The Political Ecology of Agrofuels

The Political Ecology of Agrofuels
Author: Kristina Dietz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2014-11-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317747437

This book explores the political ecology of agrofuels as an encompassing socio-spatial transformation process consisting of a series of changing contexts, political reconfigurations, and the restructuring of social and labour relations. It includes conceptual chapters as well as case studies from different world regions (North America, Europe, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia) and levels (local, national, transnational). The Political Ecology of Agrofuels advances a conceptualisation of agrofuels that helps to fill existing research gaps. It covers global food regimes and agrarian politics as well as political arenas such as energy, climate, transport and trade. It reflects on the biophysical materiality of agrofuels, new forms of nature appropriation, struggles, discursive framings, the building of hegemony, shifting geopolitical constellations, socio-spatial configurations of power, the construction of territory, the agency of social movements and the different ways in which agrofuels are politicized at different scales. This book asks how patterns of mobility, emissions regulation, food and energy production and consumption, and social relations (e.g. labour, class and gender relations) are shaped and re-shaped by the materiality and representations of agrofuels in both the Global South and North. The book provides tools for thinking about the diversity of the conflicts, struggles and spatial, socio-ecological and politico-economic reconfigurations and perpetuations engendered by current production and consumption patterns in the agrofuel sector.

The Political Ecology of Agrofuels

The Political Ecology of Agrofuels
Author: Kristina Dietz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2014-11-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317747445

This book explores the political ecology of agrofuels as an encompassing socio-spatial transformation process consisting of a series of changing contexts, political reconfigurations, and the restructuring of social and labour relations. It includes conceptual chapters as well as case studies from different world regions (North America, Europe, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia) and levels (local, national, transnational). The Political Ecology of Agrofuels advances a conceptualisation of agrofuels that helps to fill existing research gaps. It covers global food regimes and agrarian politics as well as political arenas such as energy, climate, transport and trade. It reflects on the biophysical materiality of agrofuels, new forms of nature appropriation, struggles, discursive framings, the building of hegemony, shifting geopolitical constellations, socio-spatial configurations of power, the construction of territory, the agency of social movements and the different ways in which agrofuels are politicized at different scales. This book asks how patterns of mobility, emissions regulation, food and energy production and consumption, and social relations (e.g. labour, class and gender relations) are shaped and re-shaped by the materiality and representations of agrofuels in both the Global South and North. The book provides tools for thinking about the diversity of the conflicts, struggles and spatial, socio-ecological and politico-economic reconfigurations and perpetuations engendered by current production and consumption patterns in the agrofuel sector.

The Politics of Biofuels, Land and Agrarian Change

The Politics of Biofuels, Land and Agrarian Change
Author: Saturnino Borras Jr.
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317985419

This book addresses key questions on biofuels within agrarian political economy, political sociology and political ecology. Contributions are based on fresh empirical materials from different parts of the world. The book starts with four key questions in agrarian political economy: Who owns what? Who does what? Who gets what? And what do they do with the surplus wealth? It also addresses the emergent social and political relations in the biofuel complex and, given the impacts on natural resources and sustainability, engages with questions about people-environment interactions. At the same time, the book is concerned with the politics of representation, that is, what are the discursive frames through which biofuels are promoted and/or opposed? The book analyses the institutional structures, and cultures of energy consumption on which a biofuels complex depends, and the alternative political and ecological visions emerging that call the biofuels complex into question. Across sixteen chapters presenting material from five regions across the North-South divide and focusing on fourteen countries including Brazil, Indonesia, India, USA and Germany, these topics are addressed within the following themes: global (re)configurations; agro-ecological visions; conflicts, resistances and diverse outcomes; state, capital and society relations; mobilising opposition, creating alternatives; and change and continuity. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Peasant Studies.

Biofuels

Biofuels
Author: Ram Sarup Singh
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 467
Release: 2016-11-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1315353601

This will be a comprehensive multi-contributed reference work, with the Editors being highly regarded alternative fuels experts from India and Switzerland. There will be a strong orientation toward production of biofuels covering such topics as biodiesel from renewable sources, biofuels from biomass, vegetable based feedstocks from biofuel production, global demand for biofuels and economic aspects of biofuel production. Book covers the latest advances in all product areas relative to biofuels. Discusses coverage of public opinion related to biofuels. Chapters will be authored by world class researchers and practitioners in various aspects of biofuels. Provides good comprehensive coverage of biofuels for algae. Presents extensive discussion of future prospects in biofuels.

Handbook of the International Political Economy of Governance

Handbook of the International Political Economy of Governance
Author: Anthony Payne
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 501
Release: 2014-04-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0857933485

Since the 1990s many of the assumptions that anchored the study of governance in international political economy (IPE) have been shaken loose. Reflecting on the intriguing and important processes of change that have occurred, and are occurring, Profess

Agrofuels

Agrofuels
Author: François Houtart
Publisher: Pluto Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010-06-15
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780745330129

Since they were heralded as a key weapon in the fight against climate change, biofuels have been criticized heavily for doing more harm than good due to deforestation and stealing agricultural land essential to farmers in the developing world. This book asks whether there is any place for biofuels in a low-carbon future. Francois Houtart argues that the green potential of biofuels has been wasted by businesses that put profits above environmental protection. This has led to the absurd situation where an energy source that should be sustainable actually increases human and ecological damage, simply due to the profit-maximizing decisions of capitalists rather than a flaw in the concept of biofuels. Students of development studies and environmental economics will find that this book offers a interesting new perspective on the future of energy.

The Politics of Biofuels, Land and Agrarian Change

The Politics of Biofuels, Land and Agrarian Change
Author: Saturnino M. Borras Jr.
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 499
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317985400

This book addresses key questions on biofuels within agrarian political economy, political sociology and political ecology. Contributions are based on fresh empirical materials from different parts of the world. The book starts with four key questions in agrarian political economy: Who owns what? Who does what? Who gets what? And what do they do with the surplus wealth? It also addresses the emergent social and political relations in the biofuel complex and, given the impacts on natural resources and sustainability, engages with questions about people-environment interactions. At the same time, the book is concerned with the politics of representation, that is, what are the discursive frames through which biofuels are promoted and/or opposed? The book analyses the institutional structures, and cultures of energy consumption on which a biofuels complex depends, and the alternative political and ecological visions emerging that call the biofuels complex into question. Across sixteen chapters presenting material from five regions across the North-South divide and focusing on fourteen countries including Brazil, Indonesia, India, USA and Germany, these topics are addressed within the following themes: global (re)configurations; agro-ecological visions; conflicts, resistances and diverse outcomes; state, capital and society relations; mobilising opposition, creating alternatives; and change and continuity. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Peasant Studies.

Fairness and Justice in Natural Resource Politics

Fairness and Justice in Natural Resource Politics
Author: Melanie Pichler
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2016-08-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317269888

As demand for natural resources increases due to the rise in world population and living standards, conflicts over their access and control are becoming more prevalent. This book critically assesses different approaches to and conceptualizations of resource fairness and justice and applies them to the analysis of resource conflicts. Approaches addressed include cosmopolitan liberalism, political economy and political ecology. These are applied at various scales (local, national, international) and to initiatives and instruments in public and private resource governance, such as corporate social responsibility instruments, certification schemes, international law and commodity markets. In doing so, the contributions contrast existing approaches to fairness and justice and extend them by taking into account the interplay between political scales, regions, resources, and power structures in "glocalized" resource politics. Various case studies are included concerning agriculture, agrofuels, land grabbing, water resources, mining and biodiversity. The volume adds to the academic and policy debate by bringing together a variety of disciplines and perspectives in order to advance both a research and policy agenda that puts notions of resource fairness and justice center-stage.

Ecology and Power

Ecology and Power
Author: Alf Hornborg
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2013-06-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136335293

Power and social inequality shape patterns of land use and resource management. This book explores this relationship from different perspectives, illuminating the complexity of interactions between human societies and nature. Most of the contributors use the perspective of "political ecology" as a point of departure, recognizing that human relations to the environment and human social relations are not separate phenomena but inextricably intertwined. What makes this volume unique is that it sets this approach in a trans-disciplinary, global, and historical framework.