Green Guerrillas*
Environmental Conflicts and Initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean
Helen Collinson, ed.
A war is sweeping across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Not
a military war, but one which is punctuated by thousands of local disputes over natural
resources. Driven by debt and free market economic policies, these environmental conflicts
are
the cause of great destruction and intense political debate. Few communities have escaped
the
cross-fire. At the frontline of this war are indigenous communities confronting multinational
oil
companies in the Ecuadorian Amazon; the Wichi of Argentina defending their traditional
lands
against cattle ranching; Haitian peasants caught in a cycle of erosion and deforestation;
Puerto
Rican women protesting against a power station nobody needs; a Salvadorean coffee co-op
fighting for a forest threatened by a deluxe housing project; Honduran fishermen blocking the
destruction of mangroves on which their livelihoods depend. Whether urban or rural, local or
national, the lesson from these struggles is clear: defence of the environment is integral to the
quest for basic rights and decent living standards.
Leading environmental activists, from both sides of the Atlantic highlight these struggles and
initiatives little publicized outside Latin America or the Caribbean.
"This remarkable collection is just what we needed. Diverse viewpoints and a
willingness
to challenge received wisdom."
Richard Levins, Harvard School of Public Health
"An enlightening and highly disturbing insight into a host of environmental issues and
conflicts in Latin America."
Jonathon Porritt, Forum for the Future
"Challenges conventional stereotypes about the region's environmental crisis
demonstrating both the diversity and dilemmas of local struggles."
Marcus Colchester, World Rainforest Movement
"Provocative and wide-ranging. Portrays the complex face of grassroots environmental
politics in Latin America."
Marianne Schmink, Co-Director of the Tropical Conservation and Development
Program, University of Florida
"Documents numerous examples of how closely human rights violations are
intertwined
with threats to creation."
United Church Observer
- Table of Contents
- 1 THE CRISIS AND THE MOVEMENT: CONTINENTAL PERSPECTIVES
- Capitalism and Ecological Crisis: Legacy of the 1980s, Elizabeth Dore: senior lecturer
in
Latin American history, University of Portsmouth, UK
- Social Pressure for Environmental Reform in Latin America, David Kaimovitz:
specialist
at the Center for International Forestry Research, Jakarta, Indonesia
- 2 INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS
- Native Peoples and Sustainable Development, Al Gedicks: professor of sociology at
the
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
- The Land of Our Ancestors' Bones: Wichi Peoples' Struggle in the
Argentine Chaco, Aidan Rankin: Campaigns Press Officer for Survival International, London
- How Sustainable Were Pre-Columbian Civilizations? Elizabeth Dore: see above
Debating "Indigenous" Agricultural Development: Indian Organizations in the Central Andes
of
Ecuador, Anthony Bebbington: a geographer specializing in NGO's (popular organisations
and
the State), currently at University of Colorado
- Oil, Lawlessness, and Indigenous Struggles in Ecuador's Oriente, Judith Kimerling:
visiting scholar at Yale Law School, past Assistant Attorney General for New York State,
previously practiced environmental law
- Colombia's Plan Pacifico: Indigenous and Afro-Colombian Communities Challenge
the
Developers, Lucy Alexander: journalist who specialises in Latin America, previously worked in
the press office of Christian Aid, London
- 3 FIGHT FOR THE FOREST
- Amazonian Indians and Peasants: Coping in the Age of Development, Stephen
Nugent:
Senior Lecturer and Head of Department of Anthropology, goldsmith College, University of
London, and Associate Fellow of the Institute of Latin America Studies, London
- Did Chico Mendes Die in Vain? Brazilian Rubber Tappers in the 1990s, Anthony
Hall:
Senior Lecturer in Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries, London School of
Economics and Political Science
- Fruit Farming in the Brazilian Amazon: A Sustainable Alternative, Catherine
Matheson:
journalist previously with the BBC, currently with Christian Aid, London
- Pioneer Women and the Destruction of the Rainforests, Janet Townsend: Senior
Lecturer in geography at the University of Durham, UK
- Can Ecotourism Save Ecuador's Cloud Forests? James Fair: freelance journalist,
Ecuador
- 4 MODERNIZATION: ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS AND POPULAR RESPONSES
- New Harvests, Old Problems: The Challenges Facing Latin America's Agro-export
Boom, Lori Ann Thrupp: Director of Sustainable Agriculture at the world Resources
Institute's
Center for International Development and Environment, Washington, DC
- The Price of a Perfect Flower: Environmental Destruction and Health Hazards in the
Colombian Flower Industry, Sarah Stewart: journalist with Christian Aid, London
- David vs. Goliath: Fishermen Conflicts with Mariculturalists in Honduras, Denise
Stanley: Ph.D candidate in agricultural Economics at the University of Wisconsin
- Confronting Haiti's Environmental Crisis: A Tale of Two Visions, Charles Arthur:
editor
of Haiti Briefing, newsletter of the London-based Haiti Support Group
- The Greening of Cuba, Peter Rosset: executive director of the Institute for Food and
Development Policy (Food First), Oakland, California
- Puerto Rico's Energy Fix, Marianne Meyn: linguist and political sciences graduate of
Philipps University, Germany, currently administrator at the Misi¢n Industrial, Puerto Rico
- Green Crime, Green Redemption: The Environment and Ecotourism in the
Caribbean,
Polly Pattullo: journalist with the Guardian and Caribbean Insight, London
- Where Will All the Garbage Go?: Tourism, Politics, and the Environment in
Barbados,
Hilary McD. Beckles: Professor of Social and Economic History, University of the West
Indies,
Barbados
- 5 URBAN ECOWARRIORS: CONFLICTS AND INITIATIVES IN LATIN
AMERICAN CITIES
- Enlightened Cities: The Urban Environment in Latin America, Julio Davila: lectures at
the Development Planning Unit, University College, London
- San Salvador: The City Versus the Forest, Nick Caistor: senior producer at the BBC
World Service
- Colombia's Independent Recyclers' Union: A Model for Urban Waste Management,
Margarita Pacheco: architect and urban planner at the Environmental Institute of the
National
University of Columbia
- Santo Domingo: An Alternative City Plan, Jorge Cela: Director of the P. Jaun
Montalvo
Social Studies Center, Dominican Republic
- Curitiba: Towards Sustainable Urban Development, Jonas Rabinovitch: Senior Urban
Development Advisor for the United Nations Development Programme, New
York
About the author
Helen Collinson is editor of and contributor to Women and Revolution in
Nicaragua
and author of Death on Delivery: The Impact of the Arms Trade on the Third
World. She is currently editor at the Latin America Bureau in London, UK, which
supports research, publishing and education on Latin America and the Caribbean.
250 pages, index
Paperback ISBN: 1-55164-066-X $23.99
Hardcover ISBN: 1-55164-067-8 $52.99
Prices are in Canadian dollars in Canada and in US dollars
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