Global Environmental Change 83 (2023) 102762


                                                                      Contents lists available at ScienceDirect


                                                             Global Environmental Change
                                                         journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gloenvcha




Slow justice and other unexpected consequences of litigation in
environmental conflicts
Marta Conde a, b, c, *, Mariana Walter a, b, Lucrecia Wagner d, Grettel Navas e
a
  Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Edifici C Campus de la UAB, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Barcelona,
Spain
b
  JHU-UPF Public Policy Centre, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, UPF Barcelona School of Management (UPF-BSM), Ramon
Trias Fargas, 25-27, 08005 Barcelona, Spain
c
  Centre for Social Responsability in Mining (CSRM), Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI), The University of Queensland, Level 4, Sir James Foots Building (No. 47A)
The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia
d
  Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Science - National Scientific and Technical Research Council (IANIGLA-CONICET), Centro Cientifico Tecnológico
(CCT) Mendoza. Av. Ruiz Leal s/n, Parque General San Martín, Mendoza CP 5500, Argentina
e
  Facultad de Gobierno, University of Chile, Santa Lucía 240, Región Metropolitana, Santiago, Chile




A B S T R A C T

Movements are increasingly taking companies to court for environmental and social harms. Yet little is known about the consequences this strategy has for
movements and their struggles. Through a cross-country comparison of three environmental litigation cases in Argentina, Nicaragua, and Spain, we find that local
groups encounter three interrelated consequences: i) ‘slow justice’, a strategy generally driven by companies to delay proceedings and demobilize movements; ii)
courts reduce complex impacts to simplified, scientifically verifiable and legally punishable damages, thus invisibilizing certain harms, victims, narratives and
demands; and iii) local groups lose control of the resistance process as judges and lawyers become key decision-makers. These dynamics interact with the specific
features of environmental conflicts —uncertainty, slow violence and marginalized affected parties— to deepen power inequalities in litigation processes. Our findings
are contextualized within the literatures on legal mobilization and the judicialization of politics. We conclude that social movements, when looking for a fair and just
solution through the judicial system, encounter different but highly hierarchical power structures. And even if they win in the courts, companies can avoid complying
with the judicial orders.




1. Introduction                                                                                   scholars have mainly explored the judicialization of rights-based strug­
                                                                                                  gles (Chen and Cummings, 2013, Handler, 1978, Burstein 1991, McCann
    Social and environmental movements worldwide are increasingly                                 2008, Zemans 1983), paying attention to why these struggles occurred
appealing to courts of law to challenge social and environmental in­                              and their effectiveness (Boutcher and McCammon, 2018), but not the
justices and claim compensation and environmental reparations                                     effect that going to court has on the movements themselves. The
(Scheidel et al., 2020, Boutcher and McCammon, 2018, Domingo, 2010,                               growing and more recent literature on the “judicialization of politics”
Sovacool et al., 2022, Hess and Satcher, 2019). These movements now                               explores how a wider set of public policy and political controversies,
rely overwhelmingly on litigation to address matters that were previ­                             which include environmental claims, are being brought to court because
ously “negotiated in an informal or nonjudicial fashion” (Hirschl, 2010,                          of the limitation of administrative and political processes to address
p.121). Dealing with conflicts through legal processes has transformed                            them (Hirschl, 2010, Domingo, 2004, Vallinder, 1994). Much of this
courts into important sites of environmental political decision making                            literature explores the reason for the emergence and scope of this judi­
worldwide (Sieder et al., 2005, Vallinder, 1994, Merlinsky, 2013).                                cialization (Sieder et al., 2005, Dressel, 2012, Hirschl, 2010, Couso et al.,
    Situated at the intersection of three different scholarships —on social                       2010, Domingo, 2004). Again, though, this research has only collater­
movement theory, environmental conflicts, and the judicialization of                              ally examined how judicialization impacts conflicts and movements.
politics— few and scattered studies explore the effect that litigation has                        Here, we address these open questions by focusing on groups fighting for
on conflicts and social movements (Albiston, 2010). Social movement                               environmental justice.


  * Corresponding author at: Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Edifici C Campus de la UAB, 08193 Bellaterra
(Cerdanyola del Vallès), Barcelona, Spain.
    E-mail addresses: marta.conde@uab.cat (M. Conde), mariana.walter@uab.cat (M. Walter), lwagner@mendoza-conicet.gob.ar (L. Wagner), grettel.navas@
gobierno.uchile.cl (G. Navas).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102762
Received 10 August 2022; Received in revised form 1 June 2023; Accepted 17 September 2023
Available online 9 October 2023
0959-3780/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
M. Conde et al.                                                                                                         Global Environmental Change 83 (2023) 102762


    Environmental justice scholarship focuses on environmental con­                 legislative leaders, going to the courts or invoking the law as a discursive
flicts. Researchers in these fields explore how local groups and com­               and symbolic tool (McCann, 2008). Here we focus on a particular form
munities are affected by and react to the impacts of pollution, extraction          of legal mobilization: litigation strategies (or impact litigation) deployed
and oppression (Martinez Alier, 2002, Conde, 2017). Within this field,              by local groups to pursue social change through the courts. Boutcher and
scholars have largely overlooked litigation strategies despite its ubiquity         McCammon (2018) identify two streams of research. The first and most
(Scheidel et al., 2020). According to the Environmental Justice Atlas               prominent stream studies circumstances under which activists pursue
(EJAtlas), a global registry of environmental conflicts, in about 46% of            litigation strategies. This research highlights the importance of political
its 3869 registered cases (until March 2023) environmental defenders                opportunity structures such as state institutions or the receptivity of
mobilized litigation strategies (EJATLAS, 2023).                                    political leaders (Almeida and Stearns, 1998, Flynn, 2011, Sikkink,
    In this paper we adopt a comparative approach with three case                   2005) as well as legal opportunity, which refers to structural and
studies in Argentina, Nicaragua and Spain, in which local groups have               contingent elements in the judicial system such as sympathetic judges or
taken their struggles to court to try to stop pollution and/or achieve              political pressure on the judiciary (Hilson, 2002). The second stream
compensation or reparation for damages inflicted to the environment                 examines how taking their struggles to court affects movements’ po­
and human health. By local groups we mean formal or informal asso­                  tential for creating social change and achieving their objectives. Initial
ciations that form part of a wider movement that opposes environ­                   studies were quite skeptical in this regard (Scheingold, 1974, Handler,
mentally harmful projects. Our findings suggest that local groups                   1978, Rosenberg, 1991), but later analyses pointed to the spillover
engaging in environmental litigation encounter what we have termed                  (Meyer and Boutcher, 2007) or indirect effects that supposedly unsuc­
“slow justice”. The temporality of judicial processes is instrumentalized,          cessful struggles can have on other movements (McCann, 1994, McA­
generally by companies, to delay proceedings and outlast the energy and             dam 1982, Smulovitz, 2010).
finances of affected parties and local organizations. Moreover, we find                 Sousa Santos and Rodríguez Garavito (2005)1 highlight the growing
that groups also face a reductionism and invisibilization of impacts,               grassroots contestation to the advancement of neoliberal institutions
affected groups, narratives and demands; and a loss of control of the legal         and globalization through “the formulation of alternative legal frame­
process with local groups and movements transferring (decision making               work” (p. 4). Going to the courts is only part of what they term “sub­
and narrative building) power to judges, lawyers and movements’                     altern cosmopolitan legality”. They show, through numerous examples
leaders. Therefore, even though the use of judicialization in environ­              across the globe, how marginalized groups are conceiving new identities
mental conflicts can have positive outcomes and boost environmental                 and rules that challenge, change and democratize national and inter­
justice (Scheidel et al., 2020, Hess and Satcher, 2019) our research adds           national regulations that exclude or oppress them. Several authors point
knowledge on how unexpected consequences can deepen concomitant                     to an intensification of a process known as juridification, whereby social
unequal power relations and increase environmental and social                       actors are increasingly involved and empowered in processes of law
injustices.                                                                         creation (Azuela and Mussetta, 2009, Sieder et al., 2005, Lutz and Sik­
    Next, Section 2 outlines key debates in the judicialization of politics,        kink, 2001), the use of legal language and symbols (Rosén et al., 2021),
legal mobilization, and social movement literatures. After explaining               and come to see themselves as legal subjects through the process of
our methods in Section 3, Section 4 introduces the case studies and                 claiming rights (Blichner and Molander 2008, Merlinsky, 2013).
Section 5 develops the three main consequences that engaging in legal               Although judicialization (i.e. going to courts) can be understood as a
mobilization has for environmental movements. We conclude in Section                subset of the wider phenomenon of juridification (Sieder, 2020), we
6 by highlighting the role of unequal power relations posed not only by             distinguish that movements use both law creation (juridification) and
companies but by the legal arena itself.                                            litigation (judicialization) strategies.

2. Judicialization in environmental conflicts                                       2.2. Environmental conflicts, slow violence and litigation strategies

    In order to study the impacts of judicialization on environmental                   From the perspective of environmental justice studies, environ­
conflicts, this paper engages with three fields of research; it instigates a        mental conflicts are struggles over the unfair distribution of pollution
hitherto marginal debate in environmental conflict studies and political            and health risks that arise from the extraction, transport and disposal of
ecology, merging with and contributing to the literature on the judici­             resources and energy (Martinez Alier, 2002). Power and wealth in­
alization of politics and the branch of social movement theory that deals           equalities direct environmental damage and risk toward groups that are
with legal mobilization.                                                            marginalized along lines of race, ethnicity, gender and class (Bullard,
                                                                                    1990, Scheidel et al., 2020, Dell’Angelo et al., 2021; Martinez Alier,
2.1. Judicialization of politics and judicial mobilization                          2002), which deepens power imbalances in contentious environmental
                                                                                    processes.
    The 21st century has witnessed a retreat of the state (Sawyer, 2004).               Affected groups and territories struggle to defend their land, liveli­
Political concerns have migrated toward the legal realm, creating a                 hoods, and culture. In environmental justice struggles, groups not only
belief in legal processes’ potential to assist in the creation of a more just       challenge the unfair distribution of the costs and benefits of polluting
society (Couso et al., 2010). The growing literature on the judicialization         activities (distributive dimension), but also pay attention to the lack of
of politics aims to provide a broader definition and analyze its scope              recognition of difference (recognition dimension) and how the two are
across countries and regions (Dressel, 2012, Hirschl, 2010, O’Donnell,              tied together in political and social processes - i.e. decision making,
2005, Ginsburg, 2009). It highlights two processes of institutional                 judicial processes (procedural dimension) (Young, 1990, Cole and Fos­
change: a top-down process that operates through political judicial                 ter, 2001, Schlosberg, 2007).
activism and a “judicialization from below” (Hirschl, 2010, p. 11,                      Groups mobilize a variety of strategies that range from public
Domingo, 2010) where grassroots organizations are increasingly using                mobilization, campaigning and network building to counter-knowledge
courts as the stage of their struggles to advance their goals (Couso et al.,
2010, Dressel, 2012).
    While the study of legal mobilization is not new in social movement              1
                                                                                        We would like to signal that when this paper was in preparation, Boa­
studies it has received substantially less attention than other mobiliza­           ventura Sousa Santos was suspended and under investigation for different cases
tion strategies (Boutcher and McCammon, 2018). The term “legal                      of sexual harassment. The authors of this paper would like to express our
mobilization” refers to the wide range of efforts by social actors to               support and solidarity to those that are subjected to such unacceptable
challenge the current state of law, including putting pressure on                   behavior.

                                                                                2
M. Conde et al.                                                                                                      Global Environmental Change 83 (2023) 102762


creation and litigation (Scheidel et al., 2020, Conde, 2017, Sovacool             2.3. Judicialization strategies: A double-edged sword for affected groups
et al., 2022, Hess and Satcher, 2019). In this paper we focus on litigation
strategies. We pose that litigating in the context of socio-environmental             Deploying legal strategies can be a double-edged sword (Guzman
controversies, where stakes and uncertainties are high, and processes of          Solano, 2016). Scholars have identified the constitutive role of legal
slow violence take place, entail particular challenges.                           rights as a strategic resource and a constraint, a source of empowerment
    Groups mobilized in environmental conflicts are often victims of              and disempowerment, a space where movements struggle to contest and
slow violence: toxic pollution that builds and accumulates, everyday,             reconstruct the terms of social relations and power (Scheingold, 1989,
slowly on lands and bodies. Nixon (2011) describes this as “a violence            Silverstein, 1996). While judicialization and juridification strategies can
that occurs gradually and out of sight, a violence of delayed destruction         have emancipatory potential “countering hegemonic globalization” and
that is dispersed across time and space, an attritional violence that is          “reimagining legal institutions from below” (Sousa Santos and Rodri­
typically not viewed as violence at all” (p. 2). Dayna Nadine Scott (2012)        guez Garavito, 2005, p. 4), these can also reproduce “patterns of
sheds light on how legal systems underestimate the consequences of                domination and hegemony” intensifying unequal power relations
slow violence on people’s bodies and territories. She points to two               (Sieder, 2011, p. 242).
barriers: (i) legal language that is generally not accessible to the global           The attractiveness of judicialization as a mobilization strategy for
poor, and (ii) the need to reduce harm claims in order to adapt to what           social movements or local groups is multifold. The judiciary allows
can be compensated or what ‘experts’ can prove. In this vein, (judicial)          groups “to assert their rights” and “hold government and politicians
procedural injustices (Cole and Foster, 2001) exacerbate in the context           accountable” (Sieder et al., 2005, p. 2). Morales and Azócar (2019)
of environmental struggles, as they involve complex processes of                  argue that companies are pushed to improve their behavior thanks to the
pollution and slow violence that are only partially addressed by legal            pressure from the judiciary on the state or the company itself. Authors
proceedings.                                                                      have pointed to numerous extra-legal benefits or indirect effects of
    Indeed the assessment of environmental and health impacts is                  judicialization such as an increase in social mobilization, educational
marked by high and generally irreducible uncertainties (Funtowicz and             reach and organizational funding (Smulovitz, 2008, NeJaime, 2010,
Ravetz, 1994). In court, while local groups can emphasize uncertainties           McCann, 1994, Cole, 1994, Vanhala, 2012). It can also hinder plaintiffs
to try to delay the start of a new project, companies take advantage of           from disengaging, giving “political vitality to their demands” (Smulo­
uncertainty to deny or justify harm (Michaels and Monforton, 2005,                vitz, 2008, p. 303). In this line, litigation can give further momentum to
Conde, 2014, Conde and Walter, 2022). Environmental litigation re­                movements as in the case of the Mapuche in Chile who gained a “legal
quires evidence of harm or wrongdoings in which science becomes a                 consciousness” and understanding of their political battle (Skjaevestad,
strategic language of the legal process (Boden and Ozonoff, 2008).                2010, p. 210). Sieder (2011). Other authors point to the “spillover ef­
Environmental and local organizations thus not only need lawyers but              fects” where activists and strategies travel across movements creating
also scientists to collect and present evidence on environmental and              new political and legal opportunities (Meyer and Boutcher, 2007). So­
health risks, revise technical documents such as Environmental Impact             cial movements might also engage in litigation not necessarily expecting
Assessments, provide expert witness in judicial processes, and bestow             a legal victory, looking instead to give publicity and visibility to the
legitimacy to their claims (Corburn, 2005, Martínez-Alier et al., 2011,           conflict and gain public support (Losekann and Bissoli, 2017, Taylor and
Conde and Walter, 2022, Conde, 2014).                                             Da Ros, 2008, Cole 1994, Vanhala, 2012).
    Another key actor in (environmental) litigation processes are local               Yet, litigation is a lengthy and expensive strategy (Snow et al, 2018,
and supra-local activist lawyers that can work for free, pro-bono or              Sovacool et al., 2022). As the highly polluted Matanza-Riachuelo basin
receive financial support from activist networks. There are numerous              case in Argentina showed, communities worn out while their demands
university-based environmental law clinics found especially in the US             stuck in the legal system, not solving urgent and dynamic problems
but also in China (He et al., 2017), Australia, Europe and Latin America          (Fainstein, 2018, Merlinsky, 2013). Judicial processes pose additional
(Hamman and Heaps, 2021) that support local groups, providing                     challenges by reducing complex social processes to representations
learning opportunities for law students.                                          previously defined by state actors or experts (Geertz, 2008, Petryna,
    The use of litigation strategies in environmental conflicts is not new.       2004, 2009). Court proceedings treat every person and situation as their
In 1971, the Sierra Club, a US environmental organization, coordinated            categorizable attributes, fixing the identities of local and indigenous
the formation of an Environmental Defense Fund aimed at gaining legal             groups and limiting or altering their demands (Sieder and Witchell,
standing to file claims in courts for environmental protection (Turner            2001). This can generate a “manufactured truth” that does not represent
and Clifton, 1990). Cole (1994) identifies a Texas civil rights case in           the realities of those impacted or their self-narrations, limiting life-
1979 that challenged the siting of a garbage dump near an African                 stories into “generic narratives of suffering” (Scott, 2012, p. 486,
American neighborhood as the “parent” of environmental justice liti­              Sieder, 2011). Through the analysis of the demands by those injured in
gation in the US. Since then litigation has become a key component of US          the Chernobyl fall-out in Ukraine, Petryna (2004) shows how the state
environmental justice campaigns. In Europe, Vanhala (2012, 2018)                  defined who was a victim and who was not as well as which harms were
highlights how NGOs use litigation despite substantial losses and limited         compensated and which were not. In this line, sociolegal scholars have
legal opportunity structures, seeking publicity and pushing the bound­            criticized the category of victim itself due to a tendency of positivist
aries for future legal actions. In Latin America, the increased use of            methods of data collection to invisibilize “narratives, subjectivities and
litigation strategies by environmental movements has sparked a rich               experiences” (Wilson, 2006, p. 81). Litigation can thus promote some
social and scholarly debate on judicial strategies and the lack of demo­          factions within the movements at the expense of others Levitsky, 2015).
cratic quality (Domingo, 2004, Merlinsky, 2013, Ryan, 2010, Special               The imposition of legal language on bodies generates what Vazzi (2017)
Issue Íconos, 2022). Another landmark case has been indigenous com­              terms the “biopower of law”. Through the judicial process, powerful
munities’ long, wearing but legally successful case against Chevron               actors can gain control over the lives, rights, and narratives of vulner­
Texaco in Ecuador. In 2013, the company was ordered to pay US$9.5                 able inhabitants. This has psychological, social, and cultural impacts,
billion to compensate affected groups and to remediate the oil pollution          and can further exacerbate the socio-environmental conflict, margin­
in Lago Agrio. The court decision, however, was never recognized by the           alize local groups and “deradicalize” the movement (NeJaime, 2010, p.
company and the compensation was not paid (Pigrau, 2014). The                     951).
company continues to claim its innocence through international cam­                   Several authors point to courts’ lack of democratic accountability.
paigns and has legally persecuted local and international supporters              The judiciary is the least democratic of the three branches of govern­
(Reuters, 2020).                                                                  ment (Kramarz et al., 2017, Rios Figueroa and Taylor, 2006; Smulovitz,
                                                                                  2010). Warning against the use of the judiciary to change

                                                                              3
M. Conde et al.                                                                                                        Global Environmental Change 83 (2023) 102762


(environmental) policy, Kramarz et al. (2017, p. 47) point to a lack of          4. Background of the case studies
“vertical accountability” where “at the end of the day, it is the judges,
not the people, who have the last word”. Judges make decisions from a            4.1. The salt waste-pile of Sallent, Spain
particular specialization and background (Fainstein, 2018) and can also
act without the “detachment that is formally expected” (Bölter and                  Since the 1920s, phosphate mining operations, now owned by ICL
Derani, 2018, p. 227), resulting in an individualization of the case             (Israel-based company), have generated a well-established environ­
(Bölter and Derani, 2018) or its depoliticization (Smulovitz, 2008). On         mental health controversy in Catalonia. The salt waste pile of Sallent (“el
the other hand, Sieder et al. (2005) point out that judges can also be           cogulló de Sallent” in Catalan) and other waste piles are polluting the
activists representing the interest of the weak and can overrun unjust           Llobregat River Basin, one of Barcelona’s main water sources. Several
decisions made by democratically elected bodies. As with judges, law­            local groups emerged in the 1990s to denounce the activities of the
yers can also play a crucial role dictating the litigation strategies and        mining company. Their objective was not to shut down the mine — as it
ultimately, that of the movement (Cummings and Eagly, 2001, Boutcher             employed more than 1000 workers from the area — but to demand that
and McCammon, 2018, Dressel, 2012, NeJaime, 2010).                               the company “do the right thing [environmentally]” (Interview Spain
    All these characteristics vary widely across countries and regions           #2). The legal process started in 1997 when two local environmental
(Dressel, 2012, Sieder et al., 2005). Especially relevant is the role of         groups and a local lawyer submitted a criminal complaint. In the 2000s
corruption and what has been termed as the “politicization of the judi­          three other administrative complaints were presented by the same
ciary” (Domingo, 2004, p.106) in which powerful actors gain some                 groups. Despite numerous appeals by the company and the state, the
degree of control over court outcomes through, for example, direct in­           plaintiffs received favorable court rulings in the High Court of Justice of
fluence of ‘friendly’ judges (Ríos Figueroa and Taylor, 2006, Hirschl,           Catalonia. This has obliged the company, 27 years after the first
2010).                                                                           complaint, to stop dumping waste in their biggest waste pile and re-
    More generally, critics of litigation have argued that social move­          orient all its production to its second mine in Suria. This mine is
ments adopting this strategy detach themselves from the arena of poli­           located only a few kilometers away and gathers huge local support.
tics, where inequality and unequal power relations can be addressed              Environmental groups are not the only actors to engage in legal strate­
directly, and instead interact in the legal arena where the issues are           gies. AFASAL, the association of Spanish salt producers, feared the
“abstract, technical, and depoliticized” (Munger, 2012, p.81), thus              company’s plans to sell the (waste) salt on the market would likely
losing control of the real issues at stake and legitimating the larger           plummet the price of salt, and their lawyer successfully presented a
structure of legal ideology and law (NeJaime, 2010).                             complaint at the European Court of Justice for unfair competition.
                                                                                 Moreover, Sebastià Estradé, a retired lawyer and science-fiction writer
3. Methodological approach                                                       also successfully sued the company in 2013. He won the first legal case
                                                                                 demanding a higher remediation closure fund and the start of a reme­
    This paper’s research followed a grounded theory comparison                  diation plan for the biggest waste pile (Gorostiza, 2019).
(Glaser and Strauss, 1967). We compared three different densely docu­
mented cases (Eisenhardt, 1989) that involve local groups taking large           4.2. Pesticide pollution in Nicaragua
international companies to court for impacts on their health and the
environment. The aim of the research was to learn from these different               Dibromochloropropane (DBCP) is an organochlorine pesticide (also
cases about the (common) consequences of litigation for local groups
                                                                                 known by the brand names ‘Nemagón’ or ‘Fumazone’). In Nicaragua,
and movements and their struggles. The case studies take place in
                                                                                 DBCP was used as a soil fumigant in the banana plantations located in the
countries in different stages of economic development although they
                                                                                 province of Chinandega (Northwestern Pacific Coast of Nicaragua) from
follow the civil law system, also called continental law. They involve
                                                                                 1973 to 1993 (Gómez Suárez, 2013). In 1992, when workers began to
different commodities: mining extraction in Argentina (metals) and
                                                                                 notice and suffer from the slow violence long-term effects of DBCP expo­
Spain (potash) and pesticide-intensive banana production in Nicaragua.
                                                                                 sure in their bodies and their children’s bodies, formed the Association of
The case studies address different litigation stages (from early stages to
                                                                                 Workers and Ex-Workers Affected by Nemagon (ASOTRAEXDAN).
after sentencing) and involve different demands (compensation, reme­
                                                                                 Workers sought monetary compensation by filing cases in the US where
diation). Through an iterative process of analysis and comparison be­
                                                                                 the companies that produced DBCP (Shell Oil Company and Dow Chem­
tween the cases, and an iterative literature review on emerging themes,
                                                                                 ical) and used it (Dole Food Company and other banana plantation cor­
we identified and conceptualized similar consequences that litigation
                                                                                 porations) are based. To file cases in the US, workers were able to use a
had on the movements and conflicts.
                                                                                 precedent in which workers of a DBCP-producing plant in California were
    The three case studies were initially developed independently as part
                                                                                 found to be infertile in 1977 and had won compensation. In 2007, after 20
of doctoral and post-doctoral research projects on environmental con­
                                                                                 years, some cases were successfully brought to trial. However most cases
flicts. Nicaragua’s case entailed three-month fieldwork during 2018 in
                                                                                 were dismissed through the “forum non conveniens doctrine”2 and sent
the province of Chinandega. In-depth interviews were carried out with
                                                                                 back to the workers’ home country (Bohme, 2015). Realizing the Nicar­
affected agricultural workers, leaders of the movements behind the legal
                                                                                 aguan justice system would not provide legal support against foreign
strategy, and three national NGOs supporting the workers’ organizations
                                                                                 corporations, workers and their supporters worked to pass a new law in
(see Navas et al., 2022). The Spanish case involved two-month field
                                                                                 Nicaragua. This juridification process culminated in 2000 with the
work with in-depth interviews with affected farmers as well as members
                                                                                 enactment of Law 364 “Special Law for Banana Workers Victimized by the
of the different environmental groups, government representatives and
                                                                                 Use of DBCP-Based Pesticides” which effectively forced a trial in the US or
one of the lawyers involved (see Gorostiza and Sauri, 2019, Gorostiza
                                                                                 in Nicaragua (Bohme, 2015, p. 36). Since 2001, numerous lawsuits have
et al., 2022). The Argentinean case was developed by a social sciences
                                                                                 been filed in Nicaragua, many of them ending in favorable judgements.
researcher based at the Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and
                                                                                 However, so far, companies have refused to pay the compensation
Environmental Science (IANIGLA). The head of this Institute was inad­
vertently drawn into the legal process here analyzed. This research
involved interviews and informal conversations both with representa­              2
                                                                                     Forum non conveniens allows courts that have jurisdiction over a case to
tives from different local assemblies as well as scientists at the IANIGLA       stay or dismiss the case upon a determination that the case may be heard more
Institute (see Rojas and Wagner, 2021).                                          appropriately in another court, for example because the plaintiffs are citizens of
                                                                                 a foreign country and sources of evidence are found in the foreign country.
                                                                                 (Oxford Public International Law).

                                                                             4
M. Conde et al.                                                                                                             Global Environmental Change 83 (2023) 102762


mandated by these few judicial victories.                                                judicial process to avoid paying for reparation or compensation.
                                                                                              We thus often find that plaintiffs involved in environmental litigation
4.3. Cyanide spill in Argentina                                                          complain of long legal procedures that can last for decades — nearly
                                                                                         three decades for the Nicaraguan and Spanish cases. We argue that this is
    The Veladero gold mining project owned by Barrick Gold has been                      not due to the functioning of the judicial system but to what we have
functioning in Argentina’s San Juan province since 2004. In 2015,                        termed slow justice. We define slow justice as an economic and political
millions of liters of a cyanide solution spilled into nearby rivers and                  strategy used by certain actors to instrumentalize the speed of judicial
ecosystems. In response, a member of the self-convened neighbors’ as­                    procedures in order to serve their interests and/or avoid accountability.
sembly Jáchal No Se Toca (Don’t Mess with Jáchal) submitted a criminal                 Slow justice is generally driven by companies whose aim is to prevent
complaint against the company and the provincial government. The case                    and delay judicial decisions. Companies can afford to sustain long
reached the national court. A conflict between judges about jurisdictions                judicial processes and employ different strategies including filing mul­
ensued3 resulting in the decision in 2016 by the National Supreme Court                  tiple appeals, funding the elaboration of long technical reports, and
of Justice (SCJN, in Spanish) to split the complaint between both ju­                    attempting to influence judges and governments, exhausting the plain­
risdictions. Mining executives and provincial authorities were to be                     tiffs’ resources and time. Judges can also play a relevant role slowing,
investigated by the provincial judge, and the federal authorities by the                 stopping or accelerating legal proceedings. Slow justice often involves
federal judge. This division of the judicial investigation meant that the                the transfer of legal proceedings across regional, national and trans­
main party responsible for the mining spill, the company, was to be                      national jurisdictions that delay the resolution of court cases.
investigated in the provincial court, where environmental movements                           Slow justice perpetuates and exacerbates slow violence. In both the
claim the government favors the company’s interests (Iezzi, 2011,                        Spanish and Nicaraguan cases local groups took the companies to court
Antonelli, 2016, Gorenstein, 2020).                                                      in an attempt to make visible and overturn decades of slow violence, to
    Moreover, the federal judge decided to expand the complaint of the                   gain compensation or remediation. However they got pushed back
Jáchal assembly, and indicted some government officials and a scientist,                repeatedly as proceedings moved back and forth between courts and
Dr. Ricardo Villalba, who was the director of IANIGLA, the institute in                  jurisdictions, delaying the sentences and their enforcement. By allowing
charge of carrying out the national glacier inventory mandated by the                    slow violence to continue, slow justice increases environmental impacts
Glacier Law. Argentina is the only country in the world that has a “Law                  and risks.
for the Protection of Glaciers” (the Glacier Law), which was approved by                      Based on our case studies we identify different slow justice strategies
the Argentinian National Congress in 2010 after an intense campaign led                  that companies have used before and after court rulings. Companies’
by environmental organizations, movements, and the scientific com­                       lawyers systematically appealed each court ruling until it reached the
munity. The judge considered that the methodology used by Dr. Villal­                    highest possible court. In the Spanish case, the 17-year-long criminal
ba’s research team, which included only glaciers of more than one                        complaint was won by the plaintiffs in every single court, but the
hectare (the usual practice in the field, glaciologists claimed), limited                company appealed the decisions through two lower courts until it
the spirit of the Glacier Law and favored the Veladero mine, which was                   reached the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC, in Catalan) with a
then able to pollute glaciers smaller than one hectare. The scientific                   decision favoring the plaintiffs in 2014. The decision was once again
community protested this accusation (see national and international                      appealed and ratified two years later. Administrative complaints that
support letters in CONICET (2017). While, at first, the Jáchal assembly                 started in 2008 had a similar fate; a complaint denouncing an incom­
remained silent, later they supported the judge’s decision (Página 12,                  plete environmental authorization also reached the TSJC after five
2017). This unexpected decision divided two key sets of actors in the                    years. The sentence, once more favoring the plaintiffs, was appealed but
defense of the glaciers: the scientific community and the environmental                  corroborated by the Supreme Court two years later. Another complaint
movement.                                                                                challenging the expansion of the waste pile reached the TSJC which
                                                                                         ordered the company to stop dumping waste in 2016. This decision was
5. Judicialization consequences: Slow justice, reductionism,                             unsuccessfully appealed by the company at the TSJC and the Supreme
and loss of control                                                                      Court. The day before the deadline to stop dumping waste (June 30th,
                                                                                         2017), the TSJC extended the deadline by two years. Similarly, in
   Based on these cases we have identified three interrelated ways in                    Nicaragua the cases reached the US courts in the early 2000s after
which judicialization can deepen injustices and power inequalities in                    several years of proceedings to then be dismissed. Back in Nicaragua,
socio-environmental conflicts.                                                           companies also appealed each court decision.
                                                                                              Once the ruling is firm, companies can adopt several strategies to
                                                                                         avoid the enactment of the sentence. They can ignore or delay
5.1. Slow justice and the role of temporality
                                                                                         complying with the sentence, refuse or appeal the compensation or
                                                                                         environmental remediation proposed, take their assets abroad, and
    Temporality is central in environmental litigation strategies.
                                                                                         obstruct every step needed to execute the sentence. In Spain, the crim­
Depending on the stage of the conflict and their position in it, actors
                                                                                         inal complaint and the court case put forward by Sebastià Estradé which
might aim for an expedited or drawn-out legal process. Local groups that
                                                                                         also reached the TSJC and the Supreme Court, demanded a realistic
want to prevent a new extractive or polluting activity hope for a long
                                                                                         remediation plan and funds to execute it. To date the waste pile is intact.
legal process that deters or stops the project altogether (Domingo,
                                                                                         The company has presented two remediation plans (the latest one in
2010). If the project has already started, on the other hand, local groups
                                                                                         2022) but the judges rejected both because they don’t aim for the full
can engage in litigation hoping for a not-too-lengthy resolution that
                                                                                         remediation of the waste pile. The company was also ordered to
stops environmental harm, makes polluters pay to repair it and
                                                                                         compensate affected farmers but has appealed each request for infor­
compensate affected parties. Conversely, companies want a swift judi­
                                                                                         mation and each step undertaken by the legal experts to quantify the
cial resolution to push forward a new industrial development or a slow
                                                                                         damage caused to the plaintiffs. With each allegation, the case got
                                                                                         delayed weeks or months (Spain Interview #10).
 3                                                                                            Companies can also refuse the court rulings altogether. In the
    The federal judge initiated an investigation of provincial officials. The
provincial judge requested that he stop his investigation arguing it was a case of       Nicaraguan case the companies refused the authority of the Nicaraguan
provincial jurisdiction. The federal judge denied this petition so the provincial        courts. During a decade of favorable rulings following the enactment of
judge filed a claim against this decision at the National Supreme Court of               Law 364 in 2000, Nicaraguan courts ordered the payment of US$805
Justice (SCJN).                                                                          million to workers. But companies have refused the verdicts and nothing

                                                                                     5
M. Conde et al.                                                                                                        Global Environmental Change 83 (2023) 102762


has been paid to date. The companies have also removed all their op­               consequences of slow justice. This was the case of Prousal and Mon­
erations and assets from Nicaragua, preventing the government from                 tsalat, the local organizations in the Spanish case that demanded the
confiscating them. This obliged workers to pursue new legal avenues in             environmental remediation of the waste pile. Although they did lose
other countries where their assets exist, without success so far.                  some steam (as we show below), they remained in latent mode and
    Judges can play an instrumental role in slow justice; they can move            strengthened in key moments in the legal process, such as to respond to
forward a case quickly or let it linger for years. In the Argentinian case,        the publication of court decisions or to demand their enforcement. For
the case attracted huge public attention during its initial stages given the       example, they mobilized in 2008 to denounce the granting of the envi­
serious environmental impact and the implication of the Glacier Law.               ronmental authorization and in 2017 to demand the enactment of the
The federal judge moved quickly, attracting even larger public attention           sentence that stopped the dumping of waste. However, as we examine
when he indicted a well-known scientist and some environmental offi­               below, the monopolization of litigation as a mobilization strategy is also
cials in the national government. However, since the court case was                linked to the narrowing of demands and narratives of the movement.
assigned and divided between different jurisdictions public attention
diminished. Since then the legal proceedings have not moved forward.               5.2. Reducing narratives, impacts and victims
    We highlight two main consequences that slow justice can have for
the conflict and the organizations involved. First, judicial strategies                Legal proceedings reduce complexity by imposing a monoculture of
become the central strategy used by local groups, displacing other                 legal language and reductionist definitions of what is harm, who is a
strategies of mobilization. In the Spanish potash mining case, we observe          victim of pollution, and who is responsible for it. Lawyers and judges can
that the opposition group Montsalat circulated petitions, met with local           build and reject certain narratives of suffering that sideline affected
and regional governments, and carried out presentations, exhibitions,              actors’ voices and demands. Engaging in litigation can also invisibilize
and conferences. However, after taking the company to court in 1992,               cultural and social concerns and different types of knowledge and lan­
and only after three years of its appearance, Montsalat reduced its ac­            guages (Merlinsky, 2013, Fainstein, 2018). Exacerbated by slow justice,
tivities to monitoring salts in rivers and conducting legal actions.               certain legal narratives permeate movements and society consolidating
Montsalat not only submitted the initial complaint, they stayed involved           these reduced narratives of impacts, victims and suffering.
throughout the tortuous legal process. Today, they and their lawyer,                   The reductive means of judicial processes are exemplified in the
Climent Fernandez, still respond to the numerous appeals from the                  Nicaraguan case. An intergenerational pesticide contamination case has
company, provide information and write allegations. Although moni­                 been juridically reduced to a single health effect in a single social group:
toring is ongoing, the legal avenue has been, according to them, their             male infertility. DBCP is a pesticide characterized by its persistence in
most successful strategy (Spain interview#2). A second opposition                  the environment (around 100 years) and its lipophilic characteristics (it
group, Prousal (“enough salt” in Catalan) experienced a similar evolu­             bio-accumulates in fatty tissues). Banana companies have known since
tion. In the first two years after the group emerged in 2006, they orga­           1977 about the link between male infertility and DBCP exposure due to a
nized public talks, marches, mine blockades and other activities. They             study of a DBCP-producer chemical plant in the US (Whorton et al.,
exchanged information and ideas with the lawyer of AFASAL (the                     1977). Yet, despite this scientific evidence, banana companies continued
Spanish association of salt producers), which caused internal divisions            to expose workers without providing protective equipment or informa­
as not all members agreed with this alliance. Although Prousal did not             tion about present and future risks for them and their families. Although
engage in any legal proceeding, over time they dedicated increasing                DBCP was banned in the early 1990s, it remains in the environment.
efforts toward following the ongoing cases initiated by other groups,              According to a study by Montenegro Guillén and Jiménez García (2009),
drastically reducing other mobilization strategies (Spain Interview#2,             100% of water wells in Chinandega were still contaminated with DBCP.
interview#6, interview#7). “Over the years, our main activity was just             The effects of the pesticide are still present in the workers’ and their
keeping up with understanding all the legal procedures (…) and                     childrens’ bodies, causing not only male infertility but also cancer,
explaining them to the people in Sallent” (Spain Interview#9). The legal           miscarriages, congenital malformations in children, visual problems,
processes thus became both organizations’ main narrative, monopo­                  and skin diseases. Yet only male infertility has been accepted as a court
lizing other demands (see section 5.2). In Nicaragua, similarly, workers           claim. This has generated two types of invisibilities: invisibility of health
engaged in various forms of mobilization to gain visibility —protests,             impacts other than male infertility and invisibility of the health impacts
blockades, marches, hunger strikes, etc.— during the 1990s and early               on women. Questioning the latter, women within ASOTRAEXDAN
2000s. These mobilizations devolved into a long legal battle that con­             identify themselves as victims of DBCP and have continuously asked for
tinues to this day becoming their only strategy (see Bohme, 2015). Those           medical check-ups to prove their ailments. Yet, these demands weren’t
remaining in the struggle meet once per month to receive information               considered in the movement’s legal strategy, so women felt excluded not
about the company’s legal responses and possible extra-judicial nego­              only from the judicial procedures but also from the movement itself
tiations (Nicaragua Interview # 1).                                                (Navas et al., 2022).
    Slow justice can also influence the resilience of movements that lose              Lawyers and movement leaders fostered this reductionism when they
resources to sustain themselves, intensifying internal conflicts and               chose to strategically focus on scientifically proven ailments, making
demobilizing supporters until, in some cases, the movement is left in              other impacts invisible (inside and outside the court). The requirement
shambles (Tarrow, 2011). In Nicaragua we have identified a general                 by law of scientific proof of harm is particularly relevant for this case
demobilization due to a decrease in economic resources, a loss of na­              where we find ‘undone science’; namely, that scientific knowledge was
tional and international alliances, and internal conflicts among workers           not produced to reduce uncertainty and better understand the scope of
and their leaders that have divided ASOTRAEXDAN itself. More perva­                DBCP’s health impacts (Frickel et al., 2019, Bingham and Monforton,
sively, slow justice can delay and deny much needed compensation and               2013), in particular its impacts on women (Navas et al., 2022). Unlike
health treatments. In Nicaragua, in 2018 when fieldwork was carried                the other two cases where scientists are part of, or become key allies of
out, half the plaintiffs had passed away. The majority of those alive were         the movements (Conde and Walter), in Nicaragua, scientists did not
over 65 (the youngest being 55), many of whom were very sick or “don’t             become key allies of local groups in the litigation process to do the
have the same energy as before” (Nicaragua Interview # 2). A worker                undone science. Instead, it is the scientific evidence produced in the past
stated, “Every time that one of us dies, this is a success for the company”        by scientists in California (Whorton et al., 1977) that structured litiga­
(Nicaragua Interview #1). In Spain, the farmers asking for compensation            tion and broader juridification strategies.
are over 60. They showed a general belief that compensation would                      Law 364 included additional health impacts linked to DBCP exposure
never arrive in their lifetime (Spain Interviews #11,12,15).                       such as kidney, spleen, liver problems, cancer, or psychological disor­
    Nevertheless, local groups and movements sometimes adapt to the                ders based on the workers’ experience of harm. Companies rejected

                                                                               6
M. Conde et al.                                                                                                      Global Environmental Change 83 (2023) 102762


responsibility for these exposures and have even tried to reduce the              officials’ role in the environmental disaster. In the Nicaraguan case the
number of male infertility victims that claim compensation by gener­              “forum non conveniens” was applied in the US courts, which returned
ating doubt about the workers’ testimonies about their life and working           most legal processes to Nicaragua. Second, some courts are more
stories (Boix and Bohme, 2012). This ‘juridical invisibilization’ was             favorable to certain actors. In the case of Argentina, the provincial court
challenged by Law 364 when the Benavente sentence in 2000 ordered                 of San Juan seemed to provide a favorable treatment to the company
446 plaintiffs to be paid US$489 million for physical and moral effects           (see above), and it is well known the provincial government also backs
(Bohme, 2015). But companies, again, refused to pay these                         the company’s presence (Gorenstein, 2020). Third, judges can bring new
compensations.                                                                    perspectives or legal actions that were not envisaged in the initial
    Scientists play a key role in documenting, addressing or neglecting           complaint. As we have seen in Argentina, this can work against the in­
certain environmental impacts and harms when they provide expert                  terests of the plaintiffs (see also Merlinsky, 2013). The unexpected de­
advice to judges, governments, and companies as well as mobilized                 cision by the federal judge to include the head of the IANIGLA Institute
groups (Conde, 2017, Conde and Walter, 2022). Before the Argentinian              in the indictment led to disappointment and division between two key
case was divided between courts, the federal court created a commission           actors in the defense of the glaciers and the Glacier Law: the scientific
of scientists including hydrogeologist Dr. Robert Moran to assess the             community and the environmental movement (Martín and Healey,
impact caused by the spill (Layna and Kreimer, 2018). Dr. Moran                   2020, Rojas and Wagner, 2021). Although the initial objective was to
exposed the results of his study at the National Senate, receiving large          stop mining projects such as the Veladero mine, this focus was lost when
national media attention. He exposed how the mining company had not               legal proceedings turned into a technicality about how glaciers are
made any measurements public and had altered the spill site in ways               defined, and the legal responsibility of scientists. The distrust that
that made it difficult to assess the impacts. In contrast, the provincial         emerged between environmental groups and scientists weakened his­
court, in charge of judging the company, appointed technical assess­              torical alliances and has caused scientific communities to choose not to
ments that concluded, in line with studies provided by the company,               participate in environmental policies or ally themselves with social
that the spills were caused by the negligence of the operators, who left a        movements to avoid social and legal problems.
broken valve and a gate open that should have been closed (Layna and                  The loss of control can also be a result of internal power dynamics in
Kreimer, 2018). Despite these spills repeating in 2015 and 2017, the              the movement that include the key role of lawyers and movement
court case did not progress, and the company and the provincial gov­              leaders. In Nicaragua, lawyers have been instrumental in uncovering
ernment postulated that these were isolated events, “a negligent act.”            some forms of slow violence and legally supporting the workers’
When environmental pollution can be attributed to human error or a                struggle. However ASOTRAEXDAN’s members have on numerous oc­
localized technical break, it removes blame from structural causes such           casions challenged lawyers’ power and control over the legal strategies
as lack of maintenance (Layna and Kreimer, 2018).                                 and demands, which, coupled with the use of incomprehensible legal
    In the case of potash mining in Spain the judicialization process has         language, did not match their own. A worker stated: “Lawyers have
also made some social and environmental impacts invisible and                     taken economic advantage of our suffering,” for example by negotiating
rendered it difficult to trace those responsible for them. Montsalat is           with the companies to obstruct judicial procedures in exchange for
driven by a biologist highly concerned with the impact on the nearby              payments (Interview Nicaragua#2). Also in Nicaragua, local leaders are
river ecosystem. The scientific evidence he provided sparked the first            the link between the workers and the lawyers. While this seems to be an
and only criminal complaint against company executives, which                     efficient organizational strategy, over time it has become another way of
requested the rehabilitation of the land surrounding the waste pile and           losing control. Many workers trusted, signed, and supported what their
compensation for affected farmers. The rest of the legal complaints were          leader and lawyers advised. In this sense, workers were not the owners
mostly driven by lawyers (not scientists) and focused on administrative           of their own process to claim justice: they had no direct contact with
demands that ranged from the revocation of the environmental autho­               lawyers, they could not follow the legal procedures, and they had no
rization to challenges to its urban license and urbanization plans. These         decision-making power regarding legal strategies or demands. The in­
judicial demands became the movements’ main demands, ahead of                     ternal power dynamics can have a gendered effect too as women victims
other possible demands that could address the root causes of environ­             of DBCP were often excluded from decision-making processes within the
mental impacts, such as the use of alternative greener methods of waste           movement (Navas et al., 2022). This lack of accountability led workers
salt disposal. As with Shah and Mathur (2019), many impacts have been             to accuse the main leader of ASOTRAEXDAN of treason and corruption.
disregarded from the judicial process: the salinization of water and land         He was forced to resign and was replaced in 2015 (Interview Nicaragua
of residents and farmers downstream from the mine, as well as those               #3). The new leader promised more transparency and to include women
near the Suria mine (which was not included in the complaint); the                in the legal procedures (Idem). In the Spanish case, all lawyers acted
mine’s high water usage; and the damage caused by the leaks (20 per               almost independently from the movement. One of the most active law­
year on average) of the collector that transports brine 128 km to the sea         yers, Climent Fernandez, allied with local groups mainly to legitimate
(Gorostiza et al., 2022). The focus on administrative complaints is a legal       the legal cases. As he stated: “I could do it on my own, (…) but I would
strategy that has thus invisibilized many socio-environmental impacts.            have limitations on the environmental side, as I don’t have the legiti­
                                                                                  macy” (Spain Interview #10). He has thus become a key decision maker
5.3. Loss of control of the resistance process                                    of the legal strategy, and arguably of the movement itself.

    Taking environmental conflicts to court, especially in a context of           6. Conclusions
slow justice, can lead to a loss of control of the judicial process because
of unequal power relations between local groups and judges, lawyers,                  When social movements resort to litigation strategies they are often
companies, and even local leaders. Below, we explore the role of each             looking for a fair and just solution or compensation for the companies’
actor and discuss how prolonged judicial proceedings can exacerbate               and/or states’ wrongdoings (Bölter and Derani, 2018). They are reacting
these inequalities.                                                               to the unfair allocation of benefits and impacts that generally result from
    Local movements can lose control of the litigation process at the             unequal power relations (Peet and Watts, 2004). However, in the legal
expense of judges (Smulovitz, 2008, Bölter and Derani, 2018) due to, at          arena they encounter a highly hierarchical power structure that speaks a
least, three tribunal dynamics. First, judges can decide on the jurisdic­         particular legal language and makes issues depoliticized and abstract
tion of a case. This has important implications, as in the Argentinian case       (Munger, 2012). Local groups thus not only have to face the unequal
where the SCJN divided the case in two, allocating a provincial judge to          relations posed by companies and the state but the power structures of
rule on the company and a federal judge to rule on the national public            the legal arena as well.

                                                                              7
M. Conde et al.                                                                                                                Global Environmental Change 83 (2023) 102762


    We have identified three main consequences for movements that                  this vein, local groups should avoid a monoculture of legal language and
engage in environmental litigation. First, companies can instrumentalize           demands, and maintain a narrative that connects with local cultural and
the temporality of legal proceedings to carry out what we have termed “slow        social processes while creating broad alliances and solidarities with civil
justice,” a deliberate strategy to extend and hinder the legal process             society, governments, policy makers, and crucially scientists and
allowing companies to carry on functioning and polluting, avoiding                 lawyers.
compensation or remediation measures. Plaintiffs generally lack eco­
nomic resources and organizational capacity to sustain a long judicial
battle. This can cause a monopolization of all other activist strategies           Declaration of Competing Interest
and a reduction of a movement’s demands and narrative to that of the
legal complaint. This reduction of complexity also occurs during the legal             The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
process itself, where powerful lawyers, judges, and scientists, using legal        interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
and scientific language, decide what is harm and what is not, who is a             the work reported in this paper.
victim and who is not, what is remediated or who is compensated,
further marginalizing those affected. Social movements thus not only               Data availability
confront the power exercised by companies —promoting slow justice
and uncertainty— and the judges —accepting or rejecting defendants                     The authors do not have permission to share data.
and impacts, even initiating new demands— but also that of lawyers and
local leaders, who can divert from the demands and needs of local                  Acknowledgements
affected groups and promote the avenues they think are more promising
in the courts. Local groups can thus suffer a loss of control over the legal           The authors want to thank Dr. Gabriela Merlinsky, Dr. Christos
and resistance process (e.g. its narratives, alliances, strategies).               Zografos, Dr. Phil Steinberg, Dr, Giorgos Kallis and the EJAtlas team for
    Even when movements or local groups win one or several court                   their useful comments and reviews of earlier versions of the paper, as
cases, they can still lose. Companies are often able to delay, minimize, or        well as the anonymous reviews of the GEC. We also thank Dr. Sam Bliss
not pay for compensation or remediation. Movements then must find                  for his engaged copy-editing. Marta Conde acknowledges funding from
resources to carry on for even longer periods of time. Workers in                  Recercaixa 2017 ‘Activism Mobilising Science’ (Obra Social La Caixa
Nicaragua took the case to French courts aiming to seize the company’s             and ACUP) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant (897072). Grettel Navas
assets in France. However in 2022, workers were let down again when                and Mariana Walter thank support from Joan Martinez Alier’s Balzan
French judges ruled that their courts had no jurisdiction over the com­            Prize 2020. This research also contributes to ICTA-UAB “María de
panies (AFP, 13th May 2022). In the Spanish case, even though a local              Maeztu” Programme for Units of Excellence of the Spanish Ministry of
judge is generating pressure on the company to present a new and                   Science and Innovation (CEX2019-000940-M). Lucrecia Wagner ac­
complete remediation plan, the most recent agreements with the                     knowledges support from a CONICET external postdoctoral scholarship.
regional government are to turn the waste pile into a solar plant,
delaying, once more, its remediation.                                              References
    We signal the relevance of juridification processes as a result of the
limitations of legal frameworks to address slow violence and environ­              AFP, 2022. Nicaraguan plantation workers ‘poisoned’ by pesticides fight for justice,
                                                                                        France24 (13th May). Available at: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/
mental controversies. In two of our case studies social movements                       20220513-nicaraguan-plantation-workers-poisoned-by-pesticides-fight-for-justice.
embarked on the creation of new legislation to support their demands.                   (Accessed 3rd August 2022).
This juridification strategy has been relatively successful: in Nicaragua,         Albiston, C., 2010. The dark side of litigation as a social movement strategy. Iowa L. Rev.
                                                                                        Bull. 96, 61.
Law 364 allowed the plaintiffs to successfully place and win complaints
                                                                                   Almeida, P., Stearns, L.B., 1998. Political opportunities and local grassroots
in their country; in Argentina, the Glacial Law increased the protection                environmental movements: The case of Minamata. Soc. Probl. 45 (1), 37–60.
of several glaciers and consolidated an important alliance between sci­            Antonelli, M.A., 2016. Del pueblo elegido y el maná escondido. La minera de San Juan
                                                                                        (Argentina). Tabula Rasa 24, 57–77.
entists and local environmental groups. But then it backfired in the
                                                                                   Azuela, A., Mussetta, P., 2009. Algo más que el ambiente: conflictos sociales en tres áreas
judicialization phase when compensations were not paid and legal                        naturales protegidas de México. Revista de ciencias sociales 1 (16), 191–215.
charges were brought against a renowned scientist. We hypothesize that             Bingham, E., Monforton, C., 2013. The pesticide DBCP and male infertility (Chapter 9)..
much of the advancement of the “subaltern cosmopolitan legality”                        Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Science, Precaution, Innovation. European
                                                                                        Environmental Agency. Available at: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/late-
(Sousa Santos and Rodriguez Garavito, 2005, p.5) is the result of juri­                 lessons-2/late-lessons-chapters/late-lessons-ii-chapter-9/view (Accessed 3rd August
dification strategies. Our research points how its enactment — the                      2022).
judicialization phase — encounters new and old power struggles and                 Blichner, L.C., Molander, A., 2008. Mapping Juridification: Mapping Juridification.
                                                                                        Mapp. Juridif. Eur. Law J. 14 (1), 36–54.
limitations that can be difficult to overcome. Research on the interre­            Boden, L.I., Ozonoff, D., 2008. ‘Litigation-generated science: why should we care?
lated outcomes of juridification and judicialization strategies could                   Environ. Health Perspect. 116 (1), 117–122.
inform future actions of environmental movements.                                  Bohme, S., 2015. Toxic Injustice. University of California Press, California.
                                                                                   Boix, V., Bohme, S.R., 2012. Secrecy and Justice in the Ongoing Saga of DBCP Litigation.
    Given that litigation strategies have had positive outcomes and                     Int. J. Occup. Environ. Health 18 (2), 154–161. https://doi.org/10.1179/
beneficial spillover effects in numerous environmental conflicts (Hess                  1077352512Z.00000000010.
and Satcher, 2019, Vanhala, 2012), we hope that this rather bleak                  Bölter, S.G., Derani, C., 2018. Environmental law and sustainable development: an
                                                                                        analysis of the judicialization of social relations. Veredas do Direito 15(33), 209-242.
analysis serves as a warning for groups looking to engage in environ­
                                                                                        10.18623/rvd.v15i33.1242.
mental litigation. We pose that local groups could aim to increase                 Boutcher, S.A., McCammon, H.J., 2018. Social Movements and Litigation. In: Snow, D.A.,
resilience when planning for long judicial battles. This could be achieved              Soule, S.A., Kriesi, H., McCammon, H.J. (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell Companion to
                                                                                        Social Movements. Wiley, pp. 306–321.
not only through securing (not always accessible) resources but through
                                                                                   Bullard, R., 1990. Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality. Westview
the adoption of “head-in-the-sand” strategies for legal action. Learning                Press, Boulder CO.
from the Spanish case, groups can react to key court decisions and de­             Burstein, P., 1991. Legal mobilization as a social movement tactic: the struggle for equal
mand their enforcement in ways that do not invisibilize their broader                   employment opportunity. Am. J. Sociol. 96 (5), 1201–1225. https://doi.org/
                                                                                        10.1086/229653.
claims and strategies. The lesson to avoid the monopolization of stra­             Chen, A.K., Cummings, S.L., 2013. Public Interest Lawyering: A Contemporary
tegies is not a new one (Cole 1994, Hess and Satcher, 2019): research                   Perspective. Wolters Kluwer Law and Business, New York.
based on the Environmental Justice Atlas suggests that combining liti­             Cole, L.W., 1994. Environmental Justice Litigation: Another Stone in David’s Sling.
                                                                                        Fordham Urb. L.J. 21, 523.
gation with diverse forms of mobilization increases the success rate (i.e.         Cole, L.W., Foster, S.R., 2001. From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the rise
project stopped) of environmental movements (Scheidel et al., 2020). In                 of the environmental justice movement. New York University Press, London.


                                                                               8
M. Conde et al.                                                                                                                                Global Environmental Change 83 (2023) 102762

CONICET, 2017. Joint statement on the situation of Dr. Ricardo Villalba (14th December              Íconos, 2022. Extractivismo minero en América Latina: la juridificación de los conflictos
    2017). Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina.                       socioambientales. Iconos 72. Available at: https://revistas.flacsoandes.edu.ec/
    Available at: https://www.conicet.gov.ar/comunicado-conjunto-sobre-la-situacion-                     iconos/issue/view/211 (Last accessed 12th January 2023).
    del-doctor-ricardo-villalba/ (Accessed 3rd August 2022).                                        Iezzi, L.E., 2011. Minería aurífera a cielo abierto en Argentina. El caso del
Conde, M., 2014. Activism mobilising science. Ecol. Econ. 105, 67–77.                                    emprendimiento Veladero, provincia de San Juan [en línea]. Trabajo final de grado.
Conde, M., 2017. Resistance to mining. A review. Ecol. Econ. 132, 80–90.                                 Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la
Conde, M., Walter, M., 2022. Knowledge co-production in scientific and activist                          Educación. Last accessed 28th Sep 2023 at: http://www.fuentesmemoria.fahce.unlp.
    alliances: Unsettling coloniality. Engag. Sci., Technol. Soc. 8 (1), 150–170.                        edu.ar/tesis/te.423/te.423.pdf.
Corburn, J., 2005. Street science: Community knowledge and environmental health                     Kramarz, T., Cosolo, D., Rossi, A., 2017. Judicialization of environmental policy and the
    justice. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.                                                                   crisis of democratic accountability. Rev. Policy Res. 34 (1), 31–49. https://doi.org/
Couso, J., Huneeus, A., Sieder, R., 2010. Cultures of legality: judicialization and political            10.1111/ropr.12218.
    activism in Latin America. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.                               Layna, J.A., Kreimer, P., 2018. Co-producción de Estado, conocimiento científico y
Cummings, S.L., Eagly, I.V.A., 2001. Critical Reflection on Law and Organizing. UCLA                     capital minero en una controversia socio-técnica sobre un derrame de cianuro: La
    Law Rev. 48, 443.                                                                                    privatización técnica y productiva de un problema público (Master Thesis)
Dell’Angelo, J., Navas, G., Witteman, M., D’Alisa, G., Scheidel, A., Temper, L., 2021.                   Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Argentina. Available at: https://biblio.unq.edu.
    Commons grabbing and agribusiness: Violence, resistance and social mobilization.                     ar/Record/31237 (Accessed: 3rd August 2022).
    Ecol. Econ. 184, 107004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107004.                         Levitsky, S.R., 2015. Law and social movements: Old debates and new directions, in:
Domingo, P., 2004. Judicialization of politics or politicization of the judiciary? Recent                Sarat, A., Ewick P. (Eds), The Handbook of Law and Society. Wiley Blackwell, pp.
    trends in Latin America. Democratization 11 (1), 104–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/                   382-398.
    13510340412331294152.                                                                           Losekann, C., Bissoli, L.D., 2017. Direito, mobilização social e mudança institucional.
Domingo, P., 2010. Novel appropriations of the law in the pursuit of political and social                Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais 32. https://doi.org/10.17666/329403/2017.
    change in Latin America. In: Couso, J., Huneeus, A., Sieder, R. (Eds.), Cultures of             Lutz, E., Sikkink, K., 2001. The justice cascade: the evolution and impact of foreign
    legality. Judicialization and political activism in Latin America. Cambridge                         human rights trials in Latin America. Chi. J. Int’l L 2 (1), 1–32.
    University Press, Cambridge, pp. 254–278.                                                       Martín, F., Healey, M., 2020. La Ley de Glaciares en la encrucijada. Cuestión minera y
Dressel, B., 2012. The Judicialization of Politics in Asia: Towards a Framework Of                       juridificación del conflicto ambiental en Argentina, in: Merlinsky, G. (ed.),
    Analysis. Routledge, London, New York, 10.4324/9780203115596.                                        Cartografías del conflicto ambiental en la Argentina 3. Fundación CICCUS, pp.157-
Eisenhardt, K.M., 1989. Building theories from case study research. Acad. Manag. Rev.                    186.
    14 (4), 532–550.                                                                                Martinez-Alier, J., 2002. The Environmentalism of the poor: a study of ecological
EJATLAS, 2023. Environmental Justice Atlas. Available at: www.ejatlas (Accessed                          conflicts and valuation. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham/MA.
    January 2023).                                                                                  Martínez-Alier, J., Healy, H., Temper, L., Walter, M., Rodriguez-Labajos, B., Gerber, J.F.,
Fainstein, C., 2018. Conflictos urbanos judicializados: relocalizaciones en la Villa 21–24.              Conde, M., 2011. Between science and activism: learning and teaching ecological
    Revista Direito e Práxis 9 (4), 2071–2099. https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/                       economics with environmental justice organisations. Local Environ. 16 (1), 17–36.
    2018/30059.                                                                                          https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2010.544297.
Flynn, G., 2011. Court Decisions, NIMBY claims, and the siting of unwanted facilities:              McAdam, D., 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency,
    policy frames and the impact of judicialization in locating a landfill for toronto’s                 1930–1970. University of Chicago Press.
    solid waste. Can. Public Policy 37 (3), 381–393. https://doi.org/10.3138/                       McCann, M., 1994. Rights at Work: Pay Equity Reform and the Politics of Legal
    cpp.37.3.381.                                                                                        Mobilization. University of Chicago Press.
Frickel, S., Gibbon, S., Howard, J., Kempner, J., Ottinger, G., Hess, D.J., 2009. Undone            McCann, M., 2008. Litigation and Legal Mobilizationk. In: Caldeira, R., Kelemen, D.,
    science: charting social movement and civil society challenges to research agenda                    Whittington, K.E. (Eds.), Gregory A. Politics. Oxford University Press, The Oxford
    setting. ST&HV 35 (4), 444–473. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243909345836.                            Handbook of Law and, pp. 522–540.
Funtowicz, S., Ravetz, J.R., 1994. Emergent complex systems. Futures 26 (6), 568–582.               Merlinsky, G., 2013. Política, derechos y justicia ambiental. El conflicto del Riachuelo.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-3287(94)90029-9.                                                        Fondo de Cultura Económica, Buenos Aires. Available at: https://pdfs.
Ginsburg, T., 2009. Judicialization of administrative governance: causes, consequences                   semanticscholar.org/0fea/79827784baa7a83ba70e0cc46ad1b6991420.pdf
    and limits. In: Ginsburg, T., Chen, A.H. (Eds.), Administrative Law and Governance                   (Accessed 3rd August 2022).
    in Asia. Comparative Perspectives. Routledge, London, pp. 1–20.                                 Meyer, D.S., Boutcher, S.A., 2007. Signals and Spillover: Brown v. Board of Education
Geertz, C., 2008. Local knowledge: Further essays in interpretive anthropology. Basic                    and Other Social Movements. Perspect. Politics 5 (1), 81–93. https://doi.org/
    Books.                                                                                               10.1017/S1537592707070077.
Glaser, B., Strauss, A., 1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for                     Michaels, D., Monforton, C., 2005. Manufacturing uncertainty: contested science and the
    Qualitative Research. Sociology Press, Mill Valley, CA.                                              protection of the public’s health and environment. Am. J. Public Health 95 (S1),
Gómez Suárez, C., 2013. Tras los rostros de la lucha bananera en Nicaragua:                            S39–S48. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2004.043059.
    organización, identidad y liderazgo local. Anu. Estud. Centroam. 39, 167–209.                  Montenegro Guillén, S., Jiménez García, M., 2009. Residuos de plaguicidas en agua de
Gorenstein, S., 2020. Territorios primarizados en la Argentina reciente: megaminería en                  pozos en Chinandega, Nicaragua. Revista Científica Universidad y Ciencia UNAN-
    San Juan, Vaca Muerta en Neuquén y Río Negro, y biocombustibles en Córdoba.                        Managua 7, 37-45. Available at: https://repositorio.unan.edu.ni/2461/1/1000.pdf
    Accessed 8th January 2023 Revista de Ciencias Sociales 11 (38), 157–173. http://rid                  (Accessed 3rd August 2022).
    aa.unq.edu.ar/handle/20.500.11807/3574.                                                         Morales, H., Azócar, R., 2019. Crónica analítica de un triunfo etnoambiental en el Salar
Gorostiza, S., 2019. Cuando la realidad supera la ficción. Sebastià Estradé i Rodoreda                Atacama: Pampa Colorada. Revista Chilena de Antropología 39, 38–57. https://doi.
    (1923–2016) contra la montaña de residuos salinos. Ecología Política 57, 109–114.                   org/10.5354/rca.v0i39.53720.
Gorostiza, S., Sauri, D., 2019. Naturalizing pollution: a critical social science view on the       Munger, F., 2012. Global Funder, Grassroots Litigator-Judicialization of the
    link between potash mining and salinization in the Llobregat river basin, northeast                  Environmental Movement in Thailand. NYLS Legal Stud. Res. Paper 12 (13), 38.
    Spain. Philos. Trans. Royal Soc.B 374 (1764), 20180006. https://doi.org/10.1098/                     https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2145543.
    rstb.2018.0006.                                                                                 NeJaime, D., 2010. Winning Through Losing. Iowa Law Rev 96, 94. Available at: https://
Gorostiza, S., March, H., Conde, M., Sauri, D., 2022. Corrosive flows, faulty materialities:             ssrn.com/abstract=1592667 (Accessed 3rd August 2022).
    Building the brine collector in the Llobregat River Basin, Catalonia. Environ. Plan E:          Navas, G., D’Alisa, G., Martínez-Alier, J., 2022. The role of working-class communities
    Nat. Space. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486221105875.                                               and the slow violence of toxic pollution in environmental health conflicts: A global
Guzman Solano, N., 2016. Struggle from the margins: Juridical processes and                              perspective. Glob. Environ. Change 73, 102474.
    entanglements with the Peruvian state in the era of mega-mining. Extr. Ind. Soc. 3              Nixon, R., 2011. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Harvard
    (2), 416–425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2016.02.004.                                            University Press.
Hamman, E., Heaps, J.W., 2021. Environmental law clinics in Australia and the United                O’Donnell, G., 2005. Afterword, in: Sieder, R., Schjolden, L., Angell, A. (Eds.), The
    States: a comparison of design and operation. In: Kennedy, A., du Plessis, A.,                       judicialization of politics in Latin America. Springer, pp.293-298..Oxford Public
    Fowler, R., Hamman, E., Warnock, C. (Eds.), Teaching and Learning in                                 International Law. Available at: https://opil.ouplaw.com/display/10.1093/law:
    Environmental Law: Pedagogy, Methodology and Best Practice. Edward Elgar                             epil/9780199231690/law-9780199231690-e28 (Accessed 12 January 2022).
    Publishing, Cheltenham/Massachusetts, pp. 129–142.                                              Página 12, 2017. La ciencia bajo proceso judicial (10th December, 2017). Available at:
Handler, J.F., 1978. Social Movements and the Legal System: A Theory of Law Reform                       https://www.pagina12.com.ar/81513-la-ciencia-bajo-proceso-judicial (Accessed 3rd
    and Social Change. Academic Press, New York.                                                         August 2022).
He, P.P., Zhuang, Y.J., Lin, Y., Zheng, C.H., 2017. Environmental law clinics in                    Peet, R., Watts, M., 2004. Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development, Social
    collaboration with environmental NGOs in China. Sustaina 9 (3), 337. https://doi.                    Movements. Routledge, London.
    org/10.3390/su9030337.                                                                          Petryna, A., 2004. Biological citizenship: the science and politics of chernobyl-exposed
Hess, D.J., Satcher, L.A., 2019. Conditions for successful environmental justice                         populations. Osiris 19, 250–265. https://doi.org/10.1086/649405.
    mobilizations: an analysis of 50 cases’. Envl. Polit. 28 (4), 663–684. https://doi.org/         Petryna, A., 2009. Nuclear payouts: knowledge and compensation in the chernobyl
    10.1080/09644016.2019.1565679.                                                                       aftermath. Anthropol. Now 1 (2), 30–39. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41203539.
Hilson, C., 2002. New social movements: the role of legal opportunity. J. Eur. Public               Pigrau, A., 2014. The Texaco-Chevron case in Ecuador: Law and justice in the age of
    Policy 9 (2), 238–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501760110120246.                                    globalization. Revista catalana de dret ambiental 5 (1). https://doi.org/10.17345/
Hirschl, R., 2010. The judicialization of politics. In: Whittington, K.E., Kelemen, R.D.,                rcda1437.
    Caldeira, G.A. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Science. OUP Oxford,                    Reuters, 15th August 2020. Lawyer who took on Chevron in Ecuador is disbarred in New
    Oxford, pp. 253–274.                                                                                 York. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-donziger-
                                                                                                         idUSKCN25A2P4 (Accessed 3rd August 2022).


                                                                                                9
M. Conde et al.                                                                                                                                    Global Environmental Change 83 (2023) 102762

Ríos Figueroa, J., Taylor, M.M., 2006. Institutional determinants of the judicialisation of            Skjaevestad, A., 2010. The Mapuche people’s battle for indigenous land: litigation as a
    policy in Brazil and Mexico. J. Lat. Am. Stud. 38 (4), 739–766. https://doi.org/                       strategy to defend indigenous land rights, in: Couso, J., Huneeus, A., Sieder, R.
    10.1017/S0022216X06001593.                                                                             (Eds.), Cultures of legality. Judicialization and political activism in Latin America.
Rojas, F., Wagner, L., 2021. Inventario de glaciares en Argentina: polémicas públicas y                   Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.207-233. doi:10.1017/
    disputas de sentido. In: França, A.M., Miraglia, M. (Eds.), Paisaje Y Patrimonio:                      CBO9780511730269.009.
    Impresiones De La Historia En El AmbiEnte Natural. Teseo Press, Buenos Aires,                      Smulovitz, C., 2008. La política por otros medios. Judicialización y movilización legal en
    pp. 185–232.                                                                                           Argentina. Desarrollo Económico 48(190-191), 287-305. Available at: https://www.
Rosén, M., Arneback, E., Bergh, A., 2021. A conceptual framework for understanding                        jstor.org/stable/27667840 (Accessed 3rd August 2022).
    juridification of and in education. J. Educ. Policy 36 (6), 822–842. https://doi.org/              Smulovitz, C., 2010. Judicialization in Argentina: Legal culture or opportunities and
    10.1080/02680939.2020.1777466.                                                                         support structures?, in: Couso, J., Huneeus, A., Sieder, R. (Eds.). Cultures of Legality.
Rosenberg, G.N., 1991. The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring about Social Change?                              Judicialization and political activism in Latin America. Cambridge University Press,
    University of Chicago Press.                                                                           pp. 234-253. 10.1017/CBO9780511730269.010.
Ryan, D., 2010. Democratic Governance and the Judicialization of Policy: A Qualitative                 Snow, D.A., Soule, S.A., Kriesi, H., McCammon, H.J., 2018. The Wiley Blackwell
    Comparative Analysis of Policy Conflicts in Argentina. In: APSA 2010 Annual                            companion to social movements. John Wiley & Sons.
    Meeting Paper.                                                                                     Sousa Santos, B., Rodríguez Garavito, C.A., 2005. Law and globalization from below:
Sawyer, S., 2004. Crude chronicles: Indigenous politics, multinational oil, and                            towards a cosmopolitan legality. Cambridge University Press.
    neoliberalism in Ecuador. Duke University Press, Durham.                                           Sovacool, B.K., Hess, D.J., Cantoni, R., Lee, D., Brisbois, M.C., Walnum, H.J., Goel, S.,
Scheidel, A., Del Bene, D., Liu, J., Navas, G., Mingorría, S., Demaria, F., Avila, S., Roy, B.,            2022. Conflicted transitions: Exploring the actors, tactics, and outcomes of social
    Ertör, I., Temper, L., Martínez-Alier, J., 2020. Environmental conflicts and                          opposition against energy infrastructure. Glob Environ Change 73, 102473. https://
    defenders: A global overview. Glob Environ Change 63, 102104.                                          doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102473.
Scheingold, S.A., 1974. The Politics of Rights: Lawyers, Public Policy, and Political                  Tarrow, S.G., 2011. Power in movement: Social movements and contentious politics.
    Change. Yale University Press.                                                                         Cambridge University Press.
Scheingold, S.A., 1989. Constitutional rights and social change: Civil rights in                       Taylor, M.M., Da Ros, L., 2008. Os partidos dentro e fora do poder: a judicialização como
    perspective. In: McCann, M.W., Houseman, G.L. (Eds.), Judging the Constitution:                        resultado contingente da estratégia política. Dados 51 (4), 825–864. https://doi.org/
    Critical Essays on Judicial Lawmaking. Scott Foresman & Company, pp. 73–91.                            10.1590/S0011-52582008000400002.
Schlosberg, D., 2007. Defining Environmental Justice: Theories, Movements, and Nature.                 Turner, T., Clifton, C., 1990. Wild by Law: The Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund and the
    Oxford University Press, New York.                                                                     Places It Has Saved. Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, CA, San Francisco.
Scott, D. N. 2012. Law’s Slow Violence: A Review of Rob Nixon’s“ Slow Violence and the                 Vallinder, T., 1994. The judicialization of politics—A world-wide phenomenon:
    Environmentalism of the Poor. Comparative Research in Law and Political Economy.                       Introduction. Int. Political Sci. Rev. 15 (2), 91–99.
    Research Paper No. 2/2012. Available at: https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.                     Vanhala, L., 2012. Legal opportunity structures and the paradox of legal mobilization by
    ca/clpe/1 (Accessed 3rd August 2022).                                                                  the environmental movement in the UK. Law Soc. Rev. 46 (3), 523–556. https://doi.
Shah, A., Mathur, N., 2019. Contestations around water allocation during a climate crisis                  org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2012.00505.x.
    in India: The case of ‘IPL vs. drought. Glob Environ Change 57, 101927. https://doi.               Vanhala, L., 2018. Is legal mobilization for the birds? Legal opportunity structures and
    org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.05.011.                                                                   environmental nongovernmental organizations in the United Kingdom, France,
Sieder, R., 2011. ‘Emancipation’ or ‘regulation’? Law, globalization and indigenous                        Finland, and Italy. Comp Pol Studies 51 (3), 380–412. https://doi.org/10.1177/
    peoples’ rights in post-war Guatemala. Econ. Soc. 40 (2), 239–265. https://doi.org/                    0010414017710257.
    10.1080/03085147.2011.548952.                                                                      Vazzi, V., 2017. Quem não pode com a formiga não assanha o cajueiro”: violência,
Sieder, R., Schjolden, L., Angell, A. (Eds.), 2005. The Judicialization of Politics in Latin               margens e interstícios da judicialização do conflito socioambiental na Comunidade
    America. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.                                                                 do Cajueiro, em São Luís – Maranhão. (Doctoral dissertation). Universidade Federal
Sieder, R., Witchell, J., 2001. Advancing indigenous claims through the law: reflections                   do Maranhão. Available at:. (Accessed 3rd August 2022).
    on the Guatemalan peace process. In: Cowan, J.K., Dembour, M.B., Wilson, R.A.                      Whorton, D., Krauss, R., Marshall, S., Milby, T., 1977. Infertility in male pesticide
    (Eds.), Culture and Rights: Anthropological Perspectives. Cambridge University                         worker’s. Lancet 310 (8051), 1259–1261. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(77)
    Press, Cambride and New York, pp. 201–225.                                                             92665-4.
Sieder, R., 2020. The Juridification of Politics, in: Foblets, M.C. (Ed), The Oxford                   Wilson, R.A., 2006. Afterword to “Anthropology and human rights in a new key”: the
    Handbook of Law and Anthropology. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198840534.001.0001.                             social life of human rights. Am. Anthropol. 108 (1), 77–83.
Sikkink, K., 2005. The transnational dimension of the judicialization of politics in Latin             Young, I., 1990. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton University Press,
    America. In: Sieder, R., Schjolden, L., Angell, A. (Eds.), The Judicialization of Politics             Princeton, NY.
    in Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pp. 263–292.                                       Zemans, F.K., 1983. Legal mobilization: The neglected role of the law in the political
Silverstein, H., 1996. Unleashing Rights: Law, Meaning, and the Animal Rights                              system’. APSR 77 (3), 690–703.
    Movement. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.




                                                                                                  10