4.1 Scopus database

Publications by author: Figure 1 shows the authors with the highest number of publications on the topic. First, we have César C. Martins from Universidad Federal de Parana (Curitiba, Brazil), with seven papers, followed by Charbel José Chiappetta Jabbour, from the University of Stirling (United Kingdom), with six papers, and Ana Beatriz López De Sousa Jabbour, from the Universidad Estatal Paulista (Sao Paulo, Brazil) with five publications. With the publication of four papers we have: Márcia Caruso Bícego and Rosalinda Carmela Montone from the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Britaldo Silveira Soares-Filho from Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), and Marcello M. Veiga from the University of British Columbia (Canada). The remaining authors wrote three documents each.

Source: own elaboration.

Figure 1 Publications by author in the time window 2012-2017 

Publications by country: the leading country in this subject of study is Brazil, with 167 publications; this goes in line with the results shown in Figure 1, as the five authors previously mentioned are affiliated to Brazilian institutions. On the other hand, Mexico stands out with 94 documents published, the United States with 54, and Spain with 21. It is important to highlight that the United States, Canada, and Europe show more depth regarding CSR in the extractive sector. Their influence may be linked to research financed by external agents outside the region, since exploration and exploitation companies working with Latin American resources are primarily foreign companies; among them, we find Canadian and USA companies, and more recently, Asian companies, specifically in China. Besides Brazil, other Latin American countries having publications on the subject are Argentina with 11 articles, Colombia with six, Ecuador with five, Chile with four, Bolivia and Uruguay with three, Peru and Costa Rica with two.

4.2 Web of Science (WoS) database

Publications by author: regarding the authors standing out due to the number of publications related to the subject of analysis, it is worth highlighting that, except for researcher Studnicki Gizbert Daviken, the remaining authors have only one publication. The researcher mentioned earlier is an associate professor to the department of history at the University of McGill, in Montreal (Canada), and he is the author of two publications, with a representation of 1.72%.

Publications by country: Table 2 shows that the country leading the subject of study is the United States, with a total of 35 publications, corresponding to 30.17%, a remarkable difference as compared with the countries that follow suit. In addition, Spain counts 16 articles published (13.79%) and Mexico and England have 12 publications each (10.34%). Other Latin American countries found in the list are Brazil with 11 articles, Argentina with 10, Chile with eight, and Colombia with six.

5.1 Conflicts related to environmental impact

In Latin America, several conflicts involving natural resources were identified, among which water bodies, their use, appropriation and scarcity stand out, together with significant damage to protected ecosystems with extensive biodiversity and air pollution.

Evidence of pollution resulting from extractive activities was found in the Intag Valley, in Ecuador, with the presence of heavy metals in water bodies and damage to water sources near the location of the mine, caused by industrialized and artisanal mining, which are conducted with little environmental precautions (^{Marston, 2017}) and cause a significant decay in the fauna and flora (^{Sandrini-Neto, Martins & Lana, 2016}). On the other hand, ^{Seccatore, Martin, De Tomi, and Veiga (2014)} have projected that the increase in mining extraction in Ecuador makes it necessary to assess the impact of Artisanal and Small scale Mining (ASM), in order to determine the impact of these activities on health and environmental risk and to identify the possibility of transitioning to environmentally responsible operations which lead to mitigation and prevention in these territories.

It was found that some mining workers in Ecuador do not possess the technical and financial capability required for three specific critical aspects: inadequate and unsafe supplies, lack of technical knowledge, and limitation in productivity. Hence, health problems arise due to their intense labor, a reduced technological implementation and a high level of informality due to the national juridical framework. These conditions support the need to invest in promoting responsible and sustainable activities that provide a good quality of life to both miners and their families (^{Seccatore, Magny & De Tomi, 2014}).

In parallel, for 90 years, gold extraction has been the leading promoter of economic activity in the Portovelo and Zaruma regions (Ecuador). However, this activity’s negative impact is related to the pollution of transborder waters due to poor mining waste management (^{Adler Miserendino et al., 2013}). Furthermore, mining and fossil fuel extraction have been progressively increasing in isolated areas belonging to indigenous territories in Ecuador. Although these dynamics strengthened the agricultural economy for the populations, aspects like the transportation cost and the pollution of water sources also increased considerably. Hence, the extractive activities by multinational companies are perceived as potential threats to these communities’ means of living and a source of uncertainty regarding the effects following the withdrawal of the companies from the area (^{Bozigar, Gray & Bilsborros, 2016}).

Similarly, in the historical mining center of Potosi (Bolivia), metal concentrations were identified in the water used for crops, the soil, and the potato crops due to mining lixiviates. These conditions generate a potential risk for human health, with concentrations ranging from 20 y 1100 times above the limits established at the international level. The panorama is concerning with respect to the consumption of this vital resource. Neighboring populations report negative impacts on their respiratory, digestive and kidney functions, similar to those resulting from tobacco smoking, although the tobacco consumption in the zone does not exceed 18% (^{Garrido, Strosnider, Wilson, Condori & Nairn, 2017}).

In the case of Mexico, there are permanent disputes against extractive activities due to their negative impact, which increases the breach of inequality in connection with poverty, isolation, economic stagnation, and environmental degradation. The main areas affected are the protected ecosystems, which require an institutional reform to guard them against the influential power of big companies, starting from the social participation of inhabitants in the recognition and preservation of natural resources as local means of living (^{Hill, Byrne & de Vasconcellos Pegas, 2016}). Within this framework, the excessive contamination of underground waters in Huautla, Morelos, (Mexico), stands out, since several scientific studies have linked this to health conditions and a reduction in the life quality of their inhabitants (^{Esteller, Domínguez-Mariani, Garrido & Avilés, 2015}; ^{Avilés, Garrido, Esteller, De La Paz, Najera & Cortés, 2013}).

In spite of Mexico’s significant biodiversity and the efforts for its protection (12% of the country’s surface), the proportion of land in concession for extractive exploitation is considerable (28% of the country’s surface). However, the real impact of these activities has not been entirely ascertained, given the potential impact on hydrographic basins and water sources. Therefore, it is essential to remember the commitment governments have when granting extraction licenses, as well as the attention they should pay to dwellers who are against this type of activities; added to studies that provide accurate information on the characteristics of the territories to guarantee their protection, and even the possibility to cancel environmental licenses previously awarded (^{Armendáriz-Villegas et al., 2015}).

One of the regions characterized by its immense biodiversity is located in San Luis Potosi (Mexico). This area has experienced noticeable changes in the use of the soil due to conducting economic activities like shepherding and extraction. Hence, the need is highlighted to conduct more rigorous studies to determine the proportion of protected areas, types of soils, ecoregions, and altitudinal zones, which will lead to governmental actions to structure a better inventory of the territory and the definition of the areas that are continuously exposed to this type of activities (^{Chapa- Vargas & Monzalvo-Santos, 2012}).

In the specific case of Peru and the oil extraction, the country has large reserves identified in the Amazon region, which leads to several social and environmental challenges, primarily because of the objectives set by the nation in terms of crude oil extraction. Additionally, there is the projection of possible socioenvironmental conflicts arising from the zones’ natural richness that provide a territorial ecological balance (^{Chávez- Rodríguez, Szklo & Lucena, 2015}).

In Chile, economic growth is primarily correlated to mining activities, which leads to a considerable number of socio-environmental conflicts. Furthermore, this element is linked to practices from the mining sector at the international level that have been adapted to the Chilean economic and social dynamics, where the extractive activities are presented as an ecological and political-state project, ignoring its repercussions on native populations’ life quality, such as the Aymara. Consequently, socio-environmental conflicts may not be taken as an isolated fact, but as a multi-scale, historical phenomenon caused both by global capitalism and multilateral institutions, NGOs, intellectuals, and local native and non-native players (^{Romero Toledo, Videla & Gutiérrez, 2017}).

5.2 Conflicts related to territorial struggles

According to this type of conflict, situations leading to displacement and relocation of communities were contemplated, as well as irregularities in the purchase price of the land, and the illegal occupation of these territories, which directly affect the vulnerable populations in the area.

In Peru, several conflicts are based on the poor administration of vital resources like the land and the water, such as the environmental consequences affecting the community and the lack of regulation to conduct mining activities; these are threatening factors for populations (^{Dietz & Engels, 2017}). In addition, extractive activities in some areas of Peru have set the grounds for the communities’ resistance to the execution of mining projects. However, populations with little state coverage, those isolated from the national dynamics, may obtain local benefits due to their attachment to their land, overcoming political and social marginalization, which leads to mining companies losing interest in taking over (^{Conde & Le Billon, 2017}).

In the case of Bolivia, it is evident how the government’s weak legislation favors cooperation among certain institutions that promote extractive activities, without considering the requests for restrictions by the dwellers, mainly by native communities (^{Andreucci & Radhuber, 2017}). In this respect, Guarani peoples have struggled with organizing consultation processes and their prior free, informed consent. In this way, socio-environmental monitoring strategies are adopted, given the claim for territorial control and sovereignty on resources through progressive level reforms in defense of territory, autonomy, and self-determination (^{Schilling-Vacaflor, 2017}).

Regarding Colombia, cases such as that of the African-Colombian artisanal miners who disagreed with the immersion of industrial mining were identified, since the concession of territories through doubtful processes affected more than 1300 traditional artisanal miners in Suarez, Cauca. However, they organized themselves to appeal to institutional bodies and managed to stop the initial tests multinational companies were conducting in their territory (^{Dietz & Engels, 2017}).

Similarly, in El Pangui (Ecuador), due to the increasing number of conflicts and social and environ-mental impact, a CSR strategy was proposed to auditing companies to mitigate conflict and reduce the risks of extractive activities. This strategy included four principles: economy (sustainable development), ethics (responsibility), philanthropy (care for the community and the environment), and legality (follow-up according to the law). Nevertheless, this created adverse reactions that led to further conflict, mainly because of the negative image companies projected by evading responsibilities, diluting and disarticulating the conflict, and contributing to polarization through Greenwashing (^{Warnaars, 2012}).

In Mexico, problems linked to the invasions of territories of vulnerable populations were identified, as in the case of the town of Huichol and the Canadian company First Majestic, where lands considered sacred, where artisanal mining had been taking place for more than 200 years, were invaded. To file for the project, the foreign company considered the component of “sustainable mining”, involving care for the environment, transparency, and a commitment with the local communities through the sponsoring of long-term projects. Facing the people’s resistance, the mediatic exposure of the conflict, and legal pressure, the company suggested constructing water treatment plants and eliminating cyanide from extractive processes (^{Boni, Garibay & McCall, 2015}).

5.3 Conflicts related to the violation of human rights

Different elements leading to the violation of Human Rights due to the development of extractive activities in the region are presented below. Violence is one of the criminalization factors identified, together with irregularities in the institutional sector, flaws in public regulations and policies, the absence of prior consultation, and significant changes affecting the quality of life in the communities.

In view of the boom in the price of minerals, multinational companies have expanded their operations in Latin America. In consequence, the reduced regulations and the negative impact of such activities have led to conflicts. As a result, the need to jointly cooperate with the civil society, NGOs, and the legislation to find a peaceful solution to conflicts stands out amidst a state and civil society that are losing ground to corporations (^{North & Young, 2013}). A case in point took place in Ecuador, where the idea of militarization and mining as a way of life in indigenous territories led to the occupation of lands for capital profit, leaving aside strategic components for development and a suitable living (^{Shade, 2015}). In this regard, the population decided to appeal to international bodies to attain the mitigation and prevention of negative impact on the population, especially due to the violation of the right to water and the stigmatization of defenders of nature as publicly disqualified (^{Marston, 2017}).

On the other hand, in the El Mirador mine (Ecuador) case, the mestizo and indigenous populations such as the Shuar are under constant pressure from the government and the mining company bidding for the extractive project. In the meantime, the community has resorted to requests for prior consultation and environmental management to have a say in the decision-making process through the participation of famous ecologists and social scientists. At this instance, it was evident how the government uses juridical tools to benefit the extractive sector, unprotecting the directly and indirectly affected population (^{Leifsen, Sánchez-Vásquez & Reyes, 2017}; ^{Sánchez-Vázquez, Leifse & Verdú, 2017}). In the case of Colombia, mediatic programs and regulations have promoted the appearance of junctures in the socio-environmental setting; as a result, the society has organized itself through the help of local players and international allies to propose solutions that go beyond the local, regional, and national setting (^{Dietz & Engels, 2017}).

In Peru, several conflicts have arisen in connection with the loss of rights over the land, reduced guarantees by dwellers, and a nonexisting local projection by mining companies (^{Dietz & Engels, 2017}). A case in point is the lack of recognition of prior consultation by the State regarding the development of extractive projects, an aspect that has led to community manifestations in view of the legal voids and superficial agreements (^{Schilling-Vacaflor & Flemmer, 2015}). In the case of Bolivia, institutional reforms have favored the mining exploitation protecting multinational companies and independent miners; in this way, the environmental rights of indigenous communities are excluded, and the mining expansion is promoted through repression, the demobilization of social forces, and the limited scope of state efforts (^{Andreucci & Radhuber, 2017}).

In spite of progress in the matter of rights, some Latin American countries continue to record a gap regarding the regulatory framework and the absence of administrative and political practices by the State. This takes place when native populations file a lawsuit concerning their lands and resources, and in return, they get intimidation, repression, imprisonment, and the assassination of natives. In parallel, poverty, cultural discrimination, social inequality, and political exclusion are consolidated for this segment of the population (^{Martínez, 2015}). The scenarios described show that mining industries have high levels of influence, and they model the dynamics of the extractive conflict through their actions by using degrading strategies to attain their objectives. For example, in the community of Ejidal, in Mexico, mining companies implemented attitudinal tactics like blame, self-victimization, neutralization of the debate, and ambivalence to position the advantages of mining projects through their discourse and attain the support of the community (^{Penman, 2016}).

The significant growth of coal mining in Chile through projects developed in Patagonia has reignited different conflicts due to the opposition of neighboring inhabitants and the reduction of permits to initiate extractive activities. The decision-making process by the government has been based on exclusion, lack of recognition, and participation; in this regard, the organization and construction of solidarity networks by the communities affected has been promoted, with vast political connections that allow for the creation of paths for environmental justice (^{Bustos, Folchi & Fragkou, 2017}).

The government’s support to the private accumulation of capital through the foreign exploitation of mining resources and the violation of ethnical rights is indisputable; hence, the violent disputes generated by the appropriation of mining territories inhabited by indigenous peoples stand out, as well as the legal and illegal allocation of land titles that hinder access by African-descent communities to environmental resources. In turn, policies and laws favoring extractivism in Latin America and military intervention to guarantee private and foreign investment displace agricultural and artisanal mining activities, directly involving racial and ethnic marginalization, which promote inequality in the distribution of wealth (^{Vélez- Torres, 2014}). According to ^{Weitzner (2017)} , the affected communities should resort to juridical instances or mobilizations to create pressure and get the attention of governments to have a say in the results of mining concessions.

Although Latin American governments offer ad-vantages in the development of extractive projects, instances like prior consultation, the open cabildo, activism, and the organization of community sectors have bridged the participation gaps that hinder the participation of the groups directly affected; added to the limited actions by the academy in the face of extractive activities and the judicial actions that stop unilateral actions by the government (^{Roa-García, 2017}). Furthermore, policies that integrate economic, environmental, social, and governmental regulation are promoted through participative action to use better the limited resources available (^{Arango-Aramburo et al., 2017}).

5.4 New proposals for the mitigation and prevention of socio-environmental conflicts

As we have mentioned before, local communities have not only reacted to the environmental impact of extractive activities but also to the lack of representation and participation by local dwellers in decisions related to their development. Consequently, in order to expand the knowledge on extractive projects, alliances have been created for discourse training, local narratives, and combined alternatives (^{Veltmeyer, 2013}). Although the union between NGOs, communities, lawyers, and scientists has contributed from the juridical and legal perspective to the rejection of these activities, the effectiveness of these alliances is not yet evident to the lack of consistent evidence (^{Conde, 2017}). It is worth highlighting that on some occasions, the prosecution of environmental crimes in Latin America reveals and addresses the deficiencies in environmental policies and their contradiction with state economic policies; hence, the state network and citizen cooperation strategies must be fortified through elements like civil participation, transparent promotion and neighborhood watch (^{Ungar, 2017}).

Starting from the situations mentioned, some authors propose alternative methodologies that make it possible to provide solutions to the different conflicts unleashed by extractive activities in Latin America.

Among the solutions proposed, we find the LSO as an indicator for social acceptance and guarantee before local players and multinational companies to mitigate risks originated by unbalanced power, conflicts of interests, and the silencing effects of global certification schemes. This license has been implemented in different settings with a precautionary approach, as it results from a global analysis of the situation; that is, this action may underestimate and bias the real impact of the extractive project (^{Ehrnström-Fuentes & Kröger, 2017}). For a correct development of the LSO license, it is necessary to consider two models of dialogue: (i) a learning dialogue with no specific form, agenda, or expected result, and (ii) a strategic, structured dialogue with specific results. The two work as a tool to solve conflicts in frameworks of community/public participation and corporate communications (^{Mercer- Mapstone, Rifkin, Moffat & Louis, 2017}).

An example of the implementation of LSO comes from the company Cementos Progreso in Guatemala, where there was relevant participation by the government and the citizens; in this regard, mining was proposed as an alternative for development, guaranteeing citizen participation in the mining operation. With this socialization, the community was able to tangibly witness the actions of an extraction project, with the support of transparency and responsibility from the government, added to financial aid and in-kind assistance by the company. As a result of the above, threats to intimidate social participation were curved by the confidence built among dwellers to promote accountability and transparency (^{Constanza, 2016}). Thus, with the implementation of the license, optimal results have been witnessed at the international level by guaranteeing the participation of society at two levels: (i) representativeness and interest by the federal, national and local government; (ii) lost opportunity cost or net benefits to be counted on in case the project is not considered (^{Vale, 2016}).

On the other hand, Environmental Justice is identified as an alternative for resolving conflicts when consolidating the political and territorial autonomy originated by the debate on extractivism and the global environmental transformation. It is based on territorial principles of non-human actors and the indigenous cultures, through four axes: (i) positioning of the relationships with non-human actors (relationships with nature); (ii) horizontal and vertical territorial policies (spatial relationship); (iii) relationships between women and men under the categories of gender; and (iv) life practices based on their knowledge, autonomy and environmental self-determination (^{Ulloa, 2017}).

An example of Environmental Justice was identified in Bolivia, facing a challenge of ethnic participation and its potential to create inclusive and effective ways to make decisions; to this purpose, evaluation through the Consent and Free and Informed Consultation was proposed, looking for effective participation to obtain the consent of indigenous people for the development of mining projects and legal reforms on mining. This instance has gained importance in the equitable management of resources and the inclusion of citizen participation practices to avoid socio-environmental conflicts through the participation and inclusion of complex and ethnically diverse democracies (^{Fontana & Grugel, 2016}).

In the legal aspect, countries traditionally recognized by the positioning of mining companies should increase their demands on the compliance of international standards when locating their headquarters; the above is since there are not enough mechanisms for compliance and respect of the rights of the communities in the nations where they are located. Moreover, according to the behavior of the raw materials market, the dependence of foreign countries on these natural resources will increase. In consequence, the aim is to reduce the inequality gap existing among nations that have a significant component in extraction activities so that these are conducted responsibly (^{Schaffartzik, Mayer, Gingrich, Eisenmenger, Loy, & Krausmann, 2014}) and provide peaceful solutions to socio-environmental conflicts, overcoming legal and legislation limitations (^{Studnicki-Gizbert & Bazo, 2013}).

Another model proposed to replace extractive activities is the Yasuni Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (Yasuni ITT) model in Ecuador, whereby the objective is to achieve collaborative management of resources at the international level to compensate the products of the exploitation of protected areas; in this way, a large number of social, environmental and economic conflicts would be avoided. Unfortunately, despite the innovative nature of this proposal, it did not succeed due to the lack of regulations and legislation in a nation used for extractivism and the refusal to generate resources differently. However, it is expected that this initiative will serve as a point of reference for other alternatives, including the protection of indigenous peoples, the preservation of biodiversity, and the implementation of a proper constitutional framework for this type of projects (^{Pellegrini, Arsel, Falconi & Muradian, 2014}).