Renewable energy projects and the trade-offs of sustainable development: Hydroelectric projects, 'eco-system services' and the contested politics

The Sustainable Development Goals that will guide the world's economic diplomacy in the coming generation have fuelled a global renaissance in hydropower in pursuit of their aim to protect the planet from degradation through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change. The United Nations have stated that modern energy services stand at the centre of global efforts to induce a paradigm shift towards green economies, poverty eradication and sustainable development) and hydropower now accounts for 65% of all renewable power generation, despite research having concluded that hydropower projects have frequently posed high social and environmental costs and longterm economic trade-offs, endangering biodiversity, indigenous livelihoods and human rights. Additionally, mega-projects involving natural resource exploitation, whether for renewable or traditional forms of energy involve a trade-off between the three pillars of sustainable development (economic, social, environmental) and energy resources are converted into political power in complex ways.

As the most biodiverse country by square kilometre on the planet, Ecuador is at the forefront of both sustainable development and climate mitigation policies, and therefore provides a useful case study to explore the trade-offs of hydropower projects and the contested politics of renewable energy development within extractive states. This research will explore attempts to diversify Ecuador's energy matrix away from traditional fossil fuels, focusing specifically on the promotion of hydroelectric projects in the country. The research will include interview-based fieldwork conducted in Ecuador, allowing for the collection of empirical data from communities and stakeholders impacted by energy mega-projects, with the aim of understanding how hydroelectric projects redefine the political landscapes and social understandings of sustainable energy development at the national and local level, and what this reveals about the localisation of debates and surrounding natural resource exploitation within sustainable development and climate mitigation policies. This research aims to bring a discussion of renewable energy projects to the academic debates surrounding socio-environmental conflicts and natural resource governance in Latin America, within the context of sustainable development and climate mitigation policies and varied power dynamics at the international, national and local level.