The commodification of nature and socio-environmental resistance in Ecuador: An inventory of accumulation by dispossession cases, 1980–2013

Latorre, Sara; Farrell, Katharine N.; Martínez‐Alier, Joan

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.04.016

Cited by 90 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The globalizing of EJ (Martinez-Alier et al 2015;Schlosberg 2004) has occurred horizontally; for instance, the U.S. EJ movement inspired similar claims in Brazil (Acselrad 2010), South Africa and Scotland (Dunion and Scandrett 2003). It has also occurred vertically, to encompass concerns beyond national borders, such as trade agreements, transfers of wastes, climate change, and the Rights of Nature (Schlosberg 2013).…”

Section: Background: the Emerging Global Environmental Justice Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He has also correlated conflicts in Colombia with a spatial analysis of variables such as the presence of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations and biodiversity hot-spots, establishing that these groups are the most affected by EJ conflicts. Further work is being done on conflicts related to changes in the social metabolism in Turkey (Özkaynak 2015), Madagascar (Douguet 2015) and Ecuador (Latorre et al 2015).…”

Section: Pedagogy and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mapping the frontiers and front lines of global environmental justice: the EJAtlas

Temper

Bene

Martínez-Alier

2015

Journal of Political Ecology

337

214

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This article highlights the need for collaborative research on ecological conflicts within a global perspective. As the social metabolism of our industrial economy increases, intensifying extractive activities and the production of waste, the related social and environmental impacts generate conflicts and resistance across the world. This expansion of global capitalism leads to greater disconnection between the diverse geographies of injustice along commodity chains. Yet, at the same time, through the globalization of governance processes and Environmental Justice (EJ) movements, local political ecologies are becoming increasingly transnational and interconnected. We first make the case for the need for new approaches to understanding such interlinked conflicts through collaborative and engaged research between academia and civil society. We then present a large-scale research project aimed at understanding the determinants of resource extraction and waste disposal conflicts globally through a collaborative mapping initiative: The EJAtlas, the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice. This article introduces the EJAtlas mapping process and its methodology, describes the process of co-design and development of the atlas, and assesses the initial outcomes and contribution of the tool for activism, advocacy and scientific knowledge. We explain how the atlas can enrich EJ studies by going beyond the isolated case study approach to offer a wider systematic evidence-based enquiry into the politics, power relations and socio-metabolic processes surrounding environmental justice struggles locally and globally. Key words: environmental justice, maps, ecological distribution conflicts, activist knowledge, political ecology RésuméCet article met en évidence la nécessité pour la recherche collaborative sur les conflits écologiques, avec une perspective globale. Le métabolisme social de notre économie industrielle est en augmentation. Cette intensifie les activités d'extraction et la production de déchets, et les impacts sociaux et environnementaux associés générer des conflits et de la résistance. Cette expansion du capitalisme mondial conduit à une plus grande déconnexion entre les diverses «géographies de l'injustice» à travers le filière. Pourtant, dans le même temps, grâce à la mondialisation de la gouvernance et des mouvements pour la justice environnementale (EJ), les écologies politiques locales sont de plus en plus transnationale et interconnecté. D'abord, nous plaidons pour de nouvelles approches pour comprendre ces conflits interconnectés à travers la collaboration et la recherche engagés, entre le monde universitaire et la société civile. Deuxièmement, nous présentons un projet de recherche à grande échelle visant à comprendre les déterminants de conflits au sujet de l'extraction des ressources et de l'élimination des déchets à travers une collaboration mondiale initiative de cartographie: le EJAtlas, l'Atlas mondial de la Justice de l'environnement. Ce document présente les EJAtlas et sa méthodologie, décri...

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Section: Background: the Emerging Global Environmental Justice Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pedagogy and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping the frontiers and front lines of global environmental justice: the EJAtlas

Temper

Bene

Martínez-Alier

2015

Journal of Political Ecology

337

214

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…These include the Observatory of mining conflicts of Latin America (OCMAL), Oilwatch, World Rainforest Movement, FIOCRUZ and the Brazilian network of Environmental Justice (Da Rocha et al 2017, this feature); GAIA (alliance against incineration of waste, Herrero and Vilella, this feature); and the Centro di Documentazione sui Conflitti Ambientali (CDCA), as well as other sources (as in Latorre et al 2015 for Ecuador). These databases represented invaluable empirical evidence on the impacts of new forms of extractivism based on activist production of knowledge created through conflict, however they were and are limited by geographic or thematic boundaries.…”

Section: Origins and Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Global Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas): ecological distribution conflicts as forces for sustainability

et al. 2018

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“…the crop, significant exports of locally-sourced water -required for production (Partridge 2016a) -are also exported. This is one of many forms of 'virtual' export of nature-as-product that has been resisted elsewhere in Ecuador (Latorre et al 2015). The plantations in Cotopaxi are owned either by agricultural conglomerates or by landowning families linked to historical hacienda owners.…”

Section: Ruination and Resource Sovereigntiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the same timeframe, Ecuador has shifted development strategy from state-led programs to state-promoted involvement in global production chains (Latorre et al 2015;Robinson 2009). It was in 2008 that estates in the Alpamalag valley transformed themselves from dairy farms catering largely to the domestic market into plantations growing exclusively for the export market (Arce et al 2015;Houtart and Yumbla 2013).…”

Section: The Anti-cannons Campaignmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resisting ruination: resource sovereignties and socioecological struggles in Cotopaxi, Ecuador

Partridge

2017

Journal of Political Ecology

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This paper examines coordinated community responses to the deployment of controversial technologies by broccoli plantations in Cotopaxi province in Ecuador's central highlands. It studies the influence of enduring structures of inequality that delimit the distribution of land and water in the region -the effects of what Ann Stoler calls imperial debris within ongoing processes of ruination. It considers the socioecological struggles mobilized to address these processes in terms of resource sovereignties -shifting assemblages of rights and relations between land, identity, ecology and social justice. The technologies in question -acetylene 'cannons' designed to disperse clouds and thus prevent damage to crops from hailstones -were locally disruptive to weather patterns, agriculture, and everyday life. In collaboration with the regional offices of Ecuador's national Indigenous Movement, affected communities from across the region campaigned -in the streets and in the courts, and ultimately with some success -to outlaw these technologies of appropriation. Although the initial case was settled in 2010, new suspicions emerged in early 2016 as some community members again blamed the plantations for an unseasonable drought, alleging they had found new technologies to use in the destruction of clouds. Reading the cannons as forms of rubble (Gordillo 2014) focuses our attention on how and why these abandoned technologies re-emerged as a source of conflict in the region and exerted unexpected influence on responses to drought conditions. I suggest these claims, counterclaims and subsequent struggles not only reveal the persistence of processes of ruination and of resistance to them but also expose the fragility within apparently immutable political systems and destructive landscapes. Key words: environment, Ecuador, technology, ruination, rubble, water RésuméCet article examine les réponses coordonnées de la communauté au déploiement de technologies controversées par les plantations de brocolis dans la province de Cotopaxi dans les hauts plateaux centraux de l'Équateur. Il étudie l'influence des structures durables d'inégalité qui délimitent la répartition de la terre et de l'eau dans la région -les effets de ce que Ann Stoler appelle «débris impériaux» dans les processus de ruine en cours. Il considère les luttes socioéconomiques mobilisées pour aborder ces processus en termes de souveraineté des ressources -mouvements d'associations de droits et de relations entre la terre, l'identité, l'écologie et la justice sociale. Les technologies en question -les canons d'acétylène conçus pour disperser les nuages et ainsi prévenir les dommages causés aux récoltes par les grêlons -perturbent localement les habitudes météorologiques, l'agriculture et la vie quotidienne. En collaboration avec les bureaux régionaux du Mouvement indigène national de l'Équateur, les communautés touchées de toute la région ont fait campagne -dans les rues et dans les tribunaux, et finalement avec un certain succès -pour interdire ces technologie...

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The commodification of nature and socio-environmental resistance in Ecuador: An inventory of accumulation by dispossession cases, 1980–2013

Cited by 90 publications

References 29 publications

Mapping the frontiers and front lines of global environmental justice: the EJAtlas

Mapping the frontiers and front lines of global environmental justice: the EJAtlas

The Global Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas): ecological distribution conflicts as forces for sustainability

Resisting ruination: resource sovereignties and socioecological struggles in Cotopaxi, Ecuador

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