Estados Nacionales, Conflictos Ambientales y Minería en América Latina

Abstract

The work asks about possible factors that may explain the vertiginous increase, in the last decade, of social conflicts around mining in all Latin American countries that have mining activities. Is it possible to talk about "regional trends" in terms of blooming and development of these conflicts along the continent? If this is the case, which would be the trends? I aim to show that, beyond the consequences of great increase of external investments in mining sector, it is fundamental to look at the role of national states and analyze some of the main changes which occurred in national legislation dedicated to "rule" the property, access and exploitation of mineral resources.