Bioeconomy and Global Inequalities : Socio-Ecological Perspectives on Biomass Sourcing and Production

This open access book focuses on the meanings, agendas, as well as the local and global implications of bioeconomy and bioenergy policies in and across South America, Asia and Europe. It explores how a transition away from a fossil and towards a bio-based economic order alters, reinforces and challenges socio-ecological inequalities. The volume presents a historically informed and empirically rich discussion of bioeconomy developments with a particular focus on bio-based energy. A series of conceptual discussions and case studies with a multidisciplinary background in the social sciences illuminate how the deployment of biomass sources from the agricultural and forestry sectors affect societal changes concerning knowledge production, land and labour relations, political participation and international trade. How can a global perspective on socio-ecological inequalities contribute to a complex and critical understanding of bioeconomy? Who participates in the negotiation of specific bioeconomy policies and who does not? Who determines the agenda? To what extent does the bioeconomy affect existing socio-ecological inequalities in rural areas? What are the implications of the bioeconomy for existing relations of extraction and inequalities across regions? The volume is an invitation to reflect upon these questions and more, at a time when the need for an ecological and socially just transition away from a carbon intensive economy is becoming increasingly pressing. Acknowledgements......Page 5 Contents......Page 7 Notes on Contributors......Page 10 List of Figures......Page 14 Part I Introduction......Page 16 1 Contextualizing the Bioeconomy in an Unequal World: Biomass Sourcing and Global Socio-Ecological Inequalities......Page 17 1.1 Rethinking the Bioeconomy, Energy, and Value Production......Page 23 1.2 Bioeconomy Policies and Agendas in Different Countries......Page 25 1.3 Reconfigurations and Continuities of Socio-Ecological Inequalities in Rural Areas......Page 27 1.4 The Extractive Side of Global Biomass Sourcing......Page 29 1.5 Outlook......Page 30 References......Page 32 Part II Rethinking the Bioeconomy, Energy, and Value Production......Page 37 2.1 Introduction......Page 38 2.2 Bioeconomy and the Critique of This New Form of Ecological Modernisation......Page 40 2.3 Critical Perspectives on Unequal Global Knowledge Production......Page 42 2.4 The Continued Global Division of Labour in Knowledge Production......Page 46 2.5 Extractive Knowledge Production in Brazil......Page 48 2.6 Conclusion......Page 52 References......Page 53 3.1 Introduction......Page 58 3.2.1 What Is Neoliberalism?......Page 60 3.2.2 Neoliberalizing Nature......Page 62 3.3 Neoliberal Bioeconomy? Co-constructing Markets and Natures......Page 65 3.3.1 Market Development Policies for the Bioeconomy......Page 66 3.3.2 Co-construction of Markets and Natures in the Bioeconomy......Page 69 3.4 Conclusion......Page 71 References......Page 72 4.1 Introduction......Page 78 4.2 From Biotech to Native Traits......Page 81 4.3 Patenting Native Traits: Shifts in the Legal Landscape in Europe......Page 82 4.4 Tools of Extraction?......Page 84 4.5 Using by not Using: Traditional Breeders and Native Trait Patents......Page 86 4.6 Speculation, Not Innovation? Patents as Credit and Capital......Page 88 4.7 Conclusion: Patents in the Bioeconomy......Page 92 References......Page 93 5.1 Introduction......Page 98 5.2 Thermodynamic Energy as Politics......Page 99 5.3 Bioenergy as Thermodynamic Energy: Deepening the Contradictions......Page 110 References......Page 113 Part III Bioeconomy Policies and Agendas in Different Countries......Page 117 6.1 Introduction: Bioenergy’s Uncertain Prospects......Page 118 6.2 Approaching Bioenergy: Epistemics and Justice......Page 121 6.3.1 The Socio-Energy Nexus in Germany’s Transition Towards Renewable Energies......Page 124 6.3.2 Bioenergy Epistemics: Funding of Knowledge Production and Narratives......Page 126 6.3.3 Bioenergy Justice: R&I Innovations and Societal Participation......Page 129 6.4 Conclusion......Page 132 References......Page 133 7.1 Introduction......Page 141 7.2 Finnish Bioeconomy as a Forest Policy Regime......Page 144 7.3 A Twofold Threat to the Regime: Carbon Sinks and EU Regulation......Page 147 7.4 The Regime Under Shock......Page 149 7.5 The Battle in the EU......Page 151 7.6 Stabilising the Regime......Page 153 7.7 Conclusion......Page 155 References......Page 156 8.1 Introduction......Page 160 8.2 The Analytical Framework......Page 162 8.3 The Landscape: The Meta-Discourses of Bioeconomy and Energy Transition......Page 163 8.4 An Emerging Renewable Electricity Regime......Page 166 8.5 Is There a Niche for Sugar-Cane Bioelectricity?......Page 169 8.6 Conclusions......Page 174 References......Page 175 Part IV Reconfigurations and Continuities of Social-ecological Inequalities in Rural Areas......Page 181 9.1 Introduction......Page 182 9.2 Moving Beyond Working Conditions: Theoretical Remarks......Page 184 9.3 Women “Coolies”, Nyai, and the (Re-)Production of a Plantation Labour Subject......Page 185 9.4 Working Conditions of Female Labour on Oil Palm Plantations in Riau......Page 189 9.5 Cheap and Disciplined Labour as a Key Feature of Labour Relations on Oil Palm Plantations......Page 193 References......Page 196 10.1 Introduction: Bioeconomy as Green Capitalism......Page 201 10.2 Analysing Social Inequalities as Class Relations......Page 204 10.3 Migratory Work in Malaysia: The State’s Labour Migration Regime......Page 206 10.4 Working Conditions of Migrant Plantation and Mill Workers......Page 208 10.4.1 Un(der)Paid, Underemployed and Undocumented......Page 209 10.4.2 Struggling to Reproduce Livelihoods......Page 212 10.4.3 Barriers to Workers’ Struggle......Page 214 10.5 Conclusion: Bioeconomy as a Continuation of Superexploitation?......Page 215 References......Page 217 11.1 The Interrelations of Bioeconomy, Brazilian Sugarcane and Social Inequalities......Page 222 11.2.2 Labour Regimes as Combining Access to Labour and Land......Page 224 11.3 The Brazilian Sugarcane Sector and Its Recent Changes......Page 226 11.4 The Impact of the Expansion of the Sugarcane Industry on Access to Labour and Land......Page 228 11.4.1 Wage Work: Mechanisation, Employment Creation and Unemployment......Page 229 11.4.2 Subsistence Work: Land Prices and Access to Land......Page 233 11.5 Discussion and Outlook: Labour Regimes in Sugarcane Industry Expansion......Page 235 References......Page 239 12.1 Introduction......Page 244 12.2 Theoretical and Methodological Framework......Page 246 12.3 Agrofuels Production in Argentina......Page 247 12.4 Territorial Changes Due to Agribusiness in North-Western Argentina......Page 252 12.5 Biodiesel and the Impacts of Agroindustry in Santiago Del Estero......Page 255 12.6 Conclusions......Page 259 References......Page 261 Part V The Extractive Side of the Global Biomass Sourcing......Page 267 13.1 Introduction: Bioeconomy and South-South Inequalities......Page 268 13.2 South-South Cooperation and Energy Consumption......Page 270 13.3 Going Global? Brazil Pushes for a “Low-Carbon” Bioeconomy......Page 272 13.4 Carbon-Intensive: Sino-Brazilian Trade from a Bioeconomy Perspective......Page 276 13.5 Conclusion......Page 283 References......Page 285 14.1 European Bioeconomy—Global Biomass Sourcing?......Page 289 14.2 The Capitalist World System, Extractivism and Extractive Relations......Page 292 14.3 Biomass Flows and the EU-Economy Today......Page 295 14.4 Projections for a European Bioeconomy......Page 300 14.5 Questioning the Transnational Sustainability in the European Bioeconomy......Page 304 References......Page 306 15.1 Introduction: Argentina as a Bioeconomy Pioneer......Page 310 15.2 Agrarian Extractivism as a Tool for Analysing Argentina’s Bioeconomy......Page 312 15.3 The Expansion of Soybean as Agrarian Extractivism in Argentina......Page 316 15.4.1 Biotechnology, Fertilizers, Pesticides and no-till Farming as a Key Basis of Bioeconomy......Page 318 15.4.2 Agro-Industrialization and “Adding Value” as a Key Goal Within Bioeconomy......Page 320 15.4.3 On Sustainable Innovations and Counter-Tendencies to Agrarian Extractivism......Page 323 15.5 Conclusion: Towards an Extractive Bioeconomy?......Page 325 References......Page 327 Index......Page 332 This open access book explores bioeconomy and bioenergy policies across South America, Asia and Europe. It discusses how a transition away from a fossil and towards a bio-based economic order alters, reinforces and challenges socio-ecological inequalities. A series of conceptual discussions and case studies with a multidisciplinary background in the social sciences illuminate how the deployment of biomass sources from the agricultural and forestry sectors affect societal changes concerning knowledge production, land and labour relations, political participation and international trade. How can a global perspective on socio-ecological inequalities contribute to a critical understanding of bioeconomy? Who participates in the negotiation of specific bioeconomy policies and who does not? To what extent does the bioeconomy affect existing socio-ecological inequalities in rural areas? What are the implications of the bioeconomy for existing relations of extraction and inequalities across regions? The volume is an invitation to reflect upon these questions and more, at a time when the need for an ecological and socially just transition away from a carbon intensive economy is becoming increasingly pressing. The editors, Maria Backhouse, Rosa Lehmann, Kristina Lorenzen, Malte Lühmann, Janina Puder, Fabricio Rodríguez and Anne Tittor are all social scientists and members of the Junior Research Group "Bioeconomy and Inequalities. Transnational Entanglements and Interdependencies in the Bioenergy Sector" funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). This open access book focuses on the meanings, agendas, as well as the local and global implications of bioeconomy and bioenergy policies in and across South America, Asia and Europe. It explores how a transition away from a fossil and towards a bio-based economic order alters, reinforces and challenges socio-ecological inequalities. The volume presents a historically informed and empirically rich discussion of bioeconomy developments with a particular focus on bio-based energy. A series of conceptual discussions and case studies with a multidisciplinary background in the social sciences illuminate how the deployment of biomass sources from the agricultural and forestry sectors affect societal changes concerning knowledge production, land and labour relations, political participation and international trade. https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/70771