Lucas G . Christel | Universidad Nacional de San Martin (original) (raw)

Papers by Lucas G . Christel

Journal of Sustainable Tourism

Bulletin of Latin American Research (BLAR), 2022

Although many studies focus on environmental conflict and debates around sustainable development,... more Although many studies focus on environmental conflict and debates around sustainable development, more research is needed to deepen the understanding of the links between the frames upheld by actors involved in environmental conflicts and governance processes. We propose a dialogue between political ecology and governance to study how divergent valuations of the environment shape intense and long-term mining conflicts and impact on environmental governance. Focusing on the case of La Alumbrera in Argentina, we argue that three factors disrupt environmental governance and deepen the conflict: divergent valuations that consolidate a growing distance among the images portrayed by the actors; the unequal emphasis that the actors place on the problems and solutions that mining generates; and the inability of the state and mining corporations to process the notions of difference that emerge from the territories.

ICONOS. Revista de ciencias sociales, 2022

Resumen En Argentina las zonas de explotación de litio coinciden mayormente con territorios ances... more Resumen En Argentina las zonas de explotación de litio coinciden mayormente con territorios ancestrales habitados por los pueblos indígenas. La presencia de tales comunidades involucra derechos a la autonomía y la autodeterminación que fácilmente entran en tensión con los intereses del Estado y de las diversas empresas que operan en el territorio. En el presente artículo analizamos las estrategias que despliegan los actores indígenas ante el incumplimiento de derechos constitucionalmente reconocidos. A partir de un estudio realizado en las comunidades de Salinas Grandes y Laguna de Guayatayoc, entre 2009 y 2019, se demuestra que frente a derechos constitucionales incumplidos las comunidades indígenas han desplegado una estrategia acumulativa y complementaria sustentada en su derecho a la autodeterminación. El análisis y la información presentada en este trabajo se desprende de dos técnicas de recopilación de datos: el análisis y sistematización de documentos primarios y secundarios y las entrevistas en profundidad a actores del territorio. Se concluye que en un marcado contexto de juridificación las comunidades indígenas emplearon en forma combinada la acción judicial-legal, la acción directa y la acción de reinterpretación comunitaria con el objetivo de exigir sus derechos a decidir el respeto a su territorio, a sus formas de vida y producción, y a su propia subsistencia como comunidad. Descriptores: autonomía; comunidades indígenas; derecho indígena; estrategia acumulativa; juridificación.

Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revue canadienne des études latinoaméricaines et caraïbes, 2021

Upon the third wave of democratization, environmental mobilization has increased throughout Latin... more Upon the third wave of democratization, environmental mobilization has increased throughout Latin America. In line with this process, the literature has analyzed different aspects of environmental mobilization such as the types of groups involved and the resources mobilized. Yet, less attention has been paid to the impacts of those mobilizations. So, we ask: what are the impacts of environmental mobilization and how can they be best understood?
Based on a review of the literature and on our own studies on Argentina, we build a novel typology to explain the connection between the political impacts of environmental mobilization and their concrete effects on the environment. We argue that the best way to understand those impacts is to analyze the state decisions that respond to such a mobilization, focusing on two key dimensions: the spatial and the temporal scope. We illustrate our typology with the analysis of four different environmental areas in Argentina.

DILEMAS -Revista de Estudos de Conflito e Controle Social - (Reflexões na Pandemia), 2020

Este artículo reflexiona sobre dos aspectos puntuales a partir del diálogo entre la crisis del co... more Este artículo reflexiona sobre dos aspectos puntuales a partir del diálogo entre la crisis del coronavirus y la crisis ambiental. Por un lado, explorar como una crisis particular puede favorecer o fortalecer la problematización de otra. Por otro lado, reflexionar acerca del rol de la ciencia y las expectativas sobre el conocimiento científico en tiempos de crisis, particularmente en lo referido a la urgencia, la vulnerabilidad y las soluciones de la crisis.

Biodiversity Revisited: New frontiers for biodiversity knowledge and action, 2020

A two-year collaboration involving nearly 300 people of 46 nationalities has culminated in a new ... more A two-year collaboration involving nearly 300 people of 46 nationalities has culminated in a new agenda that charts a course for more effective biodiversity research and action for the next five years.

The agenda is the result of Biodiversity Revisited, an initiative conceived by the Luc Hoffmann Institute that has looked at why the world has failed to stop biodiversity loss and what large-scale changes are needed to sustain diverse and just futures for life on Earth.

Wyborn, C., Montana, J., Kalas, N., Davila Cisneros, F., Clement, S., Izquierdo Tort, S., Knowles, N., Louder, E., Balan, M., Chambers, J., Christel, L., Deplazes-Zemp, A., Forsyth, T., Henderson, G., Lim, M., Martinez Harms, M.J., Merçon, J., Nuesiri, E., Pereira, L., Pilbeam, V., Turnhout, E., and Wood, S. (2020) Research and action agenda for sustaining diverse and just futures for life on Earth. Biodiversity
Revisited.

Nature and Economy Chapter by Natalie Knowles, Josie Chambers, Lucas Christel and Esther Turnhout

Revista Electrónica. Instituto de Investigaciones Ambrosio L. Gioja, 2020

El avance la minería a cielo abierto en Argentina ha generado múltiples rechazos. El surgimiento ... more El avance la minería a cielo abierto en Argentina ha generado múltiples rechazos. El surgimiento y consolidación de resistencias sociales a la minería es muestra de un complejo escenario de conflictividad socioambiental y de una pluralidad de actores que pugnan por decidir sobre el uso y disfrute de los bienes ambientales. Este trabajo analiza un aspecto particular de los repertorios de acción de uno de los actores más involucrados en la contienda, las asambleas socioambientales, y se pregunta ¿Cuáles son las posibilidades de que un actor mayormente identificado con la participación no institucional incorpore las herramientas legales a su repertorio de acción? ¿Cómo puede combinar un mismo actor social la protesta con la estrategia legal? A partir del estudio del caso de la Asamblea del Algarrobo, de la localidad de Andalgalá, Catamarca, se demuestra que estos actores efectivamente logran combinar la participación no institucional con las estrategias legales y que, incluso, utilizan la protesta como una forma de reforzar sus estrategias legales.

Política y Gobierno (CIDE), 2020

Resistencias sociales y legislaciones mineras en las provincias argentinas Los casos de Mendoza, ... more Resistencias sociales y legislaciones mineras en las provincias argentinas
Los casos de Mendoza, Córdoba, Catamarca y San Juan (2003-2009)

Revista Austral de Ciencias Sociales, 2019

En las pasadas dos décadas, la minería a cielo abierto en Argentina se expandió significativament... more En las pasadas dos décadas, la minería a cielo abierto en Argentina se expandió significativamente. Frente a este avance, crecieron fuertemente las resistencias sociales contra la actividad y, desde 2003 a la fecha, nueve provincias aprobaron leyes que prohibieron la megaminería. A partir del estudio de los procesos de sanción de este tipo de normativas en Mendoza y Córdoba, el trabajo analiza la incorporación del instrumento legal al repertorio de acción de las resistencias sociales y el impacto positivo del mismo sobre los procesos de incidencia legislativa. La incorporación de un discurso legal a las acciones de resistencia, clave para impulsar el avance y reactualización de los derechos ambientales se vio favorecida por tres elementos: la capacidad de los contendientes de complementar acciones contenciosas con otras canalizadas institucionalmente; la pluralidad de actores involucrados y la socialización de experiencias y, por último, por el logro de resultados exitosos.

Revista PostData, 2018

El método del fracking produjo fuertes rechazos en las provincias argentinas ante los riesgos amb... more El método del fracking produjo fuertes rechazos en las provincias argentinas ante los riesgos ambientales y sus posibles impactos en términos socioeconómicos. Así, surgieron resistencias sociales que buscaron limitar el avance de la explotación de hidrocarburos bajo la técnica del fracking. Sin embargo, los resultados de sus esfuerzos han sido disímiles. Ante esto, el presente artículo se pregunta ¿qué determina que en ciertas provincias las resistencias sociales logren su objetivo de impedir el fracking mientras que en otras no? A partir de un análisis de los casos de Entre Ríos y Neuquén, el argumento general de este trabajo afirma que los avances o las restricciones subnacionales a la explotación del fracking se relacionan con las particularidades económicas y políticas de cada provincia y por cómo las mismas configuran distintos niveles de “incentivos económicos” y de “preocupación por la conflictividad social” en cada gobierno subnacional.

Journal of Environment & Development, 2017

New environmental rights were introduced in Argentina with the 1994 amendments to the 1853 nation... more New environmental rights were introduced in Argentina with the 1994 amendments to the 1853 national constitution. This constitutional recognition of environmental rights is a fundamental step in the advancement of environmental justice and citizenship , but it is not enough. When and how do environmental rights become effective? Under what circumstances are environmental rights effectively applied and enforced? We claim that participation is the key mechanism through which constitutionally enacted environmental rights become effective. More specifically, we argue that the embodiment of constitutional environmental rights in concrete policies and practices are propelled by the combination of contentious and institutionalized modes of participation. Based on evidence from two contrasting and salient cases—river sanitation in the Metropolitan Buenos Aires Region and open-pit mining in Andean Argentina—this article discusses how the combination of different modes of participation has been an effective channel for the enforcement and effectiveness of environmental rights.

European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (ERLACS) - Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe, 2017

Until 2010, the cycle of socio-environmental mobilization in Argentina against transnational mini... more Until 2010, the cycle of socio-environmental mobilization in Argentina against transnational mining that began in 2003 had influenced legislative power only at subnational levels. The enactment of the Glaciers Law in 2010 constituted the first time that socio-environmental mobilization successfully influenced legislative power at the federal level. This article makes a double contribution to the analysis of this type of conflict. In theoretical terms, through the notion of " sovereignties in conflict " , it problematizes the question of sovereignty in relation to socio-environmental conflicts, a dimension currently absent in studies of this kind. In empirical terms, it carries out a study of the enactment of the Glaciers Law. The principal argument is that the greater influence of socio-environmental mobilization on federal legislative power was made possible by the higher degree of openness to various viewpoints at this level, in contrast to that observed at subnational levels, and by the more successful organization and articulation of socio-environmental mobilization in this broader context.

Letras Verdes, Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios Socioambientales, 2013

Several evaluations of contemporary left-of-center governments in South America suggest that natu... more Several evaluations of contemporary left-of-center governments in South America suggest that natural resource governance in the region has become post-neoliberal only in the sense that States augmented the appropriation and distribution of rent motivated by sustained international demand for commod- ities. The political ecologies of mining remain characterized by increasing demands for more democratic decision-making as occurred in the 1990s. In order to explain this continuity, most studies focus on the interactions between States and civil societies. They state that a pragmatic stance on resource gover- nance regards rent capture and distribution over the development of mechanisms for inclusion in de- cision-making. These assessments give only a partial account of the interactions involved in such dynamic, they underestimate corporate behavior as a central component of emerging forms of gover- nance. We argue that companies were central actors of the production of mining conflicts during the 1990s and still exert an important degree of influence in resource governance through corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. Our findings show that since the neoliberal legal and administrative re- forms of the early 1990s, Argentinian and Ecuadorian governments have supported a system of mining governance that regards the economic interests over the demands for more democratic decision-making. Nevertheless, even after recognizing the deleterious effects of neoliberal CSR practiced by companies, left-of-center governments have not been able to steer corporate behavior in a new direction.

Books by Lucas G . Christel

Global Capital and Social Difference, 2020

In South America, but also in other regions of the Global South marked by an export-oriented extr... more In South America, but also in other regions of the Global South marked by an export-oriented extractivist development model, finding the right balance across interests for a more responsive natural resource governance is a pending challenge. Increasingly, corporations and investors in our region are becoming so powerful that they have begun to assume functions traditionally related to the role of the State.

Under the discussion of natural resource–based development, in this chapter, we introduce the concept of substitutive governance to portray situations marked by a deliberate replacement of one of the traditional governance agents (State, Market or Civil Society) by another that either ignores or assumes its functions. After presenting the concept, we will analyse concrete South American cases that highlight the fundamental variations of this concept and their linkages with different developmental models (neoliberalism, neodevelopmentalism and postdevelopment).

This book explores the emergence of civil society organizations at the national level that reject... more This book explores the emergence of civil society organizations at the national level that reject neoliberal mining policies adopted in the 1990s in Latin American countries. Authors assess the impact of civil society mobilization on current policies in Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.

Chapters by Lucas G . Christel

Oxford University Press, 2023

The Oxford Handbook of Latin American Social Movements, editado por Federico M. Rossi, 439-454. O... more The Oxford Handbook of Latin American Social Movements, editado por Federico M. Rossi, 439-454. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190870362.