Marie Michael Library

Managing mobilisation? Participatory processes and dam building in South Africa, the Berg River Project

Thompson, Lisa

This paper examines the government-led participatory processes which led to the building of the Berg River Dam in South Africa's western Cape province. These processes contrasted with the mobilisation of environmental activists against the building of the dam. This case study illustrates how the creation of participatory spaces weakened resistance to the building of the dam on the part of the environmental movement as well as civil society.