Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
state-owned, that the criteria of Correa's government were the ones to
meet, not necessarily those demanded by grassroots groups or NGOs or
even those previously set by Northern MNCs.
21
These sweeping examples are presented here to emphasize how Latin
American states are regulating, some hand in hand with labor groups
and civil society, and how Northern companies are informing China's
global activities. These cases are in contrast to parts of Africa and Asia
where authoritarian regimes neglect communities and ecosystems and
where Northern fi rms are minimal or absent. Yet political shifts in
Ecuador, Brazil, and Venezuela toward favoring state-owned companies
may still bode poorly for affected communities and ecosystems if state-
owned fi rms have fewer resources to invest in protective measurements.
Given these multiple transitions and a history of elite failures in the oil
sector, bottom-up, grassroots governance and democratic participation
where people live, work, and play may become even more critical in
directing the practices of state-owned companies. Activism not only
pushes state agencies and industries to respond to community complaints
(see Buttel 2003), activism pushes for improved standards, demands
redress of multifaceted concerns, and serves as a constant observer to
ensure that standards are enforced regardless of the company's headquar-
ters and the political leanings of elected offi cials.
Potential Pan-Pacifi c Networks
China's epic quest for oil and its disregard of human and labor rights and
environmental justice in
some
places identifi es the importance of civil
society as educators, monitors, and enforcers. To be clear, China's study
of the practices and policies of Northern oil companies and international
institutions has been noted in this chapter and by others (see Guthrie
2006; Zhang 2004). However, it was the thousands of community- and
labor-based organizations, advocacy groups, EJ networks, and conserva-
tion NGOs worldwide, which were instrumental in demanding and
establishing norms on human, labor, and environmental rights.
Yet, more questions have been raised than answered with regard to
how the Chinese state and Chinese citizens will respond to grassroots
and NGO mobilization against China's extractive practices overseas. On
the environment in particular, Ebel (2005, 48) asks whether China will
“be given a free ride, ignored by the NGOs, or will the reverse occur—
that is, will China ignore the NGOs?” Contributing to this concern,
Chen (2007) suggests that NGOs that confront or condemn China's
