Abstract
The natural resource conflict dimension of environmental governance is usually centred on the social and political aspects of production systems and has hardly addressed the biophysical features of the natural resources themselves. Here we aim to address renewable and non-renewable resource-extraction conflicts in Latin America in the context of a changing global social metabolism and increasing demands for environmental justice (M’Gonigle, 1999; Sneddon, Howarth and Norgaard, 2006; Gerber, Veuthey and Martínez-Alier, 2009; Martinez-Alier et al., 2010). “Social metabolism” refers to the manner in which human societies organize their growing exchanges of energy and materials with the environment (Fischer-Kowalski, 1997; Martinez-Alier, 2009). In this chapter we use a sociometabolic approach to examine the material flows (extraction, exports, imports) of Latin American economies and furthermore look into the socioenvironmental pressures and conflicts that they cause. Sociometabolic trends can be appraised using different and complementary indicators. For instance, the Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) measures to what extent human activities appropriate the biomass available each year for ecosystems (Haberl et al., 2007). Other examples are indicators that study virtual water flows, the energy return on investment (EROI) or a product life cycle.
Keywords
- Virtual Water
- Environmental Governance
- Ecological Economic
- Political Ecology
- Ecological Distribution
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Chapter PDF
References
Agarwal, B. (1994) A Field of One’s Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Ali, S.H. (2006) “Gold Mining and the Golden Rule: A Challenge for Producers and Consumers in Developing Countries”, Journal of Cleaner Production 14(3–4): 455–462.
Aranda, D. (2010) Argentina Originaria: Genocidios, Saqueos y Resistencias (Buenos Aires: La Vaca).
Asociación Civil Nodo Tau (2010) Asesinatos en Formosa: Indiferencia, Oídos Sordos y Represión, http://www.tau.org.ar/enredando2002–012/noticias_desarrollo.shtml?x=62518, date accessed 12 January 2015.
Bebbington, A. (2012a) Social Conflict, Economic Development and the Extractive Industry: Evidence from South America (London and New York: Routledge).
Bebbington, A. (2012b) “Underground Political Ecologies: The Second Annual Lecture of the Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers”, Geoforum 43(6): 1152–1162.
Binimelis, R., Pengue, W. and Monterroso, I. (2009) “Transgenic Treadmill: Responses to the Emergence and Spread of Glyphosate-Resistant Johnsongrass in Argentina”, Geoforum 40(4): 623–633.
Blacksmith Institute (2006) The World’s Worst Polluted Places. The Top Ten (New York: Blacksmith Institute).
Bridge, G. (2004) “Contested Terrain: Mining and the Environment”, Annual Review of Environment and Resources 29(1): 205–259.
Bullard, R. (1990) Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).
Bunker, S. (2007) “The Poverty of Resource Extraction”, in A. Hornborg, McNeil, J.R. and Martinez-Alier, J. (eds), Rethinking Environmental History: Worldsystem History and Global Environmental Change (Lanham, MD: Altamira Press), 239–258.
Conde, M. and Walter, M. (2014) “Commodity Frontiers”, in G. D’Alisa, F. Demaria and G. Kallis (eds), Degrowth. A Vocabulary for a New Era (New York and London: Routledge), 71–74.
Douguet, J.M., O’Connor, M. and Noel, F. (2008) Systèmes de Valeur et Modes de Regulation: Vers Une Économie Politique Écologique (Paris: Cahiers du C3ED, UVSQ).
EJOLT (2014) Environmental Justice Atlas, http://elatlas.org, date accessed 16 January 2015.
Ericsson, M. and Larsson, V. (2013) “E&MJ’s Annual Survey of Global Mining Investment Project Survey 2013”, E&MJ Engineering and Mining Journal. http://pure.ltu.se/portal/files/100685420/EMJ_2013.pdf
EUROSTAT (2001) “Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounts and Derived Indicators. A Methodological Guide”, Luxembourg, Office for Official Publication of the European Communities. (Luxemburg: European Commission).
Finer, M. and Orta-Martínez, M. (2010) “A Second Hydrocarbon Boom Threatens the Peruvian Amazon: Trends, Projections, and Policy Implications”, Environmental Research Letters 5(1): 014012.
Fischer-Kowalski, M. (1997) “Society’s Metabolism: On the Childhood and Adolescence of a Rising Conceptual Star”, in M. Redcliff and G. Woodgate (eds), The International Handbook of Environmental Sociology (Cheltenham: Edgard Elgar), 119–137.
García-López, G.A. and Arizpe, N. (2010) “Participatory Processes in the Soy Conflicts in Paraguay and Argentina”, Ecological Economics 70(2): 196–206.
Gavaldà, M. (2013) Gas Amazónico. Los Pueblos Indígenas frente al Avance de las Fronteras Extractivas en Perú (Barcelona: Icaria).
Gerber, J.F. (2011) “Conflicts over Industrial Tree Plantations in the South: Who, How and Why?”, Global Environmental Change 21(1): 165–176.
Gerber, J.F., Veuthey, S. and Martínez-Alier, J. (2009) “Linking Political Ecology with Ecological Economics in Tree Plantation Conflicts in Cameroon and Ecuador”, Ecological Economics 68(12): 2885–2889.
Giurco, D., Prior, T., Mudd, G., Mason, L. and Behrisch, J. (2010) Peak Minerals in Australia: A Review of Changing Impacts and Benefits (Sydney: University of Technology and Monash University).
Gonzalez-Martinez, A.C. and Schandl, H. (2008) “The Biophysical Perspective of a Middle Income Economy: Material Flows in Mexico”, Ecological Economics 68(1–2): 317–327.
Government of Australia (2007) Managing Acid and Metalliferous Drainage. Leading practice sustainable development program for the mining industry. Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources. Canberra, Australia, http://www.industry.gov.au/resource/Documents/LPSDP/LPSDP-AcidHandbook.pdf
GRR (2009) “Pueblos Fumigados: Informe sobre la Problemática del Uso de Plaguicidas en las Principales Provincias Sojeras de La Argentina”, Grupo de Reflexión Rural, http://www.grr.org.ar/trabajos/Pueblos_Fumigados__GRR_.pdf, date accessed 3 December 2014.
Haberl, H. et al. (2007) “Quantifying and Mapping the Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production in Earth’s Terrestrial Ecosystems”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104(31): 12942–12947.
Henriquez, V. (2012) “Latin America to Receive 50% of Global Mining Investments Up to 2020”, Business News Americas. http://www.bnamericas.com/news/mining/latin-america-to-receive-half-of-global-mining-investment-until-2020-codelco
Hornborg, A. (1998) “Commentary: Towards an Ecological Theory of Unequal Exchange: Articulating World System Theory and Ecological Economics”, Ecological Economics 25(1): 127–136.
Hornborg, A. (2006) “Footprints in the Cotton Fields: The Industrial Revolution as Time–Space Appropriation and Environmental Load Displacement”, Ecological Economics 59(1): 74–81.
Hornborg, A. (2009) “Zero-Sum World: Challenges in Conceptualizing Environmental Load Displacement and Ecologically Unequal Exchange in the World-System”, International Journal of Comparative Sociology 50(3–4): 237–262.
IUCN (2011) “Mining Threats on the Rise in World Heritage Sites”, International Union for Conservation of Nature. http://www.iucn.org/knowledge/news/?7742/Mining-threats-on-the-rise-in-World-Heritage-sites
Jorgenson, A.K. (2009) “The Sociology of Unequal Exchange in Ecological Context: A Panel Study of Lower-Income Countries, 1975–2000”, Sociological Forum 24(1): 22–46.
Kapp, K.W. (1950) The Social Costs of Private Enterprise (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).
Leff, E. (2003) “La Ecología Política en América Latina, un Campo en Construcción”, Polis 1(5): 1–15.
M’Gonigle, R.M. (1999) “Ecological Economics and Political Ecology: Towards a Necessary Synthesis”, Ecological Economics 28: 11–26.
MAGyP (2011) “Sistema Integrado de Información Agropecuaria”, Buenos Aires.
Martínez-Alier, J. (1997) “Conflictos de Distribución Ecológica”, Revista Andina 29(1): 41–66.
Martinez-Alier, J. (2001) “Mining Conflicts, Environmental Justice, and Valuation”, Journal of Hazardous Materials 86(1–3): 153–170.
Martinez-Alier, J. (2002) The Environmentalism of the Poor: A Study of Ecological Conflicts and Valuation (Delhi: Edward Elgar; Cheltenham: Oxford University Press).
Martinez-Alier, J. (2009) “Social Metabolism, Ecological Distribution Conflicts, and Languages of Valuation”, Capitalism Nature Socialism 20(1): 58–87.
Martinez-Alier, J., Healy, H., Temper, L., Walter, M., Rodriguez-Labajos, B., Gerber, J. F. and Conde, M. (2011) “Between Science and Activism: Learning and Teaching Ecological Economics with Environmental Justice Organisations”, Local Environment 16(1): 17–36.
Martinez-Alier, J., Kallis, G., Veuthey, S., Walter, M. and Temper, L. (2010) “Social Metabolism, Ecological Distribution Conflicts, and Valuation Languages”, Ecological Economics 70(2): 153–158.
Martinez-Alier, J. and O’Connor, M. (1996) “Ecological and Economic Distribution Conflicts”, in R. Costanza (ed.), Getting down the Earth: Practical Applications of Ecological Economics (Washington DC: Island Press), 277–286.
Moore, J.W. (2000) “Sugar and the Expansion of the Early Modern World-Economy: Commodity Frontiers, Ecological Transformation, and Industrialization”, Review 23(3): 409–433.
Mudd, G.M. (2007a) “Global Trends in Gold Mining: Towards Quantifying Environmental and Resource Sustainability”, Resources Policy 32(1–2): 42–56.
Mudd, G.M. (2007b) “Gold Mining in Australia: Linking Historical Trends and Environmental and Resource Sustainability”, Environmental Science & Policy 10: 629–644.
Mudd, G.M. (2010) “The Environmental Sustainability of Mining in Australia: Key Mega-Trends and Looming Constraints”, Resources Policy 35(2): 98–115.
Muradian, R. and Martinez-Alier, J. (2001) “Trade and the Environment: From a ‘Southern’ Perspective”, Ecological Economics 36(2): 281–297.
Muradian, R., Walter, M. and Martinez-Alier, J. (2012) “Hegemonic Transitions and Global Shifts in Social Metabolism: Implications for Resource-Rich Countries. Introduction to the Special Section”, Global Environmental Change 22(3): 559–567.
Orta-Martínez, M. and Finer, M. (2010) “Oil Frontiers and Indigenous Resistance in the Peruvian Amazon”, Ecological Economics 70(2): 207–218.
PEA (2010) “Plan Estratégico Agroalimentario y Agroindustrial Participativo y Federal 2010–2020”.
Pengue, W. (2001) The Impact of Soybean Expansion in Argentina, Seedling, http://www.grain.org/es/article/entries/292-the-impact-of-soybean-expansion-in-argentina, date accessed 4 December 2014.
Pengue, W. (2004) “Producción Agroexportadora e (In)seguridad Alimentaria: El Caso de la Soja en Argentina”, Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica 1: 46–55.
Perez-Manrique, P.L., Brun, J., González-Martínez, A.C., Walter, M. and Martínez-Alier, J. (2013) “The Biophysical Performance of Argentina (1970–2009)”, Journal of Industrial Ecology 17(4): 590–604.
Pérez-Rincón, M.A. (2014) Conflictos Ambientales en Colombia: Inventario, Caracterización y Análisis (Cali: Universidad del Valle, CINARA, EJOLT).
Prior, T., Mudd, G., Mason, L. and Behrisch, J. (2012) “Resource Depletion, Peak Minerals and the Implications for Sustainable Resource Management”, Global Environmental Change 22(3): 577–587.
Raikes, P., Friis Jensen, M. and Ponte, S. (2000) “Global Commodity Chain Analysis and the French Filière Approach: Comparison and Critique”, Economy and Society 29(3): 390–417.
Rice, J. (2007) “Ecological Unequal Exchange: International Trade and Uneven Utilization of Environmental Space in the World System”, Social Forces 85(3): 1369–1392.
Robbins, P. (2004) Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction (London: Blackwell Publishing).
Roberts, J.T. and Parks, B.C. (2009) “Ecologically Unequal Exchange, Ecological Debt, and Climate Justice: The History and Implications of Three Related Ideas for a New Social Movement”, International Journal of Comparative Sociology 50(3–4): 385–409.
Russi, D., Gonzalez-Martinez, A.C., Silva-Macher, J.C., Giljum, S., Martinez-Alier, J. and Vallejo, M.C. (2008) “Material Flows in Latin America. A Comparative Analysis of Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru, 1980–2000”, Journal of Industrial Ecology 12(5–6): 704–720.
Samaniego, P., Vallejo, M.C. and Martinez-Alier, J. (2014) “Déficit Comercial y Déficit Físico en Sudamérica”, Documento de Trabajo, Proyectos CSO2010–21979 e ENGOV, Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, FLACSO Sede Ecuador.
Santarcángelo, J. and Fal, J. (2009) “Production and Profitability in Livestock in Argentina. 1980–2006”, Mundo Agrario 10(19).
Schoer, K., Giegrich, J., Kovanda, J., Lauwigi, C., Liebich, A. Buyny, S. and Matthias, J. (2012) Conversion of European Product Flows into Raw Material Equivalents (Heidelberg: Ifeu; Eurostat).
Singh, S. J., Krausmann, F., Gingrich, S., Haberl, H., Erb, K.H., Lanz, P., Martinez-Alier, J. and Temper, L. (2012) “India’s Biophysical Economy, 1961–2008. Sustainability in a National and Global Context”, Ecological Economics 76–341(100): 60–69.
Sneddon, C., Howarth, R.B. and Norgaard, R.B. (2006) “Sustainable Development in a Post-Brundtland World”, Ecological Economics 57(2): 253–268.
SNL Metals Economics Group (2013) “SNL Metals Economics Group’s Copper Study Reveals Lower Grades, Higher Costs for Copper Production in 2012”, PRWeb.
Stern, D.I. (2004) “The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve”, World Development 32(8): 1419–1439.
Svampa, M. (2012) “Consenso de los Commodities, Giro Ecoterritorial y Pensamiento Crítico en América Latina”, Observatorio Social de América Latina 32: 15–38.
Teubal, M. (2006) “Expansión del Modelo Sojero en La Argentina. De la Producción de Alimentos a los Commodities”, Realidad Económica 220: 71–96.
Tsoskounoglou, M., Ayerides, G. and Tritopoulou, E. (2008) “The End of Cheap Oil: Current Status and Prospects”, Energy Policy 36(10): 3797–3806.
UMSEF (2007) Informe sobre Deforestación en Argentina (Buenos Aires).
UNEP and CSIRO (2013) Recent Trends in Material Flows and Resource Productivity in Latin America (Nairobi). http://www.unep.org/dewa/portals/67/pdf/RecentTrendsLA.pdf
Urkidi, L. and Walter, M. (2011) “Dimensions of Environmental Justice in Anti-Gold Mining Movements in Latin America”, Geoforum 42(6): 683–695.
Vallejo, M.C., Pérez-Rincón, M.A. and Martinez-Alier, J. (2011) “Metabolic Profile of the Colombian Economy from 1970 to 2007”, Journal of Industrial Ecology 15(2): 245–267.
Wallerstein, I. (1974) The Modern World-System, Vol I.: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century (New York and London: Academic Press).
Walter, M. (2014) Political Ecology of Mining Conflicts in Latin America (Barcelona: Autonomous University of Barcelona).
Walter, M., Brun, J., Perez-Manrique, P., Gonzalez-Martinez, A.C. and Martinez-Alier, J. (2013). Análisis de flujo de materiales de la economía Argentina (1970–2009). Tendencias y Conflictos extractivos. Ecología Política 45: 94–98.
West, J. and Schandl, H. (2013) “Material Use and Material Efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean”, Ecological Economics 94: 19–27.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
This chapter is published under an open access license. Please check the 'Copyright Information' section either on this page or in the PDF for details of this license and what re-use is permitted. If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and re-use information, please contact the Rights and Permissions team.
Copyright information
© 2016 Joan Martinez-Alier and Mariana Walter
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Martinez-Alier, J., Walter, M. (2016). Social Metabolism and Conflicts over Extractivism. In: de Castro, F., Hogenboom, B., Baud, M. (eds) Environmental Governance in Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-50572-9_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-50572-9_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-57408-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-50572-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)