Adam French

Natural Resource Conflicts

I examine inter-sectoral conflicts over water and other resources, especially between local-level users (e.g. small-scale farmers) and industrial sectors (e.g. multi-national energy and mining corporations). Using interdisciplinary and participatory methods including institutional ethnography, legal analysis, and the analysis of hydrologic data, this work documents how social and biophysical factors interact to drive conflict emergence and persistence. In an effort to inform resolution processes and promote more just and sustainable management, this research pays careful attention to power relations, political dynamics, and social justice concerns.

Representative Publications

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French, A. (2019) Webs and Flows: Socio-natural networks and the matter of nature at Peru’s Lake Parón. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 109(1): 142-160.

French, A. (2016) El desborde del conflicto por la Laguna Parón (written in Spanish). In Patricia Urteaga, Armando Guevara, and Aarón Verona (eds.), El Estado Frente a Los Conflictos por el Agua. Lima: Fondo Editorial, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

French, A., Barandiaran J., & Rampini, C. (2015) Contextualizing conflict: Vital waters and competing values in glaciated environments. In Christian Huggel, Mark Carey, John Clague, and Andreas Kääb (eds.), The High Mountain Cryosphere: Environmental Changes and Human Risks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Carey, M., French, A., and O’Brien, E. (2012) Unintended effects of technology on climate change adaptation: an historical analysis of water conflicts below Andean glaciers. Journal of Historical Geography, 38 (2): 181-91.

French, A. (2012) Laguna Parón: hacia la gestión integrada? (written in Spanish). La Revista Agraria #136: 10-11.