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This paper examines theoretical issues surrounding how conservation efforts are reproduced within contemporary capitalism drawing on two cases: Brazil's eastern Amazon and the forested regions of southern Chile. Drawing on a critical approach to analyze the data from the respective cases, we analyze the ways in which conservation efforts have been territorialized and loaded with symbolism and diversity, which express different ideological geographies. We argue that in the contemporary crisis of capitalism (which has been misunderstood by many observers as an environmental crisis), an array of new commodities have emerged. These processes of commodification have been marked by the commodification of "environmental services"and the creation of more private nature reserves creating value in new ways marked by scarcity and unique natural attractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing socioenvironmental conflicts dealing with primary resources is especially necessary to understand the context that explains the conceptions, uses, and governments of territories. This paper presents a diagnosis of the Bagua Conflict, which faced the Peruvian government with the Amazonian indigenous communities, through the Legislative Decrees present in the origin of the mobilizations, and also through the different ways to understand and use the territory. These analyses lead us to propose the construction of spaces for dialogue, participation, and, then, for the recognition of differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the cultural meanings of the indigenous uprising of 2001 in Upper Napo as a means to investigating indigenous historicity. Although there are various publications about the 2001 uprising, no one has looked at these events from the perspective of Kichwa historicity. The argument is that Amazonian Kichwa speakers structure and produce history through a conceptual complex of substance circulation (samai) that links social actors with primordial time-space. Using a historical testimony about Jumandy, the paper shows how the symbolic complex of Kichwa language-culture allows people to create links of substance and power with mythohistoric beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present the historical, social, political and economical context in which the Amazon basin is to be considered, from an andean perspective. In the introduction we review a few basic facts about the geografic and demografic state of the region. Then we present the main steps of the human ocupation of the amazon area, from the Conquest to the irruption of capitalism. The second part is dedicated to the internationalization of the amazon agenda, especially throughout the conservation of the environment and the cooperation. We conclude with a short comment on the role of social actors in the region's future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analizes the relationship between oilspills and ecological conflicts in the northern Amazon of Ecuador. The central idea is that conflict management by the state-owned oil company, Petroecuador, can lead to "efficient" negotiations in the short term, at the cost of a long-term perspective, that seeks the institutionalization of agreements and an effective treatment of the structural causes of environmental conflicts. This context is determined by an inadequate environmental management in the Northern Amazon and constitutes the background of wider protracted conflicts, in the Central and Southern parts of the region. Especially, the resulting tense social relationships are actually worsened by the mediatization of the Chevron-Texaco trial. As a matter of fact, it will probably remain the framework for oil policies. Without a redefinition of public policies -especially a responsible and equitative environmental and social policies– this could lead to a crisis of democratic governability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes in what measure, the oil production process in Eastern Ecuador shows a specific profile in a hundred social indicators. The data used come from INFOPLAN, SIISE, census series, and oil production information. The correlations between different figures analyzed are studied, factor analysis and clusters are used to establish different groupings. The results show that oil activity produces a specific profile, but is not the main factor that explains or is associated to the differences in social indicators in the Ecuadorian Amazon basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Camisea case shows that decisions to invest more or less in the social and environmental aspects mega-projects end up affecting the vulnerable populations. One detailed revision of the impacts caused throughout the layout of gas pipeline shows the inefficiency of current schemes of supervision applied by the I.A.D.B., the OSINERG and the Ministry of Energy and Mines among others. The paper reviews the crucial contribution of the organized civil society, in spite of its ideological and practical division. Detailed information of human rights affected confirm the learned lesson that suggests the need to create in the I.A.D.B. an environmental and social auditor of the project it finances, that reports to a tripartite council formed by civil society, indigenous peoples and multilateral banks representatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]