Socio-Environmental Conflict, Political Settlements, and Mining Governance: A Cross-Border Comparison, El Salvador and Honduras


Publisher: Latin American Perspectives

Author(s): Anthony Bebbington, Benjamin Fash, and John Rogan

Date: 2020

Topics: Conflict Causes, Governance, Land, Renewable Resources

Countries: Azerbaijan, Georgia

View Original

During the mid-2000s, Honduras and El Salvador implemented mining moratoria. By 2017 El Salvador had legislated a globally unprecedented ban on all forms of metal mining, while in Honduras mining was expanding aggressively. These neighboring countries present the explanatory challenge of understanding the distinct trajectories of mining policy and politics. These divergent pathways can be explained by the interactions between the political economy of subsoil resources, national political settlements, and the ways in which diverse actors have taken advantage (or not) of openings in these settlements.