Upcoming Panel by the Earth System Governance Taskforce on Accountability in Global Environmental Governance at the International Studies Association Annual Convention, San Francisco, Wednesday, April 4, 4:00 PM – 5:45 PM
Ruling Out Socially, Environmentally, and Economically-Destructive Extractives? The Power of “Environmentalism” and Anti-Extractivism in Comparative Perspective
In the wake of the Paris Climate Agreement, governments around the world are now legislating and creating new rules and institutional arrangements for maintaining global temperatures within 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels. At the same time, grassroots and environmental social movements have called into question the legitimacy of extractivist and neo-extractivist models of development, mobilizing resistance to metals mining, fossil-fuel development, oil and gas exploration, and related forms of extractive infrastructure. Our panel explores the new politics of “environmentalism” and anti-extractivism in this changing political climate. It contributes to the ISA Conference Theme on the Power of Rules and the Rule of Power by exploring the current and (as some papers will argue) changing rules, norms and institutional arrangements governing the intersection of extractivism and environmentalism. Case studies, based on extensive fieldwork, will look in detail at rights of nature legislation, metals mining bans, and new models of jurisprudence and accountability in extractive industries including forests, rare earth commodities, and oil and gas. The focus is comparative, incorporating new empirical research on the power and political economy of environmentalism and extractivism in Africa, Asia, and North and South America.
Chairs and Discussants
- Chair: Craig A. Johnson (University of Guelph)
- Discussant: Susan M. Park (University of Sydney)
Papers
“Water Rights and Earth Jurisprudence: Lessons Learned from Colombia and the US
- Author: Craig Kauffman (University of Oregon)
- Author: Pamela Martin (Coastal Carolina University)
“Extracting Local Costs for Global Environmental Benefits”
- Author: Teresa Kramarz (University of Toronto)
“Valuing Extraction or Extracting Value? Market and Indigenous Models of Forest Governance in Ecuador”
- Author: Matthew McBurney (University of Guelph)
- Author: Craig A. Johnson (University of Guelph)
“Changing the Rule of Power and the Power of Rules in Favor of Water and Against Destructive Mining by Global Corporate Actors: Lessons from How El Salvador Became the World’s First Government to Outlaw Mining While Winning an Investor-State-Dispute-Settlement (ISDS) Case”
- Author: Robin Broad (American University)
“Unraveling the Politics of Greening Extractive Investments Through Biodiversity Conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa”
- Author: Charis Enns (University of Guelph)
- Author: Adam C. Sneyd (University of Guelph)
