‘Old Trees Cannot Be Replanted’: When Energy Investment Meets Farmers’ Resistance
Iwona MARKUSZEWSKA*1
1Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, Institute of Physical Geography and Environmental Protection, Department of Landscape Ecology, Poznań, POLAND
iwmark@amu.edu.pl https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3615-1313
Abstract. Open-cast lignite mining often arouses discontent due to its controversial use of land. This is particularly apparent when a mining operation interferes with well-managed agricultural areas. Mining investments usually face resistance from farmers who are attached to a rural setting and farmland. This paper summarises the results of a study on farmers’ attachment to place and patrimony. The placeoriented research was conducted among a traditionally farming-oriented community that expressed its disapproval of a lignite coal operation. Data were collected via questionnaire. The measurement of place attachment used a five-point Likert scale. The survey was distributed among the rural dwellers of two communes, Krobia and Miejska Górka (in the Wielkopolska Region, Poland), which will be affected by open-cast mining and a power station; both are dependent on the “Oczkowice” lignite deposit. The results show that the farmers have a deep attachment to their farmland; however, only a little attachment was detected to the local community.
K e y w o r d s: mining operation, energy investment, land use change, place attachment, rural community, farmland, patrimony, displacement