Understanding Opposition to and Support for Resource Extraction

Abstract

This chapter reviews the contributions of the existing literature and shows how an approach based on individual attitudes fills important gaps in the current scholarship. It develops the theoretical arguments about social engagement and how it helps to differentiate individuals who oppose mining from those who support these activities. It emphasizes what individuals get from participation in local organizations (e.g., critical information about mining threats, empowerment, a community worldview free of mining) and how these outcomes work to shape or reinforce views about mining. The chapter also situates the threats and opportunities presented by mining by drawing attention to the nature of claims over extractive activities, which we categorized as either rejection or redistribution claims. The chapter concludes by explaining the selection of case studies and the research methodology informing the empirical analysis.

Political Trust and Ecological Crisis Perceptions in Developing Economies: Evidence from Ecuador

“…Correa, as an advocate of resource nationalism (Riofrancos 2020), avidly challenged local antimining resistance (Arce et al 2022, 191). His economic development and agrarian policies focused on national gains and prioritized big players, leaving out rural communities, most of which formed the basis of the Indigenous movement.…”

The forms of climate action

“…Extraction activities often occur in “sacrifice zones” (Kuletz, 1998). From a political process perspective, community level mobilization against extraction of raw materials emerges in response to the ecological threats of immediate environmental damages (Arce, Hendricks, and Pozi, 2023; Spalding, 2023). Local villages mobilize over the redistribution of harms and benefits from development projects (Arce, 2014; Jaskoski, 2022) that often involve large impacts on global warming, such as through deforestation and the undermining of low carbon local economies by disrupting surrounding ecosystems.…”