Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
has been central to the courses of decision making about the projects.
Above all, unity seems crucial to the ability of a local community to have
any say in whether or how the project continues. The splits in views in
Chelopech gave the fi rm, its local supporters, and national offi cials open-
ings to shape the course of decision making in ways that isolated oppo-
nents from any infl uence over the shape of the project. While local unity
is necessary to assert infl uence in the process, it may not be suffi cient.
Chavdar's residents were originally strongly against the planned invest-
ment in Chelopech, but they could not block the decision to proceed.
In addition to unity, local actors also need effective organization and
well-timed actions and interventions into the decision-making processes
of the political system or company. The residents of Popintsi were able
to stop the company before it could reach the legal status of having
“discovered” (by drilling boreholes) depositories and thus claim the right
to exploit its fi ndings. The strong stance by the residents of Krumovgrad
early in the decision-making process set in motion a number of strategies.
Green Balkans and other environmental groups mobilized the Cyanide-
Free Bulgaria coalition (originally called Cyanide-Free Rhodopi for the
Rhodopi mountains in which Krumovgrad is located). The coalition and
the local resistance group were crucial in pressing local offi cials of the
MRF party to oppose the project.
Part of the organization and strategy of local groups has to be to fi nd
allies beyond their area, especially at the national level and possibly at
the transnational levels. These allies can be movement or nongovernmen-
tal actors who can mobilize technical and legal expertise in the decision-
making process; political parties; or even institutions seeking to establish
certain precedents, defi ne standards, reinforce law, or simply strengthen
their autonomy and position in the political system.
Movement Actors at the National Level
Environmental movement actors working at the national level can provide
local residents with a variety of resources and assistance in their activism.
They are sources of information about technical, legal, and political
processes; and their links to other environmental NGOs outside the
country, to international organizations, and to national and international
media can support local citizens with the means to pressure both their
governments and the investors. Environmental groups in Bulgaria devel-
oped in the last half of the 1980s, played a central role in the popular
mobilization that prompted and accompanied the elite changes ending
the communist regime, and have continued to press for more active civic
