Green Gold and Corporate Power: Environmental Conflicts and Law MTA
Land Rights, Extractive Projects, and Legal Strategies in Central America

About this book:

*Green Gold and Corporate Power: Environmental Conflicts and Law* provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal and sociopolitical struggles surrounding extractive industries in Central America. The book explores the "green gold" paradox, where the region’s natural wealth—including minerals, hydropower, and agribusiness—promises national development but often results in environmental degradation and the dispossession of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and campesino communities. By examining the intersection of national mining codes, energy policies, and land tenure with international human rights and investment treaties, the text maps the complex legal architecture that corporate and state actors navigate to facilitate large-scale projects.

The narrative centers on the innovative legal strategies and grassroots organizing employed by local communities to defend their territories and livelihoods. Key chapters detail the procedural importance of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), the utilization of municipal referenda to block extraction, and the rising significance of the Escazú Agreement in strengthening environmental democracy. The book emphasizes the critical role of "movement lawyering," community paralegals, and citizen science in gathering forensic evidence—such as water and soil sampling—to challenge corporate narratives in administrative, civil, and criminal forums. It also addresses the severe risks faced by environmental defenders, including criminalization and Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs).

Furthermore, the book investigates the transnational dimensions of these conflicts, highlighting how corporate structures and shell companies are used to insulate parent firms from liability. It discusses the "regulatory chill" created by investor-state dispute settlements under CAFTA-DR and explores emerging pathways for accountability through extraterritorial claims in foreign courts and supply chain due diligence laws. By integrating gendered perspectives on care work and environmental justice, the text illustrates how resource scarcity and pollution disproportionately impact women, further complicating the pursuit of equitable remedies and restoration.

Ultimately, the work advocates for a transition away from traditional extractive models toward a "plurinational" horizon that respects community autonomy and ecological limits. It calls for a "just transition" that prioritizes food sovereignty, community-led renewable energy, and the legal recognition of the rights of nature. By documenting both the pitfalls of current legal systems and the iterative victories of social movements, the book serves as both an analytical study and a practical handbook for those seeking to restrain corporate power and build sustainable futures in Central America.

What You'll Find Inside:

• Examines how Central America's 'green gold' (biodiversity, water, forests) creates conflicts when corporate extraction projects threaten community lands, water, and livelihoods despite being marketed as sustainable development.
• Provides practical legal strategies for communities including administrative appeals, constitutional actions, civil/criminal litigation, and use of international mechanisms like the Inter-American human rights system and Escazú Agreement to defend territorial and environmental rights.
• Details how corporate structures use special-purpose vehicles and shell companies to limit liability, and explains legal approaches to pierce the corporate veil and pursue parent company accountability through transnational litigation strategies.
• Covers sector-specific conflicts in mining (tailings/water contamination), hydropower (dams/river rights), and agribusiness (palm oil/sugar plantations) with evidence-gathering techniques like forensic hydrology, participatory mapping, and community monitoring.
• Addresses gendered dimensions of environmental harm showing how women disproportionately bear burdens of pollution and care work while leading resistance, requiring legal strategies that value reproductive health, time poverty, and gender-specific impacts.

Who's It For:

This book is for community organizers, legal practitioners, students, journalists, and public officials working on or studying environmental conflicts in Central America. It specifically serves those supporting Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities' land and water rights struggles against extractive industries, providing practical tools for lawyers and advocates seeking to navigate domestic and international legal forums while understanding the political realities of corporate power and state-community dynamics.