Neoliberal Environments Surprisingly, very little work has systematically explored the application of neoliberal policies to environmental governance and environmental change. This volume explores this nexus between nature, markets, deregulation and valuation, using theoretically sharp and empirically rich real-world case studies and analyses of actually existing policy from around the world and across a range of resources. In short, it answers the questions: does neoli- beralizing nature work and what work does it do? More specifically, this volume provides answers to a series of urgent questions about the effects of neoliberal policies on environmental governance and quality. What are the implications of privatizing public water utilities in terms of equity in service provision, resource conservation and water quality? Do free trade agree- ments erode the sovereignty of nations and citizens to regulate environ- mental pollution, and is this power being transferred to corporations? What does the evidence show about the relationship between that marketization and privatization of nature and conservation objectives? Neoliberal Environments productively engages with all of these questions and more. At the same time, the diverse case studies collectively and deci- sively challenge the orthodoxies of neoliberal reforms, documenting that the results of such reforms have fallen far short of their ambitions. Nik Heynen is Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Georgia. James McCarthy is Associate Professor of Geography at Penn State University. Scott Prudham is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and the Centre for Environment at the University of Toronto. Paul Robbins is Professor of Geography at the University of Arizona. Neoliberal Environments False promises and unnatural consequences Edited by Nik Heynen, James McCarthy, Scott Prudham, and Paul Robbins First published 2007 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the US by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business # 2007 Nik Heynen, James McCarthy, Scott Prudham, and Paul Robbins for editoral and selection; the contributors, their contributions All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for the book has been requested ISBN 0-203-94684-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 978–0–415–77148–1 (hbk) ISBN 978–0–415–77149–8 (pbk) ISBN 978–0–203–94684–8 (ebk) Contents List of figures viii Notes on contributors ix Acknowledgments xii Introduction: false promises 1 NIK HEYNEN, JAMES MCCARTHY, SCOTT PRUDHAM, AND PAUL ROBBINS PART I Enclosure and privatization 23 1 The last enclosure: resisting privatization of wildlife in the western United States 25 PAUL ROBBINS AND APRIL LUGINBUHL 2 Privatizing conditions of production: trade agreements as neoliberal environmental governance 38 JAMES MCCARTHY 3 Dispossessing H20: the contested terrain of water privatization 51 ERIK SWYNGEDOUW 4 Neoliberalism in the oceans: ‘‘rationalization,’’ property rights, and the commons question 63 BECKY MANSFIELD 5 Acts of enclosure: claim staking and land conversion in Guyana’s gold fields 74 GAVIN BRIDGE vi Contents Part I Commentary 6 Enclosure and privatization of neoliberal environments 89 NANCY LEE PELUSO 7 Neoliberal primitive accumulation 94 JIM GLASSMAN PART II Commodification and marketization 99 8 Neoliberalizing nature? Market environmentalism in water supply in England and Wales 101 KAREN BAKKER 9 The neoliberalization of ecosystem services: wetland mitigation banking and the problem of measurement 114 MORGAN M. ROBERTSON 10 Weak or strong multifunctionality? Agri-environmental resistance to neoliberal trade policies 126 GAIL HOLLANDER 11 Re-regulating the urban water regime in neoliberal Toronto 139 DOUGLAS YOUNG AND ROGER KEIL Part II Commentary 12 Neoliberalism and the regulation of ‘‘environment’’ 153 NEIL BRENNER AND NIK THEODORE PART III Devolution and neoliberal governmentalities 161 13 Poisoning the well: neoliberalism and the contamination of municipal water in Walkerton, Ontario 163 SCOTT PRUDHAM 14 Un-real estate: proprietary space and public gardening 177 NICK BLOMLEY 15 Scalar dialectics in green: urban private property and the contradictions of the neoliberalization of nature 190 NIK HEYNEN AND HAROLD A. PERKINS Contents vii 16 Neoliberalism and environmental justice policy 202 RYAN HOLIFIELD Part III Commentary 17 Neoliberal governmentalities 217 WENDY LARNER 18 Neoliberal environments, technologies of governance and governance of technologies 221 DIANNE ROCHELEAU PART IV Resistance 229 19 A ‘‘continuous and ample supply’’: sustained yield timber production in northern New Mexico 231 DAVID CORREIA 20 Neoliberalism and the struggle for land in Brazil 243 WENDY WOLFORD 21 Enclosure and economic identity in New England fisheries 255 KEVIN ST. MARTIN Part IV Commentary 22 Researching resistance in a time of neoliberal entanglements 269 JUANITA SUNDBERG 23 What might resistance to neoliberalism consist of? 273 MICHAEL WATTS PART V Conclusion 279 24 Neoliberal ecologies 281 NOEL CASTREE Conclusion: unnatural consequences 287 NIK HEYNEN, JAMES MCCARTHY, SCOTT PRUDHAM, AND PAUL ROBBINS Index 292 Figures 1.1 The rise and fall of game farming in Montana, 1993–2001 33 1.2 Flyer from MADCOW 34 5.1 The acquisition of rights as a means of coupling economic processes and environmental outcomes 76 5.2 Land area of new mine claim and mine permit applications by mining district, 1980–2001 81 5.3 Location and intensity of mine permitting in Guyana, 1993–2001 83 10.1 South Florida land use 127 13.1 Walkerton, Ontario 166 21.1 A typical plotter produced ‘‘paper’’ for a mixed (rocky with pathways) bottom 263 Contributors Karen Bakker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include envir- onmental policy, natural resource management, and water governance. Nick Blomley is a Professor in the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University. His main research interest is the interface of law and space. Neil Brenner is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at New York University. His main research interests include urban sociology, urban political economy and urban theory. Gavin Bridge is a Reader in Economic Geography in the School of Envir- onment and Development at Manchester University. His research inter- ests include environmental governance and the social regulation of resource access. Noel Castree is a Professor in the School of Environment and Development at Manchester University. His principal research interests have been in capitalism-environment relationships and how best to theorize them. David Correia is an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Maine, Farmington. His research interests revolve around the political ecology of forest and rangeland management in New Mexico. Jim Glassman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia. His research interests are currently focused on the political economy of development in Southeast Asia Nik Heynen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Georgia. His research interests include urban political economy/ecology, social theory, and inequality and social movements. Ryan Holifield is a PhD Candidate at the University of Minnesota. He is most directly working on issues of environmental justice. Gail Hollander is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations and Geography at Florida International University. Her research x Contributors interests include agricultural, environmental, and economic geographies, particularly in Florida and the Caribbean. Roger Keil is a Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies and Department of Political Science at York University, Canada. His main areas of interest and research are urban politics and governance and urban political ecology. Wendy Larner is a Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol. Her research interests include globalization, gov- ernance and gender. April Luginbuhl is a graduate student in the Department of Geography at the Ohio State University. Her research focuses broadly on nature/society interactions, particularly the social and property relations of regulating greenhouse gases. Becky Mansfield is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the Ohio State University. Her research interests are on the political economy of the environment, with a special focus often on ocean fisheries. James McCarthy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Penn State University. His research centers on political ecology and political economy, with particular interests in environmental politics, conflicts, and social movements.