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Ecological Hazards of Nuclear Waste Disposal between Aspiration and Economic Prosperity and Community Sustainability: Lessons for social work in a small Croatian municipality

Human impact on the environment was always significant, but probably never so powerful and devastating as it is the case since the beginning of the First industrial revolution till today. The effects of the First and particularly the Second industrial revolution led to increased quality of people's lives, but also created enormous challenges in terms of planet’s sustainable development. In this process less developed regions turned out to be particularly vulnerable and often become places where new technologies are experimented with, serve as a source of cheap labour force or places for landfills, among which the biggest risk is nuclear waste. Underdeveloped communities with their modest capacity management, high level of economic dependence, lower educated population, followed by low level of environmental awareness, become more exposed to the dangers of the landfill. As a result, their underdeveloped is fixed and deepens. Although social work from very beginning of its professional development showed considerable interest in the question of community development and local residents' quality of life, as pointed out by McKinnon (2008) focus on growing environmental concerns such as environmental degradation and climate change has not received significant attention in the social work literature. The issue of environmental protection and general human impact on sustainable development seems that occupies some other scientific fields such as biology, geography, ecology, even sociology and psychology, than is the case with the social work. Only with the pioneering work of some authors in recent years, more attention has been paid to the development of the "green social work" and "eco-social transition in the communities and societies˝. Dominelli (2014) points out that social work educators and practitioners have an important role in developing and sustaining environmental justice in a way that respects the inherent dignity and worth of a person. Global associations of social workers also respond to this challenge in 2012 by accepting "the Global Agenda for social work and social development ', which recognizes a collective commitment to promote social and economic equalities, human rights and dignity, social relationships and environmental sustainability (Global Agenda, 2012). The paper will present a case study of a small Croatian municipality Dvor that is for a long period of time developmentally underprivileged, and currently faced with decision making process that will result with disposal of nuclear waste on its territory. Municipality Dvor has a very low development index (38.59% of the Croatian average), in the early 90s was exposed to war, and in the population prevails Serbian nationality who represent a minority in Croatia. The municipality is along the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, isolated from the centres of power with strong demographic decline and its overall socio-political status is disadvantaged. Currently a sort of clash occurs between different activist groups that oppose the landfill and political structures that see a potential source of financial gain in the landfill. Results of a qualitative ethnographic research will be presented in this paper. Research is based on multiple data sources - interviews with key stakeholders, activists, social workers and residents, media sources and researchers’ participatory observation. Research aim is to get an insight how this situation serves as a frame for defining connections and relationships in the community, community relationship with wider environment, and how this topic is placed in the context of human rights protection. Authors will particularly highlight the perception of social workers about their potential involvement through critical advocacy engagement.

ecological hazards, community development, activist social work, vulnerable community

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