, interest for wind development in this particular area becomes understandable. However, this coastal region is also home to indigenous fishing communities called Ikooc or Ikoot in their own language, more widely known by as the Huave Indians (Cruz

35 For humans, this last point is especially relevant in the light of devastating impacts of insect plagues on harvests and of mosquito species transmitting dengue, malaria and chagas throughout the continent, the latter of which has been recently been denominated the new HIV/AIDS of the Americas (Hotez et al. 2012).

39

Rueda 2011). For this ethnic group, the wind is 'sacred' (Vance 2012), as are certain areas that are included in the design of the Mareas project, such as the Tileme island36 or Pueblo Viejo (Vlaz Ascencio 2012). Exploitation of primarily shrimp in the Laguna Inferior is dominated by the Huave or Ikoots, while the Laguna Superior is exploited mainly by Zapotecs (ibid). As a consequence, the project is increasingly protested by both Huaves and Zapotecs, who fear the project will damage ecosystems and restrict the natural flow of salt water between the lagoons and the Pacific. The Mareas project was first proposed in 2004 by the Spanish company Preneal, who planned to develop it through Marea Renovables S.A.P.I. de C.V., a financial vehicle registered in Mexico37. In 2011 Preneal had already secured about 1500 hectares in San Dionisio del Mar (Manzo 2011). According to Vance (2012), community members of San Dionisio initially disapproved eventually but gave in after Preneal representatives 'warned' the community that rejecting the project might have harmful consequences for the local shrimp industry. Moreover, the community assembly in which the project was approved was presented by Enrique Toledo and lvaro Velasquez, two government officials the former of which was in charge of assessing ejidos and comunidades agrarias (Rojas 2012). In the light of the influence these government officials have in the communities they assess, their presence might have influenced the decision of the San Dionisio community38 (Gonzlez Pedro 2012). Local caciques may have also played their part. For instance, on 21 January 2012, mayor Miguel Lpez Castellanos allegedly signed building permits for the Marea project without the approval of the community assembly.

36 'Peninsula' would perhaps be a better description, since the Pueblo Viejo is connected to the mainland by a the Tileme barrier (Figure 4.1) 37 In 2012, a group of investors including FEMSA, Mitsubishi, PGGM and Macquarie acquired a majority stake in both Mareas Renovables and the project itself (chapter 3). 38 Tellingly, after the contracts signed in San Dionisio, Velasquez was hired by Preneal (and later by Iberdrola) and Toledo was contracted by Acciona (Gonzlez Pedro 2012)

40

Figure 4.1. Chart of the Tehuantepec lagoon complex'

Source: Cromwell (1984: Figure 3)

Figure 4.2. 'Direct and Indirect area of influence of the Project '

Source: IADB (2011: Figure 7)

41

Chapter 5

Towards the first community-owned wind farm of Latin America

5.1. INTRODUCTION With a population of around 26,450 Ixtepec is a fairly small city. Land ownership has been organised in a comunidad agraria and administered by the Comisariado de Bienes

Comunales (Commission of Common Goods), or comuna. The comuna is a legal body that according to Mexican law serves as a representative and administrative organ of the assembly of comuneros [comuna members] on the terms that are established by the communal statute and custom (Mexico 2012b: 22). The original idea of a COWF for Ixtepec arose during a course on territorial planning, along with other proposals such as a site for nature conservation and a site for agricultural development (Vsquez Garca 2012). To be sure, these were still only ideas, and in case of the COWF nobody had a clear vision of what it would look like, how they would be able to build it, nor where the finance would come from.

They [other community members] told us: you are insane, who is going to come and do it? You have no resources to do it, nor the necessary contacts. And they were right. We were living completely in a dream world.

(Vsquez Garca 2012)

42

By chance, however, they heard about Sergio Oceransky, who was starting an organisation named Yansa aimed at facilitating community owned wind projects. What followed was a series of assemblies, the final of which took place on 23 October 2011, when the COWF and Yansa's involvement in the project was approved for the second time by majority vote39. Yansa's founders emphasise that they are very critical of corporate globalisation [and] definitely come from a different space [] as a normal wind developer (Mozen 2012) and that the community of Ixtepec will have the final word on whether to undertake the project (Oceransky 2010: 747). In the light of their background40, both founders of Yansa may be entrusted with such statements, which are among the basic principles on which the Yansa is constituted (Oceransky 2010). Moreover, the complex legal structure of the Yansa Group is designed in such a way that conflicts between community interests and financial interests of investors and the CIC have been made a practical impossibility (cf Oceransky 2010; Hoffman 2012).

5.2. LOCATION OF THE PROJECT Originally, the comuneros that came up with the idea of the COWF had proposed an area that was not being cultivated. However, ornithologists invited by Yansa pointed to the importance of the site for biodiversity and an endemic bird that was nesting there (Oceransky 2012), so a new location was needed. A garbage was proposed instead, but this proposal met with protests from people that had squatted the place (ibid). The final proposal was an area in the north-east of Ixtepec territorial scope (Figure 5.1 and 5.2), which is currently used for crop growing (principally maize) and low intensity cattle farming

39 Video footage of this event has been made public and is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6prYIiA5CtQ 40 Oceransky has previously been working as a grass-roots development worker and as a coordinator of the World Wind Energy Institute, a network of training institution aimed at democratization of wind energy intelligence. Mozen became famous as spokesperson of the group that coordinated the protests against economic globalisation during a meeting of the IMF and the World Bank in Prague in September 2000 (Schattle 2008).

43

Figure 5.1. The proposed location for the community based wind farm
Nizanda

communitybsedwindfarm
Zapote Carrasquedo

La Mata

Santo Domingo Chihuitn

Supe r Hig hw

ay

CITY OF IXTEPEC

La Ventosa

Source: Author's elaboration of a satellite photo reproduced by Jos Lus Alvarez Palacio Note: red circle is meant as approximate indication of the area, which was still being defined at the time of writing

Figure 5.2. Views of the proposed wind farm site from the Super highway

Pictures on top and below left by Bart de Swart; picture on below right courtesy of The Yansa Group.

(Sustentava 2012a). As yet, the proposal of this site has generally met with positive response from the posesionarios of the plots that make up this area.

5.3. COMMUNITY OUTREACH In March 2012 it was highlighted by Vargas (2012) that not everyone in the community was informed or even aware of the project. However, significant efforts have been made since then as had been the case before March 2012 to inform and consult the Ixtepec community about the project (Mozen 2012; Vsquez Garca 2012). The principal agents of this process have been Sergio Oceransky and the comuneros most actively involved in the project, through channels that compromise, but were not limited to all the organised bodies in Ixtepec (Mozen 2012), documentaries, personal visits, and word of mouth. In addition, social scientists working for Sustentava, as well as a student from Lund University41 have while carrying out their research through interviews, surveys, and focus groups further contributed to a wider and deeper understanding of the project among community members (Mozen 2012; Vsquez Garca 2012). However, as Vsquez Garca (2012) points out, there are limits to what can be done to inform people, if they do not want to be informed: you invite them and the people say no, I don not possess land in that area, why should I go?

5.4. LANDHOLDER CONSULTATION Although Yansa might explicitly state it fully respects self-determination of individual community members and the community as a whole, one might argue that the Yansa Group has limited influence on the way empowered community members behave in the consultation process (Hoffmann 2012). During my fieldwork I have been extremely alert for signals that could suggest some way of 'steering' by the communeros consulting
41 See Hoffmann (2012) for the impressive and insightful result of this student's efforts

44

landholders, especially when a small group of landholders appeared to have turned against the project (section 5.3.4). From the observations I was able to make, no such signals were evident. For example, every landholder we spoke to was told explicitly, and sometimes in tireless repetition, that if they did not want to participate, no pasa nada42. Furthermore, in discussing the progress of the consultation process, comuneros agreed that if they don't want, they don't want, we will respect their choice. Moreover, landholders were constantly reminded that from the moment of registration it would take until January 2013 until the results of the CFE bidding process would be known and no 'definitive' contracts nor any payments could be expected before that time.

5.5. PAYMENTS AND SOCIAL BENEFITS Due to the heated performance of one of the four brothers holding usufruct rights to the largest tracks of land in the proposed COWF let us say his name was Antonio43 the meeting of 11 July 2012 (see above) got a little tense. Antonio, who arrived late at the meeting, accused comunero Juan of becoming a millionaire through the COWF. Essentially Antonio and a small group of peers argued that landholders were paid too little relative to the income the project would generate. At this point, too much of the project is still too undefined to make even an educated guess about the expected annual revenue of the COWF. For instance, Yansa could not start the technical design of the 100 MW wind farm until the outcome of the landholder consultation process was known. Without this design, it would be difficult to calculate the exact costs estimated by Oceransky at about $ 200 million USD (Oceransky in Hoffmann 2012: 13) and financial viability of the project, and consequently, to obtain long term loans needed for the high upfront costs. In addition, as discussed earlier, CFE is constitutionally bound to buy electricity at the lowest cost possible. According to Oceransky (2012) at least
42 Literally nothing happens, a Spanish expression to reassure someone that it's okay. 43 For reasons of discretion I prefer not to mention his real name here

45

11 private wind developers are known to join the CFE in the bidding process and competition is expected to be fierce; consequently, there is much uncertainty on exactly how low the the COWF's offer will need to be44. However, even without this information it is possible to review the allegations that farmers would be underpaid relative to whatever total revenue may be. To this end, I briefly need to explain the structure of financial flows if the project as communally agreed upon through various steps in the consultation process45. In essence, any surplus income generated by the project after debt servicing and interest payments will be split into two equal shares. One share (a) is reserved for the Ixtepec community and will be administered through a trust that is democratically controlled through various existing organisations, such as the comuna, a women's forum and a youth forum. The other half (b) will be shared by (b1) the Yansa Foundation, which fully owned by the participating communities, and (b2) a guarantee trust designed to minimise risk in an measure inversely related to the amount of risk, which in turn is inversely related to the share of the debt that has been serviced (Hoffman 2012). Of share (a), one part (a1) will be reserved for land holders and the rest (a2) will be reserved for 'sustainable development' projects which will be proposed and democratically approved through the aforementioned new forums an the existing bodies. As this structure makes clear, if carried out as designed, it is practically impossible that anyone become rich of the COWF. In fact, the only people that get individual income from the project are the landholders themselves. On the non-binding document the landholders were offered to sign, it is clearly stated that individual payments would be as follows (Table 5.1.).

44 Moreover, as long as loans have not been secured, it is unclear under what financial terms (particularly interest rates) the project can be developed, in other words, how low offered power rates can be. 45 While detailed descriptions of the complex structure that will regulate financial flows of the COWF have been provided elsewhere (Oceransky 2010; Hoffmann 2012), for the purpose of this paper I will provide a simplified version here

46

Table 5.1. Proposed individual payment structure for landholders in the Ixtepec COWF
Payment per turbine Payment for temporal impacts on lands Payment for structural impacts on lands $ 15 MXN m-2 y-1 ($ 150.000 MXN ha-1 y-1)

$ 30.000 MXN $ 10 MXN m -2 y-1 ($ 100.000 MXN ha-1 y-1)

Moreover, the document states that by signing the document, the landholder will form part of a civil association solely consisting of the landholders of the wind farm area. This organisation will receive approximately $ 2 million MXN per year for productive investments and social development, from the moment electricity generation starts, as the document states. In sum, if these amounts remain unchanged or go up in the final contracts, financial and social compensation for landholders can be expected to be many times better than in the other projects in the region. Moreover, as a study by Sustentava points out, the majority of the landholders that currently farm the land use the yield solely for subsistence, and in general, productivity is low (Sustentava 2012). Most farmers indicated that they would like to improve and commercialise production, but they need equipment, a well, and irrigation systems (ibid). The extra individual income in combination to the funds channelled through the aforementioned civil association can be expected to facilitate this. Asked what 'sustainable development' projects have been so far proposed, among other things Vsquez Garca (2012) named the creation of a well for landholders, various innovative irrigation systems, and workshops on agroecological farming methods. The latter will allow better productivity without needing to add chemical fertilisers (ibid). Finally, a problem many landholders were complaining about was a recent increase in cattle theft by outsiders, according to some accounts facilitated by the Super highway built in recent years (Figure 5.1 and 5.2). One sceptic landholder commented that, rather than being convinced by the 'benefit' of paved roads that would facilitate access to lands, 47

he feared that this would only further increase cattle theft. However, due to the presence of security staff that will be hired from the local community to guard the wind farm area, the COWF will more likely result in a decrease in cattle theft.

5.6. CULTURAL ASPECTS In at least two ways the COWF can be expected to have a positive influence on the local culture in Ixtepec. On the one hand, as pointed out above, it might increase agricultural productivity; this in turn, might help preserve a culture of working on the land, which is especially being lost in younger generations (Vsquez Garca 2012). On the other hand, one of the development proposals that have been identified as deseving priority in the women's forum was a programme for the preservation of indigenous languages. As suggested by the outcomes of a study by Sustentava (2012b), Zapotec and other indigenous languages are being lost as they are spoken by only a small percentage of the younger generation in Ixtepec. If the aforementioned proposal turns into a sustainable and effective programme, the COWF will indirectly have contributed to the preservation of culture46. This would mean a remarkable contrast with the common many (wind energy) development projects in the region that are being perceived as a threat to local culture and social cohesion, as we have seen Chapter 5.

5.7. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES To be true, one part of the COWF plan (as approved by the comuna) stipulates that the area originally proposed for the wind farm site will be used as an environmental conservation area to mitigate the environmental impacts of the wind farm (Oceransky 2012). To this end, the posesionarios of this area will be paid for making sure biodiversity

46 In a similar vein, Pinel (2009) has shown how two Pueblo communities in New Mexico have used development to preserve their cultures

48

can flourish unrestrictedly47. As Grosselet (2012) notes, although the idea is sympathetic, it will not be able to mitigate bird mortality through turbine collisions. A more effective mitigation effort, as two ornithologists independently argue, would be to put the turbines on hold during certain time periods birds are known to fly near turbines (Monroy 2012; Grosselet 2012). According to Oceransky (2012), these types of measures have indeed been included the energy production model, as well as the financial losses that might result from this.

47 This idea is not new, of course, and resembles the UN-REDD programme and other mechanisms that facilitate payment for environmental services, including various Mexican initiatives

49

CHAPTER 6

Conclusions
In this dissertation, I have first tried to show that socio-environmental externalities and conflicts resulting from RE projects in Latin America are not confined to place or type of technology, although both may cause significant variations in the nature and intensity of these externalities. The following common denominators could be identified: (1) the lack of consultation of the local communities; (2) the fact that generated energy does not directly benefit local communities; (3) focus on 'clean' aspects of the project (low carbon emissions), and underestimation of local impacts in company discourses and impact assessments. Secondly, I have identified six factors that may have contributed to the growth of wind development in Mexico and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec: (1) falling costs; (2) wind resource and data availability, facilitated by the 'Action plan to eliminate barriers to the large scale implementation of wind energy in Mexico'; (3) a series of government programmes and laws creating a more favourable climate for NCRE; (4) multilateral agreements and regional development plans; (5) penetration of 'sustainable development' and 'clean energy' discourses in international development and finance institutions (6) efforts by institutional investors and multinationals to meet ESG criteria. Consequently, I have identified the ways in which wind energy projects have been affecting local communities and their environment in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. As I have tried to show, it is especially the consultation and participation of indigenous peoples described in ILO Convention 169, their autonomy described in the Mexican constitution 50

and their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project described in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN 2008: 9) that have not been respected. In the case of Mexico, this is partially due to the virtual absence of sufficiently effective institutionalisation processes and constitutional guarantees that are needed for the functioning of rights in general, and indigenous rights in particular48. Other ways communities have been affected are mainly restricted to landholders. First, some wind projects seem to have had severe impacts on land quality and irrigation systems, although this is a subject that would certainly need closer investigation. In general, landholders appear to have been underpaid by wind companies, a fact that was facilitated by the monopsony position of the latter. Furthermore land contracts were lacking transparency. For instance, many contracts restrict possibilities for small agricultural loans but do not explicitly state this in the contract, or at least not in a language that is straightforward and understandable (Gonzlez Pedro 2012). The Mareas project, although still being developed, has already caused protest by local Huave indigenous communities, for who certain areas included in the design of the project are sacred. Moreover, both Huave and Zapotec fishermen fear the project will affect local ecosystems and as a result compromise their fishing activities. I cannot help noticing certain similarities here with the Belo Monte case, nor can I resist uttering the feeling that this case might well be exemplary for the future of wind power in the Isthmus region, and possibly the LAC region as well. However, as a more optimistic scenario, the first stage of a COWF currently being carried out in Ixtepec has been assessed. Unlike the CFE and the companies carrying out wind energy projects in the region, the principal goal around which Yansas organisational and financial structure have been designed are local communities. As has become clear in

48 This was also one of the principal conclusions of the colloquium "Reflexiones tericas en torno a los derechos de los pueblos indgenas" that took place from 31 August to 4 September 2009 at the Law Faculty of the Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico and which was attended by the Author.

51

chapter 5, this has already proven to mitigate many social disruptions commonly witnessed in other cases of wind farm development. Moreover, while the project will not be free of externalities, a primary goal is to keep impacts to a minimum and carefully assess, publish and evaluate any remaining problems. Finally, in case the project in Ixtepec succeeds, part of the revenue will be used for the conservation of indigenous language and culture, and for the revitalization of traditional agriculture, of agroecological methods that will diminish the need for fertilisers (Vsquez Garca 2012). Among other arguments, the latter is perhaps one of the most important reasons for suggesting that using discourses on sustainable development as a vehicle for change might a much more pragmatic strategy than throwing the baby out with the bathwater. That said, it is important to note that environmental effects of wind farms in the region, that serves as one of the most important corridors for bird migration worldwide, have been insufficiently been taken into consideration, nor have the indirect consequences of mass bird mortality for humans in Mexico and Latin America. This, together with the impact of wind farms on land quality, is definitely recommended as a line of further investigation.

52

Bibliography
Ahorro, Joseph (2008) The Waves of Post-Development Theory and a Consideration of the Philippines. Retreived from: www.cpsa-acsp.ca/papers-2008/Ahorro.pdf Andres, L., Guasch, J. L., Haven, T. & Foster V. (2008). The Impact of Private Sector participation in Infrastructure: Lights, Shadows, and the Road Ahead. Washington, DC: World Bank Almanza, R. and Lopez, S. (1978). Total solar radiation in Mexico using sunshine hours and meteorological data. Solar energy, 21(5), 441-448 Andrews, J., Jelly, N. (2007). Energy Science: Principles, Technologies, and Impacts. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press Apergis, N.; Payne, J.E.; Menyah, K. & Wolde-Rufael, Y. (2010). On the causal dynamics between emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy, and economic growth. Ecological economics, 69(11), 2255-2260 Arango, S. and E.R. Larsen (2010). 'The environmental paradox in generation: How South America is gradually becoming more dependent on thermal generation.' Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 14 (9), 2956-2965 Arbex, M. & Perobelli, F.S. (2010). Solow meets Leontief: Economic growth and energy consumption. Energy economics, 32(1), 43-53 Assies, W. (2008). Land Tenure and Tenure Regimes in Mexico: An Overview. Journal of Agrarian Change, 8 (1), 3363. Baker, S.H. (2011). Unmasking Project Finance: Risk Mitigation, Risk Inducement, and An Invitation to Development Disaster?. Texas Journal of Oil, Gas & Energy Law, 6(2), 273-334 Banks, M. (1996). Ethnicity: Anthropological Constructions. London & New York: Routledge Barns, F. (2006). Renewable Energy in Mexico. Presentation given at the Mexican Energy Conference 2006, 7 April, Houston, TX. Retrieved from: http://www.cre.gob.mx/documento/ 213.pdf Batlle, C., Barroso, L. A. and Prez-Arriaga, I, J., (2010). The changing role of the State in the expansion of electricity supply in Latin America. Energy Policy, 38(11) 7152-7160, BP (2012). Landowner & Community Benefits of Windfarms . Presention held by David Gonzalez at the 2012 Winter Meeting Western States Land Commissioners Association , Austin, 11 January. Available at: www.glo.texas.gov/wslca/pdf/.../landowner-benefits-wind-farms.pdf Brian, T. (2010). Mexicos wind industry picks up, yet obstacles prevent this breeze from becoming a gale. Retreived from: http://csis.org/blog/mexico%E2%80%99s-wind-industry-picks-yetobstacles-prevent-breeze-becoming-gale Brundtland, G. (ed.), (1987), Our common future: The World Commission on Environment and Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press Bylund, P.L. and Mondelli, M. (2009). 'Book review : Creating a world without poverty: social business and the future of capitalism'. The Electronic Journal of Sustainable Development, 1(3) , 5-7 Caetano de Souza, A.C., (2008). Assessment and statistics of Brazilian hydroelectric power plants: Dam areas versus installed and firm power. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 12 (7), 1843-1863 Cardenas Tovar, R. & Saldvar Urquiza, G. (2007). Central Eoloelctrica La Venta II. Revista Digital Universitaria, 8(12). Retrieved from: http://www.revista.unam.mx/vol.8/num12/art90/dic_art90.pdf Carreon-Rodriguez, V.G., A. Jimenez and J. Rosellon (2007) 'The Mexican electricity sector: economic, legal and political issues', in D.G. Victor and T.C. Heller (eds.) The Political Economy of Power Sector Reform. The Experiences of Five Major Developing Countries Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologa Social (CIESAS) (n.d.). Proyecto

53

123396: El Impacto Social Del Uso Del Recurso Elico. Informe Final Para El Consejo Oaxaqueo De Ciencia Y Tecnologa (Cocyt) Del Conacyt. Retreived from: http://www.cocyt.oaxaca.gob.mx/pdf/Informe_final_eolico.pdf Cromwell , J. E. (1985), Marine geology of laguna Superior in the Pacific Coast of Mexico. An. Anales del Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologa, 12(1): 70-98 Galindo, I., Castro, S. & Valdes, M. (1991) Satellite derived solar irradiance over Mexico. Atmsfera, 4(3), 189-200 Collier, P. (2010). The Plundered Planet: How to reconcile prosperity with nature. London: Allen Lane Cruz Rueda, E. (2011). Elicos e inversin privada: El caso de San Mateo del Mar, en el Istmo de Tehuantepec Oaxaca.The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 16(2), 257277 Canadian Wind Energy Association (CANWEA) (2006). Turbines and Land Use: The win/win of wind energy. Retrieved from: http://www.canwea.ca/images/uploads/File/NRCan__Fact_Sheets/8_land_use.pdf Da Silva, C.T. (2012). Indigenismo como ideologia e prtica de dominao. Latin American re search review, 47(1), 16-34 De la Torre, A., P. Fajnzylber and J. Nash (2009). Low carbon, high growth: Latin American responses to climate change. Washington, DC: World Bank Demarty, M.; Bastien, J. (2011). GHG emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs in tropical and equatorial regions: Review of 20 years of CH4 emission measurements. Energy policy, 39(7), 4197-4206 Daz, G.L. (2012). Bettina Cruz: pese a amenazas de muerte, seguir lucha contra proyectos elicos. Proceso, 27 February. Retrieved from: http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=299500 Dubash, N.K. (2003). Revisiting electricity reform. The case for a sustainable development approach. Utilities Policy 11(2003), 143-154 Energy Intelligence Administration (EIA) (2011). World Shale Gas Resources: An Initial Assessment of 14 Countries Outside the United States. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Energy. Retrieved from: http://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/worldshalegas/ Escobar, A. (1988), Power and Visibility: Development and the Invention and Management of the Third World. Cultural Anthropology, 3(4): 428443 Fearnside, P.M. (2006). Dams in the Amazon: Belo Monte and Brazils Hydroelectric Development of the Xingu River Basin. Environmental Management, 38(1), 16-27 Finer, M.; Jenkins, C.N.; Pimm, S.L.; Keane, B.; Ross, C.; Hansen, D.M. (2008). Oil and Gas Projects in the Western Amazon: Threats to Wilderness, Biodiversity, and Indigenous Peoples. PLoS One, 3(8). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002932 Fullbrook, E. (2007). Real world Economics: a Post-Autistic Economics Reader. Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). (2011). Mexico. Retreived from: http://www.gwec.net/ index.php?id=119 (2010). Global Wind Report: Annual Market Update 2010. Retreived from: http://www.gwec.net/fileadmin/images/Publications/GWEC_annual_market_update_2010__2nd_edition_April_2011.pdf Gonzales, M. (2012). Interview with M. Gonzales, representative of the Asamblea de los Pueblos Indgenas del Istmo de Tehuantepec en Defensa de la Tierra y el Territorio, 21 May, Juchitn, Mexico Girn, A. (2012). Interview with A. Girn, representative of the Grupo Solidario La Venta, 27 May, La Venta, Mexico Girn, A. & Beas Torres, C. (2010). La contrareforma agraria Proyecto eoloelctrico del Istmo y la destruccin del ejido. La Jornada del Campo, 17 April. Retrieved from: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/04/17/agraria.html Groat C.G. & Grimshaw T.W. (2011). Fact-Based Regulation for Environmental Protection in Shale Gas Development. University of Texas Energy Institute Report. Retreived 18 June 2012 at: http://energy.utexas.edu/images/ei_shale_gas_regulation120215.pdf Hall (2005). Neoliberal Multiculturalism: The Remaking of Cultural Rights and Racial Dominance in Central America. Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 28(1), 10-19

54

Hawley, C. (2009). Firms rush to stake claims in Mexico's isthmus. The Arizona Republic, 24 June. Retrieved from: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2009/06/24/ 20090624biz-windpower0624.html Henestroza-Orozco , R. (2008) Desarrollo del proyecto elico en la regin del Istmo de Tehuantepec. Investigacin y Ciencia de la Universidad Autnoma de Aguascalientes, 42 (2008), 18-21 Helmore, E. (2012). Solar power firms in Mojave desert feel glare of tribes and environmentalists. The Guardian, 11 March. Retrieved from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/mar/11/solar-power-mojave-desert-tribes Hoffmann, J. (2012). The Social Power of Wind: The Role of Participation and Social Entrepreneurship in Overcoming Barriers for Community Wind Farm Development. Retreived from: http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/2967852/file/2967855.pdf Hotez P.J., Dumonteil E., Woc-Colburn L., Serpa J.A., Bezek S., et al. (2012) Chagas Disease: The New HIV/AIDS of the Americas. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 6(5): e1498. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001498 Howarth, R.W., R. Santoro and A. Ingraffea (2011). 'Methane and the greenhouse-gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations : A letter'. Climatic Change 106 (2011): 679690 Hunold, C. & Leitner, S. (2011). Hasta la vista, baby! The Solar Grand Plan, environmentalism, and social constructions of the Mojave Desert. Environmental Politics, 20 (5), 687-704 Instituto Nacional de Estadstica (INEGI) (2009) Perfil sociodemogrfico de la poblacin que habla lengua indgena. Retrieved from: http://www.inegi.org.mx/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/censos/poblacion/pobl acion_indigena/leng_indi/PHLI.pdf Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) (2011). Mexico: Marena Renovables Wind Power Project (ME-L1107). Environmental and Social Management Report (ESMR). Retrieved From: http://Idbdocs.Iadb.Org/Wsdocs/Getdocument.Aspx?Docnum=36537741 International Geothermal Organisation (IGA) (2012). Welcome to our page with data for Mexico. Retrieved from: http://www.geothermalenergy.org/109,welcome_to_our_page_with_data_for_mexico.html International Energy Agency (IEA) (2010a). Energy balances of Non-OECD countries, 2010 edition. Paris: OECD/IEA (2010b). Energy balances of OECD countries, 2010 edition. Paris: OECD/IEA (2011a). World Energy Outlook 2011. Paris: OECD/IEA (2011c). Energy balances of OECD countries, 2011 edition. Paris: OECD/IEA (2011d). Are we entering a golden age of gas? World Energy Outlook 2011 Special report. Paris: OECD/IEA (2006). World Energy Outlook 2006. Paris: OECD/IEA Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007, by Metz, B., Davidson, O.R., Bosch, P.R., Dave, R., Meyer L.A. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press International Labor Organisation (ILO)(1989). C169 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention. Retrieved from: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/--normes/documents/publication/wcms_100897.pdf Junginger, M., W. Van Sark and A. Faaij (eds.)(2010) Technological Learning In The Energy Sector: Lessons for Policy, Industry and Science. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ledec, G.C., K.W. Rapp, and R.G. Aiello (2011). Greening the Wind: Environmental and Social Considerations for Wind Power Development in Latin America and Beyond. Washington, DC: World Bank/ESMAP Lior, N. (2008). Energy resources and use the present situation and possible paths to the future. Energy 33(2008), 842857 Lokey, E. (2009), Renewable Energy Project Development Under the Clean Development Mechanism: A Guide for Latin America. London and Sterling: Earthscan Lovelock, J. (2010). The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning. London: Allen Lane Manzo, C. (2011). Comunalidad, resistencia indgena y neocolonialismo en el Istmo de Tehuantepec, siglos XVI-XXI. Mexico City: Ce-Acatl

55

Mexico (2012a). Ley del servicio pblico de energa elctrica [DOF 09-04-2012]. Retreived from: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/doc/99.doc (2012b). Constitucin Poltica de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. [DOF 09-08-2012]. Retrieved from: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/1.pdf (2008). Ley para el aprovechamiento de energas renovables y el financiamiento de la transicin energtica [DOF 12-01-2012]. Retrieved from: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/LAERFTE.pdf Knight, A. (2006). Caciquismo in Twentieth-Century Mexico, in A.Knight & W. Pantsers (eds.) Caciquismo in Twentieth-Century Mexico. London: Institute for the Study of the Americas Knight, A. & Pantsers, W. (eds.)(2006). Caciquismo in Twentieth-Century Mexico. London: Institute for the Study of the Americas Miller, D. (2009). Selling Solar: The Diffusion of Renewable Energy in Emerging Markets. London: Earthscan Morse, S. (2008), Post-sustainable development. Sustainable Development, 16(5), 341352. Mudd GM & Diesendorf M (2010) Uranium mining, nuclear power and sustainability: rhetoric versus reality. Sustainable Mining Conference 2010, Kalgoorlie WA, 1719 August, paper no. 45. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) (2003). Wind Energy Resource Atlas of Oaxaca by D. Elliott, M. Schwartz, G. Scott, S. Haymes, D. Heimiller & R. George. Retrieved from: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/35575.pdf Navarro, C. (2012). Solar Energy Seen as a Viable Alternative in Mexico. SourceMex, Latin America Database. Retreived from: http://repository.unm.edu/bitstream/handle/1928/20451/ SourceMex.Solar%20Energy%20Seen%20as%20a%20Viable%20Alternative%20in%20 Mexico.4.11.12.pdf?sequence=1 Nederveen Pieterse, J. (200). After Post-Development Third World Quarterly,21(2), 175-191 Oceransky, S. (2012). Interview with S. Oceransky, CEO and founder of the Yansa Group, 28 June, London, United Kingdom (2010) 'The Yansa Group: Renewable Energy as a Common Resource', in K. Abramsky (ed.), Sparking A Worldwide Energy Revolution: Social Struggles in the Transition to a Post-Petrol World. Oakland: AK Press (2009). 'Wind Conflicts in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec: The Role of Ownership and DecisionMaking Models in Indigenous Resistance to Wind Projects in Southern Mexico.' The Commoner, 2009(13) Pasqualetti, M. J. (2011). 'Opposing Wind Energy Landscapes: A Search for Common Cause'. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 101 (4), 907-917 Petras, J. (1997). 'Imperialism and NGOs in Latin America'. Monthly Review, 49(7). Pinel, S.L. (2009). Culture and Cash: How Two New Mexico Pueblos Combined Culture and Development. Alternatives, 32 (2007), 9-39 PGGM (2012). PGGM verwerft belang in omvangrijk Mexicaans windpark. Retrieved from: http://www.pggm.nl/Over_PGGM/Pers/Persberichten/Nieuws_en_persberichten/ 120224_PGGM_verwerft_belang_in_omvangrijk_Mexicaans_windpark.asp (n.d.). Policy. Retrieved from: http://www.pggm.nl/About_PGGM/Investments/ Responsible_Investment/Policy/Policy.asp#0 Randall, L. (1989). The political economy of Mexican oil. New York: Praeger Publishers. Reyes, O. (2011). Power to the people? How World Bank financed wind farms fail communities in Mexico. Retrieved from: http://www.wdm.org.uk/sites/default/files/Mexico%20Oaxaca%20La %20Ventosa%20-%20FINAL.pdf Rosenberg, M. & Barrera, A (2012). Mexico should tap huge shale gas reserves-regulator. Reuters. Retrieved from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/31/mexico-gasidUSN1E77U1JG20110831 Rubin, J.W. (1997). Decentering the Regime: Ethnicity, Radicalism and Democracy in Juchitan, Mexico. Durham, DC: Duke University Press Sanchez, S. (2007). Grassroots Resistance: Contesting Wind Mill Construction in Oaxaca. National Wind Watch, 8 November. Retrieved from: http://www.wind-watch.org/newsarchive/ 2007/11/08/grassroots-resistance-contesting-wind-mill-construction-in-oaxaca/ Santoyo-Castelazo, E., H. Gujba and A. Azapagic (2011). Life Cycle Assessment of Electricity

56

Generation in Mexico. Energy 361 1488-1499 Schattle, H. (2008). The Practices of Global Citizenship. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Secretara de Energa (SENER) (2012). Estrategia Nacional de Energa. Retreived from: http://www.sener.gob.mx/res/PE_y_DT/pub/2012/ENE_2012_2026.pdf Secretaria de la Reforma Agraria (2012a). El 78% de la superficie de Oaxaca son ejidos y comunidades. Retrieved from: http://www.sra.gob.mx/sraweb/noticias/noticias-2012/mayo2012/12272/ Secretaria de la Reforma Agraria. (2012b). Ley Agraria. [DOF 09-04-2012]. Retrieved from: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/ref/lagra/LAgra_ref06_09abr12.pdf Shafiee, S. and E. Topal (2009). When will fossil fuel reserves be diminished? Energy Policy, 37 (1), 181189 Simonian, L. (1995). Defending the Land of the Jaguar. A history of conservation in Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press. Stenzel, P.L. (2006). Plan Puebla Panama: An Economic Tool That Thwarts Sustainable Development and Facilitates Terrorism. William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review, 30 (3) 555-632 Sustentava (2012a) Diagnstico Socioeconmico sobre los Posesionarios dentro del Polgono del Parque Elico Comunitario de Ixtepec. Unpublished presentation. (2012b). Consulta de prioridades de Ixtepec 2012. Unpublished presentation. Tweidell, J. & Weir, T. (2006). Renewable Energy Resources, second edition. London & New York: Taylor & Francis Turton, H. (2002). The Aluminium Smelting Industry Structure, market power, subsidies and greenhouse gas emissions . The Australia Institute discussion paper no. 44. Retreived from: www.tai.org.au/documents/dp_fulltext/DP44.pdf Uri, N.D. & Boyd, R. (1997). An evaluation of the economic effects of higher energy prices in Mexico. Energy Policy, 25(2) 205-215 Vance, E. (2012). The 'wind rush': Green energy blows trouble into Mexico. Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from: http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2012/0126/The-wind-rushGreen-energy-blows-trouble-into-Mexico Vsquez, V. (2012). Interview with V. Vsquez, member of the Comission of Comunal Goods of Ixtepec, 3 June, Ixtepec, Mexico. Vargas, M. (2012). Poblacin desconoce proyecto elico en Ixtepec. El Sol del Istmo, 27 February. Retrieved from: http://www.elsoldelistmo.com.mx/web/index.php? option=com_content&view=article&id=8517:poblacion-desconoce-proyecto-eolico-enixtepec&catid=296:general&Itemid=553 Vlaz Ascencio (2012). 'Lo sucio de la energa limpia'. Noticias Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca, 4 May. Retrieved from: http://cdm.unfccc.int/UserManagement/FileStorage/ QWEEUQSQHVDSS37GKV4ZEZB0N3OSDP Verweij, P., Schouten, M., van Beukering, P., Triana, J., van der Leeuw, K., & Hess, S. Keeping the Amazon forests standing: a matter of values. Report prepared for the World Wildlife Fund. Retreived from: http://www.wwf.se/source.php?id=1229304 Wood, D. (2010) Environment, Development and Growth: U.S.-Mexico Cooperation in Renewable Energies. Washington, DC: Mexico Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Retrieved from: http://www.statealliancepartnership.org/resources_files/ USMexico_Cooperation_Renewable_Energies.pdf Woodgate, G. (2012), Personal communication by email, 16 July. World Bank (2010). World Development Report 2010. Washington, DC: World Bank United Nations Global Environmental Facility (UNDP-GEF) (n.d.). Action Plan For Removing Barriers To The Full Scale Implementation Of Wind Power In Mexico-In progress-. Retrieved from: http://planeolico.iie.org.mx/Plan_Eolico_GEF_UNDP_IIE/Project%20Leaflet%20Wind% 20Action%20Plan.pdf USAID (2009). MEXICO WIND FARM CASE STUDY. Retrieved from: http://www.energytoolbox.org/gcre/wind_case_study.pdf US Department of Energy (DOE) (2002). An Energy overview of Mexico. Retreived from: http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_grid/mexico/LatinAmericanPowerGuid

57

e.shtml Villagmez Velzquez, Y. (2004). Diversidad tnica e identidad en la llanura costera del istmo oaxaqueo. Mundo Agrario 8(4). Centro de Estudios Histrico Rurales, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Retrieved from: http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=84540803 Weaver, H.N. (2001). Indigenous Identity: What Is It and Who Really Has It? The American Indian Quarterly, 25 (2), 240-255 Yannakakis, Y. (2008). The Art of Being In-between: Native Intermediaries, Indian Identity, and Local Rule in Colonial Oaxaca. Durham & London: Duke University Press

58

APPENDIX
Land lease contracts analysed for Table 4.1