Conflicts, Power and Environmental Institutions: The Case of Social Unrest on Palawan (Philippines) due Mining External Effects

Thèse de Master , 2005 , 107 Pages , Note: 1

Politique - Politique climatique et environnementale

In October 2003, the executive director of the Philippine non-governmental-organization (NGO) Palawan Conservation Corp, Mrs. Sheila Chan, held a Lecture at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus. The presentation topic was on the events that currently endanger the biodiversity of Palawan. Palawan is an island located at the south-west side of the Philippines, which due its rich environmental resources was declared a biosphere reserve by the United Nations in 1991. As a result of this, tourism is a major source of income. Among the seven menaces pointed out by Mrs. Chan, one particularly attracted my attention: The increasing mining activities on the biosphere reserve, and a specific case of protests against a mining project.
The Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation, a firm that have been operating on the island since almost thirty years, became the centre of major controversy. After a contentious past regarding its poor performance with environmental resources, resulting from the presence of negative external effects, as well as legal concerns regarding property rights claims, the company was granted in July 2002 an Environmental Compliance Certificate to expand its mining activities. The legal battle among representatives of the firm and NGOs, which were actively advocating the interests of the native population, was added to the volatility of the southpalawenos that finally resulted in a rally, attracting around 1000 demonstrators of the municipality Bataraza.
This social dissatisfaction is not only as a result of the expectations of the native population being let down in the past by the company, especially those of the southpalawenos and some well-informed urban residents, but is also directed towards the environmental bureaucracies, even to the level of the central government. Formal arrangements concerning the management of the assets involved have been apparently violated, thus generating the need for new institutional arrangements.

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• The Background and the Research Subject
• The Analytical Focus
• Methodology and Study Plan
• Theories, Definitions and Models
• On the Theory of External Effects
• An Attempt to Define External Effects
• Classification of External Effects
• External Effects Regarding Conflicts
• Institutions and Conflicts
• Behavioral Assumptions
• Bounded Rationality
• Opportunism
• Institutions
• Conflicts
• The Inherent Conflictive Nature of Distributions Applied to Externalities
• Institutions Shaping Behavior of Actors and Actors Shaping Institutions
• A Bargaining Model of Institutional Emergence and Factors Featuring Individual Interaction
• The Property Rights Approach
• Property Rights
• Types of Property Rights Regimes
• Elements of Property Rights Regimes
• Some Implications
• When Property Rights do not Exist
• When Property Rights do Exist
• The Theory of Contracts: A Transaction Costs Economic Approach
• Understanding Public Servants in Representative Democracies
• The Behavior of Politicians in Representative Democracies
• The Behavior of Bureaucrats in Representative Democracies
• Extending the Theory of Conflicts
• The Case of Perceived Institutional or Implementation Failure
• Factors Influencing the Attitudes toward Institutional or Implementing Failure
• Methodological Framework
• The Analytic Narratives Approach
• Building Analytic Narratives
• Testing Analytic Narratives
• The Field Work
• Gathering Information
• Semi-Structured Interviews
• The Exercise of Discriminating and Processing Information
• Location: Palawan, the Last Frontier
• Case Study
• The Background: The Mining Project and the Protests
• The Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation
• The Hydrometallurgical Processing Plant
• Narratives and Models
• Narrative: The Onset of an Ongoing Relationship
• Models and Explanation: Initial expectations, a Coordination Problem and a Contract of Promise
• Narrative: The Complex Net of Environmental Institutions and the Presence of Externalities
• Models and Explanations: Not just a Problem of Coordination
• Narrative: The Grant of the Environmental Compliance Certificate
• Models and Explanations: On Environmental Bureaucracies and Behavioral Assumptions
• Strategies of the Philippine Environmental Bureaucracies
• Strategies of the Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation
• Narrative: The NGOs and the Evaluation of a Toxicologist
• Models and Explanations: The Limited Cognition
• Narrative: The Interests of the Philippine Government
• Models and Explanations: The Interests of the State and Conflicts over Formal Institutions
• Narrative: Coming Back to the Protest
• Models and Explanations: The Choice between Exit, Voice, Silence and Dirty Hands

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This study investigates the conflicts arising from the external effects of mining activities on the island of Palawan, Philippines. The author aims to understand the role of institutions, particularly environmental institutions, in managing these conflicts and the influence of behavioral assumptions on the actors involved.

• The interplay between environmental institutions and the behavior of stakeholders in managing external effects of mining.
• The role of property rights regimes in resolving environmental conflicts.
• The impact of bounded rationality and opportunism on decision-making processes.
• The influence of political and bureaucratic actors in environmental policy implementation.
• The application of the theory of external effects and the property rights approach to the analysis of environmental conflicts.

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

• Introduction: This chapter lays out the background of the research subject, focusing on the mining project in Palawan and the social unrest surrounding it. It also defines the analytical focus and methodology of the study.
• Theories, Definitions and Models: This chapter delves into the theoretical framework used for analyzing the case study, presenting key concepts like external effects, institutions, conflicts, property rights, and contracts. It also examines the behavioral assumptions of bounded rationality and opportunism.
• Methodological Framework: This chapter explains the chosen methodological approach – the analytic narratives approach. It details the process of gathering information through semi-structured interviews and the importance of location in the research.
• Case Study: This chapter presents the Palawan mining project case study, exploring the background of the project, the protests against it, and the interplay of narratives and models in explaining the situation. It examines the role of environmental institutions, the influence of bureaucratic behavior, and the interests of different actors involved.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The research focuses on environmental institutions, conflicts, external effects, property rights, bounded rationality, opportunism, and the Philippine context. The case study of the Palawan mining project and the social unrest surrounding it provides a real-world example for understanding the interplay of these factors.

• Université: Humboldt-University of Berlin (Umwelt-und Ressourcenökonomie)
• Note: 1
• Auteur: MS Alexander Perez Carmona (Auteur)
• Année de publication: 2005
• Pages: 107
• N° de catalogue: V50490
• ISBN (ebook): 9783638467001
• Langue: anglais
• mots-clé: Conflicts, Power, Environmental, Institutions, Case, Social, Unrest, Palawan, Mining, External, Effects