Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how local activists as well as officials use eco-tourism as a strategy to oppose mining in Palawan, the Philippines.

Paper long abstract:

Arriving in Puerto Princesa 'a city in the forest', Palawan, one is welcomed by, first, an enormous picture of Puerto Princesa's Underground River, and, second, a poster that demands 'Justice for Doc. Gery Ortega'. Puerto Princesa's Underground River was elected as one of the Seven Wonders of Nature in November 2011, further establishing Palawan as the capital of ecotourism of the Philippines. Gery Ortega, environmental activist, was killed in January 2011, presumably because of his activism against mining. A killing that supposedly was orchestered by the former governor of the island and reflecting the ongoing struggle of numerous activists against massive resource extraction on the island.

This paper explores how those two images of Palawan come together in local and provincial opposition to mining. Local activists as well as officials present eco-tourism as a viable alternative for mining as a way of constructing sustainable livelihoods. 'Ecotourism' has become an important element in the struggle against massive resource extraction on the island. Opposition to mining can thus not be studied without taking into account the idea of eco-tourism as form of alternative development. As such, I approach the nexus of eco-tourism and extraction as two competing visions of development and the governance of natural resources, going into questions that touch upon issues of the power to decide about what development is and how natural resources should be governed.