Drawing on various empirical examples (e.g. lithium, green hydrogen, REDD+), several studies point out that the global energy transition continues to be based on the geographic externalization of labour, natural resources, and sinks. The energy transition thus increases the pressure on natural resources in Latin America and reproduces the continent's position as the world's raw material supplier. This is increasingly referred to as 'green colonialism' by (scholar) activists. Moving past a merely provocative catchphrase, in this paper, I discuss the analytical implications and value of the term green colonialism for normative politicalecological research. In so doing, it becomes evident that the coloniality of the energy transition has to be understood as a political-epistemological project. This is of particular relevance for Latin America. Embedded in the hegemonic Euro-North American-centered modernity, the energy transition advances techno-optimist solutions and reproduces patterns of thought, knowledge and action. However, it soon becomes evident that the geographies of decarbonization are significantly more complex and shaped by multiple actors, policies, and strategies. Therefore, further research is needed on the geopolitics and geopolitical economy of the energy transition, going beyond the North-South dichotomy.
Abstract. The article examines how to adapt the global production network (GPN) approach to situations of natural resource extraction. Based on an
integration of a political ecology perspective into GPN research, we
exemplarily apply the GPN framework to the primary sector. Based on
extensive qualitative fieldwork regarding Argentine lithium mining and
Brazilian soy agribusiness we illustrate that particularly a political
ecological environmental perspective allows for a more nuanced and critical
analysis of ambiguous local development outcomes. While from a purely
economic development perspective in both cases the economic activity
(integrated into GPNs) is celebrated as an imperative economic growth
driver, our framework helps identify the emergence of unilateral
dependencies, a decline of social autonomy and an unequal distribution of
environmental risks.
Based on intensive and long-term field research and document reviews, this article compares the historic evolution of lithium mining in Chile and Argentina. We highlight national development discourses and government regulatory frameworks in both countries. We illustrate and assess the diverse perceptions and strategies of local actors. Finally, we discuss the socio-spatial materialization of lithium mining in terms of power relations, ecology, and economy. Using perspectives from political ecology brings to light different power relations between the state, mining companies, and indigenous communities in Chile and Argentina. These power asymmetries have an enduring influence on local actors’ possibilities for taking action.
A produção argentina de soja da década de 1990 até a década de 2010 mostrou grandes mudanças, tantonas técnicas de produção, quanto nas relações de “pingue-pongue” entre o agronegócio e os governosnacionais. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar uma nova perspectiva, baseada em estatísticas, sobrea produção de soja na Argentina. Analisamos as variáveis de inovação tecnológica, previsão do tempo,preço, expansão territorial e o papel do Estado, para mostrar a extensão de suas influências na tomadade decisões por parte dos representantes do agronegócio e para subsequente produção e exportaçãode soja. Como resultado, mostramos que o recurso primário ‘soja’ não é igual às commodities de sojaque são exportadas: o refinamento nacional ocorre diluindo o argumento de primarização no debate sobre o neoextrativismo e redefinindo o papel real da soja. Os governos nacionais controlam o poderde ‘o quê’ e ‘quanto’ é produzido para decidir ‘sob que forma’ a soja será exportada.
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