Search results

"While much of the current research on the extractive industries and their socio-environmental impacts is region specific, Resource Extraction, Space and Resilience: International Perspectives critically explores the current state of the extractive industries sector from a uniquely global perspective. The book introduces a more dynamic idea of sustainability in evaluating mineral extraction and its impacts, and provides a spatialized understanding of the evolution of the extractive industries to help visualise the interlinkages across space, regions and scales. Professor Kotilainen responds to these theoretical challenges by analysing the potential for resilience of mining activities from multiple perspectives across scales, exploring why it is only possible to achieve temporary balance and stability for the whole resource extraction system. Taking a global perspective, the book explores the interlinkages of the industry, investigates the similarities and differences in how the industry operates and examines the social and environmental impacts it has. By providing an explicitly theoretically informed analysis of the state of the extractive industries, this text will appeal to a wide range of scholars with an interdisciplinary interest in the extractive industries and natural resource management, including human geographers and social scientists with a focus on the relations of humans and societies with their physical environments."

Research related to extractive industries has grown significantly over the last decade. As the commodities boom appears to be winding down, this essay outlines areas for potential future research. Emphasis is placed on the need for research on: the relationships among extractivism, climate change and societal transitions; the aggregate effects of the commodity boom on the environment, on societal structures, on elite formation and on cultural politics; the implications of resource extraction on the couplings of space and power at different scales and with particular reference to the Colombian peace process; and the gendered and generation dimensions of the effects of extractivism on rights and citizenship. The paper calls for on-going collaborations among scholars and activists, for greater collaboration among social and bio-physical scientists, for comparative analysis with regions beyond Latin America and for innovative ways of bridging research and the public sphere. Resumen: Ecologías políticas de la extracción de recursos: Agendas pendientes Las investigaciones relacionadas con las industrias extractivas han aumentado considerablemente durante la última década. Como el boom de las materias primas está tocando su fin, este ensayo señala áreas que se prestan a posibles investigaciones en el futuro. Se pone el énfasis en la necesidad de investigar: las relaciones entre el extractivismo, el cambio climático y las transiciones sociales; los efectos agregados del boom de las materias primas en el medio ambiente, en las estructuras sociales, en la formación de élites y en las políticas culturales; las implicaciones de la extracción de recursos en las relaciones entre espacio y poder a distintas escalas y refiriéndose especialmente al proceso de paz colombiano; y las dimensiones generizadas y generacionales de los efectos del extractivismo en los derechos y en la ciudadanía. Este artículo hace un llamamiento a colaboraciones continuadas entre investigadores y activistas, una mayor colaboración entre científicos sociales y biofísicos, un análisis comparativo con regiones más allá de Latinoamérica y maneras innovadoras de tender puentes entre la investigación y la esfera pública.

The role that resource extraction, particularly mining and oil palm plantation, has played in enabling a form of racism in West Papua is presented. The history of mining projects in West Papua, and how this has displaced indigenous populations, is covered. This development of mining reserves and oil palm plantations at the expense and the destruction of indigenous life is discussed. This process has relied on a dehumanisation of indigenous people, and an ignorance of their agency in determining their own needs. The effects of resource extraction, on cultural sustainability, and its supplantation with industrial colonialism is presented as a form of racism; concepts of 'industrial racism' and 'industrial colonisation' are introduced within this context. It is demonstrated that this racism has been both explicitly and implicitly supported by Western and Global South governments, highlighting the need for a voice for indigenous groups in self-determination. The more recent reparations to help achieve self-determination, even in this modern context of understanding, are shown to have a colonial approach. The view that matters have improved, through various awards for sustainability, is presented and critiqued, demonstrating the conflict between that view and that of the indigenous within a colonial power structure.

Rebel governance and resource extraction are two fields of research which have mainly crossed paths in regards to funding of insurgencies. Therefore, there is a lack of exploration in terms of how resource extraction can be used for the purpose of furthering rebel governance. For that reason, the objective of this thesis was to analyse and research how illicit mining can create further opportunities for insurgent groups within Afghanistan. By presenting two case studies on the Taliban and IS-KP (Daesh), the aim was to explore how they are using resource extraction to their advantage beyond that of capital gains. The findings in the thesis are based upon the results from qualitative research. The data therein comes from the two case studies alongside a literature review and a theoretical analysis. The objective of the paper was to create an awareness towards how insurgencies operate in terms of interactions with civilians and the state. My findings show that the insurgencies are exploiting weak institutions and a lack of presence by the state, especially in the case of the Taliban who are taking advantage of the traditional decision making mechanisms in the country. This paired with their historic presence in Afghanistan has led to a strengthening of their perceived authority due to their increased activity in the mining sector, which is conceptually a legal industry. In terms of Daesh and their presence in Afghanistan, my findings are rather different. Given that they have become a more fragmented rebel group with less funding from ISIS, my results demonstrate that one of the few justifications for their continued insurgency is their mining operations. Furthermore, as inter-relationships between the various stakeholders in Afghanistan remain fluid and unreliable, this has provided a political space for insurgent groups who hold a great deal of power to also be recognised as stakeholders in governing a future Afghanistan. ; submittedVersion ; M-IR

The manner in which governments charge mineral resource producers has been the subject of considerable debate. Income-based charges such as resource rent taxes have been advocated on the theory that royalties and other output-based charges create inefficiency by distorting production decisions. Using a principal-agent approach to resource contracts, separating asset ownership from asset use, we demonstrate that royalties can be efficient under conditions of certainty and also when there is uncertainty and asymmetric information. Royalties serve a key pricing purpose, signaling the marginal impact of extraction on the residual value of reserves and surrounding land or sea.