The processes of nationalization of natural resources are the outcome of very intense social movements throughout the region. There are a number of different ways that we are moving towards the nationalization of natural resources. We have the example of Bolivia where natural gas is now being hailed as national heritage and property. There is the birth and in some cases rebirth of national companies which are occurring in both Argentina and Bolivia. We have the overhauling of the tax system which is occurring in Venezuela. There is also a process where by contracts that have been granted are being reviewed and even cancelled. A contract was recently cancelled in Ecuador. There are other additional measures. For example, Ecuador has recently returned to OPEC. All of these examples point to a tendency to recover the natural sovereignty over hydrocarbons. The question is, is this enough? The states throughout the Latin American region continue to be controlled by power elites that are the direct recipients of the profits generated by the use and exploitation of these resources. Many, if not all of the measures that are implemented in the name of natural sovereignty have direct impact on local communities. If we ask ourselves, is national sovereignty over natural resources any kind of guarantee for environmental justice? The answer is no. Even so, national sovereignty over natural resources is a more favourable scenario than multi-national or trans-national companies controlling our resources. What we really need to do is make a distinction between two different kinds of national sovereignty over national resources. There is the state national sovereignty and there is community national sovereignty. Until communities have fully re-appropriated the control over natural resources, there will be no environmental justice. Given that that is the case, how are we shaping our struggles for national sovereignty in Latin America? On one hand, we have the efforts to halt the very aggressive privatization of natural resources by multinational companies. And for that purpose, we have two tools.

The first tool is to denounce ecological destruction and aggression, which includes legal action and lawsuits. The second tool, which of course is the most effective, is to resist. Resistance includes, not letting the companies work, and not letting them divide our communities. We don’t just criticize or defend. We also propose. This question of our proposing is very important taking into account the emergence of so called leftist governments throughout Latin America. One of the first things that we are proposing is a transition to an energy model that is not dependent on oil, and not dependent on trans-nationals. In this regard, in Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia and Ecuador we are putting forward proposals that call for a moratorium on gas and oil exploration and exploitation. Latin America is really divided, but there is one block of countries which includes Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia and Ecuador, which are oil producing countries that are actually open to considering declaring a moratory on oil exploration and exploitation, given the social and ecological impacts that it has.

The call for the moratory is just on oil exploration, Venezuela would never agree to a moratorium on oil exploitation. But the governments of the South ask themselves, why is it the South that should stop developing and using our natural resources. Why shouldn’t it be the North? There is a new government and a new minister of the economy in Ecuador, and he said, ‘so we won’t explore the oil reserves in our national park, but who is going to compensate for us not doing that?’ These are some of the steps that governments in Latin America are considering. I want to stress that the true strength for defending the environment is with the social movements that mobilize, that rise up to create new proposals and to work together to defend their own lives and the environment.

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The speeches from Regaining Control of the Commons: WSF 2007 are provided for information and educational purposes. The transcription has been undertaken on a volunteer basis. Due to resource limitations we are unable to provide a complete transcription. We apologise for the breaks in the text.

Disclaimer: The view in this and the other articles do not (neccessarily) represent the position or views of Friends of the Earth Australia nor Friends of the Earth International.