Naturalizing pollution: A critical social science view on the link between potash mining and salinization in the Llobregat river basin, northeast Spain
Gorostiza, Santiago LU
and Saurí, David
(2019)
In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
374(1764).
- Abstract
- The scientific literature distinguishes between primary or natural and secondary or human-induced salinization. Assessing this distinction is of vital importance to assign liabilities and responsibilities in pollution cases and for designing the best policy and management actions. In this context, actors interested in downplaying the role of certain drivers of human-induced salinization can attempt to neglect its importance by referring to natural salinization, in a similar fashion to other pollution and health-related cases, from tobacco smoke to climate change. Potash mining, which has experienced continued growth during the last decades and is a significant contributor to salinization, is prone to originate such controversies because... (More)
- The scientific literature distinguishes between primary or natural and secondary or human-induced salinization. Assessing this distinction is of vital importance to assign liabilities and responsibilities in pollution cases and for designing the best policy and management actions. In this context, actors interested in downplaying the role of certain drivers of human-induced salinization can attempt to neglect its importance by referring to natural salinization, in a similar fashion to other pollution and health-related cases, from tobacco smoke to climate change. Potash mining, which has experienced continued growth during the last decades and is a significant contributor to salinization, is prone to originate such controversies because natural salinization from the saline geological catch can be mixed with salinization produced by mining waste such as brines and mine tailings, thus obscuring the distinction between causes. By reviewing the long-standing social and environmental conflict caused by potash mining in a region of Mediterranean climate—the Llobregat river basin—in this article, we highlight the importance of the impacts of salinization on human health and provide a critical social science perspective on salinization processes. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Salt in freshwaters: causes, ecological consequences and future prospects’. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/bb338800-b5fa-40b7-bb12-1748d9c32f1a
- author
- Gorostiza, Santiago
LU
and Saurí, David
- publishing date
- 2019-01-21
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Disinfection by-products, Environmental history, Environmental justice, Llobregat, Salinization, Water quality, Rivers/chemistry, Environmental Monitoring, Social Sciences, Socioeconomic Factors, Salinity, Spain, Mining, Complex Mixtures, Fresh Water/analysis, Water Pollution, Chemical/analysis
- in
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- volume
- 374
- issue
- 1764
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85058306210
- ISSN
- 1471-2970
- DOI
- 10.1098/rstb.2018.0006
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- bb338800-b5fa-40b7-bb12-1748d9c32f1a
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-12 13:33:30
- date last changed
- 2025-06-18 14:13:44
@article{bb338800-b5fa-40b7-bb12-1748d9c32f1a,
abstract = {{The scientific literature distinguishes between primary or natural and secondary or human-induced salinization. Assessing this distinction is of vital importance to assign liabilities and responsibilities in pollution cases and for designing the best policy and management actions. In this context, actors interested in downplaying the role of certain drivers of human-induced salinization can attempt to neglect its importance by referring to natural salinization, in a similar fashion to other pollution and health-related cases, from tobacco smoke to climate change. Potash mining, which has experienced continued growth during the last decades and is a significant contributor to salinization, is prone to originate such controversies because natural salinization from the saline geological catch can be mixed with salinization produced by mining waste such as brines and mine tailings, thus obscuring the distinction between causes. By reviewing the long-standing social and environmental conflict caused by potash mining in a region of Mediterranean climate—the Llobregat river basin—in this article, we highlight the importance of the impacts of salinization on human health and provide a critical social science perspective on salinization processes. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Salt in freshwaters: causes, ecological consequences and future prospects’.}},
author = {{Gorostiza, Santiago and Saurí, David}},
issn = {{1471-2970}},
keywords = {{Disinfection by-products; Environmental history; Environmental justice; Llobregat; Salinization; Water quality; Rivers/chemistry; Environmental Monitoring; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic Factors; Salinity; Spain; Mining; Complex Mixtures; Fresh Water/analysis; Water Pollution; Chemical/analysis}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
number = {{1764}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
title = {{Naturalizing pollution: A critical social science view on the link between potash mining and salinization in the Llobregat river basin, northeast Spain}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0006}},
doi = {{10.1098/rstb.2018.0006}},
volume = {{374}},
year = {{2019}},
}