دانلود رایگان مقاله مقاومت در برابر استخراج معدن

Abstract

This academic review of more than 200 articles, books and reports sheds light to why and how do communities resist mining and how do their forms of resistance change over time. The literature reveals that local communities react not only to perceived environmental impacts but also to their lack of representation and participation in decisions concerning their development path, lack of monetary compensation and distrust with the mining company and the state. Several authors explore the objectives and discourses of these movements that range from compensation and market embedded demands to the articulation of post-material values and the emergence of socio-ecological alternatives. Cross-scalar alliances have emerged as a crucial factor in the formation of discourses and strategies; local narratives and alternatives are being combined with global discourses on rights (to clean water, to take decisions, indigenous rights) and environmental justice. Cross scalar alliances have also allowed local groups to increase their knowledge about the projects, give them visibility, and comprehend and act against their weak position in the global commodity chain. These alliances have also contributed to the emergence or consolidation of a diverse set of resistance strategies such as legal court cases, activist-scientist collaborations and local referendums or “consultas” at community level to reject mining projects. This review also explores the response of the state and the mining companies to these conflicts, exploring responses such as regulatory changes or Corporate Social Responsibility programs.

7. Conclusions

The review explores academic peer reviewed publications around resistance to mining. It reveals there has been a shift in the strategies and discourses used by resistance to mining movements in the last two decades. It points to alliances with extra-local actors as having played an important role in this shift; not only fostering movements to emerge, but also developing solidarity and political opportunities, facilitating the acquisition or co-production of technical knowledge and allowing for the emergence of alternative imaginaries of development. Strategic contacts with NGOs, lawyers and scientists are contributing to legal court cases, activist-scientist collaborations and the spread of consultas to formally reject mining projects at community level. Is diffi- cult to assert the decisive role of these alliances due to a lack of comparison with “successful” mining resistances that have not experienced these alliances. Also, not sufficiently explored in the literature is how these alliances are formed and get organised. An initial exploration shows that some are organised against specific minerals such as the “African Uranium Alliance” or “WISE” for uranium, specific companies such as “International Articulation of those affected by Vale”, “PARTIZANS” against Rio Tinto, “Foil Vedanta”, per country or region such as “JATAM” for Indonesia, “No a la mina” in Argentina, and by communities or indigenous groups such as “CONACAMI” in Peru. Further research such as that carried out by EU funded EJOLT project (Özkaynak et al., 2015) will uncover routes, similarities, conditionings and limitations of these alliances.