Environmental Conflicts and the Plundering of Resources in Latin America
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Environmental Conflicts and the Plundering of Resources in Latin America
RICARDO CIFUENTES VILLARROEL
ABSTRACT Ricardo Cifuentes Villarroel argues that the main source of environmental conflicts in Latin America come from large-scale projects carried out by transnational corporations and that plunder natural resources. The conditions to develop such projects imply weak environmental regulations, preferential tax regimes, cheap and legally unprotected labour. Focused on earnings, they destroy the environment and the living conditions of numerous communities. The process is coordinated and supported through international economic organizations with the connivance of political elites acting as facilitators and participants. KEYWORDS transnational corporations; corruption; plundering of resources; survival
Introduction Transnational corporations (TNCs), large-scale projects based on plundering natural resources and environmental destruction in a magnitude not seen before, have come to be the main source of environmental conflicts in Latin America. The proliferation of these economic operations are favoured by plans to foment exports, basically raw material, which are posed as ‘the growth and development’ of a region that possess vast mineral wealth, the biggest biodiversity reserves, a third of the planet’s freshwater and forest resources. In the last 15 years, financial and corporate globalization has assumed a central position in international business.Within the global market,TNCs determine the direction of accumulation: strong in the centre and weak in the periphery, developing a colonial style for the exploitation of resources. Domineering operations and search for earnings by transnational capital distort gross national product figures in every country where the exploitation of resources is included as a national product. This process is characterized by handing over territory, granting tax exemptions, facilitating water right concessions and mining exploitation permits, obtaining cheap services generally provided by public funds, handling unprotected labour force and environment. Such trends take place under similar conditions in different countries, in some cases conforming real operational models where TNCs take out resources of enormous value, yet leaving behind vast scenarios of environmental contamination Development (2006) 49(3), 32–37. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100270
Villarroel: Environmental Conflicts in Latin America and destruction, depletion of natural resources and deterioration of economic and health conditions in the affected population. In fact, as the main purpose of TNCs is to increase their capital, a particular preference is given to industries that ensure bigger earnings, such as mining and agro-industrial monocultures, along with other more profitable types of production activities. Furthermore, monoculture focuses on animal food or cellulose exports, while mining is increasingly directed towards gold and uranium extraction. Confronted by the corporate push for
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