Latent Rural Depopulation in Latin American Open-Pit Mining Scenarios

Abstract

The increasing expansion of open-pit mining and the drastic transformations of land use in Latin America have led to processes of rural depopulation among traditional inhabitants, causing unsustainability in rural life systems. In the context of profound, worldwide territorial and environmental transformations, it is necessary to anticipate change scenarios and identify territories prone to rural depopulation. The objective of this article is to determine rural depopulation propensities through an exploratory multivariate study of the demographic, social, economic, and environmental conditions of territories where open-pit mining projects are being installed. First, a theoretical model is created using the grounded theory method for the literature review. Subsequently, indicators are analyzed using quantitative methods and geographic information systems. The results show that latent rural depopulation tends to be generated in territories with socio-environmental vulnerability, where advanced mining extractivism makes them prone to future depopulation. Some factors possibly leading to decreased rural population include the reduction of water availability; deforestation and depeasantization, due to urban development; gentrification, due to real estate speculation in providing lodging and food services to the mining project; and drastic changes in land use.

La construcción de alternativas a las formas hegemónicas de producción agraria

“…Este proceso estuvo acompañado por dinámicas de concentración agraria, desplazamiento de producciones tradicionales y desagrarización como los registrados en todo Chile central (Bengoa, 2013;Bolados García et al, 2018;Panez Pinto et al, 2018;Razeto & Suckel, 2016;Uribe-Sierra et al, 2022) y se tradujo en una reducción muy considerable de las Unidades Productivas Agropecuarias (UPA). Para 2021 sólo se registraron en Putaendo menos de un tercio de las UPA activas en 2007.…”

Rural Shrinkage: Depopulation and Land Grabbing in Chilean Patagonia

“…In Latin America, the decline in rural settlements and their inhabitants' consequential emigration to urban agglomerations is a process that has been observed since the mid-20th century and remains in force to this day. Currently, this dynamic remains latent, associated with the decline in economic models and the severe environmental transformations caused by the extractive dynamics of natural resources typical of the region and the global reformulation of productive systems [17,45].…”

“…The neoliberal rural development model has persisted to this day and created a series of problems. Rural depopulation and depeasantization stand out among them as processes entailing the loss of cultural identity and traditional livelihoods associated with working the land, in which former peasants and their families migrate to urban areas and are incorporated into activities in the tertiary economic sector [11,17]. These dynamics have also caused a loss of young population, population aging and a deterioration of rural settlements' spatial structure.…”

“…These dynamics have also caused a loss of young population, population aging and a deterioration of rural settlements' spatial structure. In turn, this has created significant age imbalances, changes in economic occupations of peasant vocation for the development of extractive activities and areas with high aging and masculinity rates [17][18][19][20]. Rural counterurbanization dynamics have occurred in the framework of these territorial restructuring processes, causing abrupt land use changes due to urban expansion into rural areas and the replacement of traditional peasant logics with new forms of urbanization [21,22].…”

Género, extractivismo y defensa del territorio en el Soconusco, Chiapas

“…Propuesta conceptual: defensa del territorio con enfoque de género Desde finales del siglo xx, el incremento de minas operando a cielo abierto ha provocado el vaciamiento territorial, la destrucción de los ecosistemas y el saqueo de recursos del Sur global (Alimonda, 2011;Uribe-Sierra et al, 2022). El modelo neoliberal vigente hoy en día apela a una supuesta vastedad de bienes extraíbles desde la lógica del optimismo tecnocientífico, minimizando el hecho de que los recursos son destinados a la exportación con un V. Vázquez García, D. Ojeda Gutiérrez, E. Peña Godínez | Género, extractivismo y defensa del territorio en el Soconusco, Chiapas | Perfiles Latinoamericanos, 31(62) | FLACSO México doi: dx.doi.org/10.18504/pl3162-001-2023…”