Just community participation and Border environmental governance: a view from the Border 2020 program

Abstract

ABSTRACTEnvironmental governance in the U.S.- México border region is complex as various jurisdictions intersect from the local, regional, national and transnational scales. Through this complexity, political accountability to border communities can fall through the cracks. In this paper, I explore the processes of community participation in this environmental governance structure, focusing on the Border 2020 program. Based on semi-structured interviews with social movement and government actors that have engaged in the Border 2020 program, I analyze the processes by which community members can participate in the program, and t the outcomes of this participation. I argue that while the Border 2020 program has an explicit goal to include community participation in their work, on the ground, this participation is limited. Moreover, increasing community participation in the Border 2020 program is key to improving the program’s effectiveness and practicing an environmental justice model of governance.