Political Ecology

1. PoliticalEcology 3 lectures by Bill Derman Noragric – Department of International Environment and DevelopmentStudies UMB – Norwegian University ofthe Life Sciences

2. PoliticalEcology • An interdisciplinaryperspective or framework • It has been used by anthropologists, geographers, historians, political scientists • It is an emergingframeworkwithdifferentgroupsofresearchershavingsomewhatdifferentemphaseswhichwewilldiscusslater • Political ecology is a field that seeks to unravel the political forces at work in environmental access, management and transformation. In the classic text book Paul Robbins shows that ecology is inherently political and that politics is inherently ecological.

3. Scalesofanalysis • There are different ways of doing political ecology. These are not unique to political ecology but rather are broader social science issues: spatial or temporal. • a. Spatial. If we are examining spatial scale what is our unit of analysis. The most common unit now is the nation-state but nation-states are relatively recent. In addition, nation-states don’t capture global patterns of accumulation or resource use. The Spaniards were capturing the labor of former members of the Inca to mine silver in Potosi Bolivia to purchase lumber from other parts of Europe to build ships. The Bolivian silver was also used to make luxury objects for consumption in the court of Spain. One unit of analysis then could be the Spanish empire which dramatically altered how land and natural resources were utilized throughout Central and South America – from Mexico to Chile.

4. Temporal Scales • b. Temporal – what time period do we want to use – one year, one decade, one century, longer? If we want to examine the political and environmental consequences of one commodity, say coffee or gold or coal, we need a time period for consideration. Of course the longer the time period the more difficult it is to research and show its consequences. However, by focusing only on a short time we miss a lot. For example, coffee now a necessity not a luxury but it used to be a luxury crop.

5. What makes up a politicalecologyapproach? • The study of how decisions are made about the environment? Who has the power to make decisions about the environment? • The studyofwhobenefits, who loses, whoarethewinners and whoarethe losers in environmentaldecision making • A focusonthescalesinvolved – it’susuallyphrased as global, national, localbutthis is toosimplisticbecause global markets, for example, caninteractdirectlywiththelocal. Global miningcompaniesextractcopper in a particularplace at a particular time • Takeshistoryseriously in howtheenvironment has beenchanged over sometimeslongperiodof time, or howcroppingpatternschange

6. PE Approach 2 5. Strugglesover meaning as well as over theresourceitself. For example, over animals lions, elephants, cattle. Humans placedifferentvaluesonthelifesofother living beings. 6. Focusonhowknowledgeaboutsociety and theenvironment is produced. Whoseknowledge is seen as definitive. 7. Howis science used in the making ofenvironmental and resourcepolicies 8. Veryoften a normative approach – whatthepoliticalecologistthinks is best in lightofconcernsofpoor, marginalized, and thelocal.

7. PoliticalEcology • Not all politicalecologistsinclude all thepoints just described. • Ifthere is a politicalecologythenwhatconstitutes an apoliticalecology • Therearetwo alternative frameworks: • 1. Malthusianism • 2. TragedyoftheCommons and notionsof private property

8. Malthus and Malthusianism • Malthusianism: This is theconclusionthatthere is a single driver or a single cause to thecurrentsetoflinkedenvironmentalcriseswhich is human populationgrowth. • The assumption is thatif human populationgrowth is controlled and theearth’spopulation is reducedthen a proper can be achievedbetween humans and theirenvironment

9. TragedyoftheCommons and theneed for private property • Basedon a short piece by GarrettHardinentitledTragedyoftheCommons. • Metaphoroftheocean and fishing. • No advantage not to take as much as youwnatsincesomeoneelsewill • Onlysolution is private ownership • Private ownership is theonly system thatguaranteesthecareofresources • Linked to thefieldofeconomicswhichbeginswiththeindividual and theirinterests

10. RootsofPoliticalEcology • Evolutionarytheory – importanceofenvironment in determiningwhichinheritedcharacteristicsprovide a reproductiveadvantage • Ifthiswas true for all living forms it would be true for human societies as well. • Human progress said to dependontechnological progress and freeingof humans from environmentalconstraints

11. Progress • Industrial and technological progress have a setofcomplexenvironmentalconsequences • Theseconsequencestake time to be known • Deforestation, pollutionof rivers, declineofmanyspecies, air pollution, acidrain, heavymetalpoisoning – mercury. Minimatadisease in Japan • Can negative consequences be controlled or arethey part ofeithercapitalism or industrialism? • Ironicallymarxismwhichwas to be thecritiqueofcapitalismconcludedthat humans couldcontrol and master nature

12. Schoolsofthought Toomuch to cover – howenvironment and nature aretreated in thedifferentfields or disciplinesincludingsociology, geography, anthropology, history, politicalscience There is theacademictreatmentoftheplaceofenvironment in society or howdifferentsocietiesviewtheenvironment. Therearediscussionofwhat is nature and how do we understand humans in nature. Butthefocusonenvironmental problems as wenow do is relativelyrecent.

13. EnvironmentalIssues • Academicdisciplinesrespond to changes in the world, in thisinstance to environmentalchanges • Politicalecologyemergesgradually as a critiqueofexplanations for environmentalchange • One ofearliestexamplescomes from theworkof Piers Blaikieonthepoliticaleconomyofsoilerosion in Nepal

14. Piers Blaikie • Classic book: The PoliticalEconomyofSoilErosionSoilErosion in DevelopingCountriespublished in 1985 marks thebeginningof PE. • Blaikieraisedquestionsaboutthescientificstudyofsoilerosion – for examplehow do we know thedifferencebetween human producedsoilerosion and naturalerosion • And ifthere is human producedsoilerosionwhatarethecauses or theexplanation for it. He thencame up with a phrase - chainsofexplanation . • He argued for theimportanceofcomplexity and context

15. Chainsofexplanation • According to Blaikie and Brookfield, chainsofexplanationstart withthe land managers and their direct relations with the land(crop rotations, fuel use, stocking densities, capital investment etc). • The next link concerns their relations with each, other, other land users, and groups in wider society who affect them in any way, which can in turn determine land management. • Then the world economy constitutes the last links in the chain. • Clearly then, the chains will be highly conjectural, although relying on theoretical bases drawn from natural and social science`` (Blaike and Brookfield 1987:27).

16. Complexity • Land degradation is a perceptual term. • Puts the land manager and the rationality of the land manager in focus. For example local actors, farmers, peasants. • We should avoid single factor explanation of land degradation For example, Marxist explanation that land degradation is caused by exploitation. • Causes of degradation are site specific; geographical and historical approach. Introduced regional political ecology which is a combination of ecology and political economy. 

17. 1970s Drought and Famine in theSahel • Decline in rainfall over severalcountries in West Africa • Farmers hadmovedfurthernorthcloser to theSaharandesert • Theircropsfailed, • Increasedherder\farmerconflicts • Manyvoicesofblamewere herd – toomanypeople, toomany animals – degradingpasture, poorfarming • Links to commoditycrops for the market, reducinggood lands, force farmers to moveinto marginal areas • Blamecapitalism • Insufficientexplanation in terms oftheagencyof farmers and herders

18. Rainfallincreased from 1983-1999

19. The metabolic rift • Marxism and the analysis of capitalism. For Marx importance of human labor, the way in which the environment and nature are molded for human purposes. We can go into his theory of labor and the labor theory of value, if necessary, but he also used the term metabolism. There is a metabolic interaction between humans and the earth, and the earth is what supports life. Labor according to Marx is an eternal natural necessity which mediates the metabolism between man and nature, and therefore human life itself. In a broad sense the metabolic processes are eating, drinking, breathing, and the bases of exchanges with the environment which permits organisms to stay alive.

20. Capitalism and nature • Can we sustain human life as we engage in capital accumulation appropriating and diminishing the stock upon which human life depends? This is the global political ecological question. One way of putting it for Marxists is the following: • “Capital’s insatiable appetite for ever-higher levels of profit and accumulation is reinforced by the domination of exchange value over use value, competition and the concentration and centralization of capital. The incessant accumulation amplifies the social metabolism of society, increasing the demands placed on nature. New technologies are used above all to expand production and to lower labor costs. Capital’s social metabolism is increasingly in contradiction with the natural metabolism, producing various metabolic rifts and forms of ecological degradation that threaten to undermine ecosystems. • The most extreme example of global ecological change is climate. The mismatch between the nature and scale of ecological problems which do not respect national boundaries and the division of the world into nation-states desperately striving to keep national sovereignty pinpoints many dilemmas.