Green growth or ecological commodification: debating the green economy in the global south

This article examines recent institutional thinking on the green economy and the implications of official understandings and structuration of a green economy for the global South. Assertions about the transformative potential of a green economy by many international actors conceals a complexity of p...

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Published inGeografiska annaler. Series B, Human geography Vol. 96; no. 3; pp. 245 - 259
Main Authors Brown, Ed, Cloke, Jonathan, Gent, Danielle, Johnson, Paul H., Hill, Chloe
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Stockholm Routledge 01.09.2014
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography
Generalstabens litografiska anstlalt
Subjects
Bgi / Prodig
Capitalism
Commodification
development
discourse
Ecological economics
Ecological sustainability
economy
Environmental conservation
Environmental economics
Globalization
green
Green economics
Human geography
International economics
Political and economic geography
Poverty
Regional economy and planning
Renewable energy
sustainable
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable development
Sustainable global economy
Sustainable technology
technocracy
Brazil
Central America
Deforestation
Natural resources
Economic growth
Ecosystem
Green economy
Ecology
Sustainable development
Renewable resources
Commodification
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Summary:This article examines recent institutional thinking on the green economy and the implications of official understandings and structuration of a green economy for the global South. Assertions about the transformative potential of a green economy by many international actors conceals a complexity of problems, including the degree to which the green economy is still based on old fossil economies and technical fixes, and the processes through which the green economy ideation remains subject to Northern economic and technical dominance. The article places the intellectual roots of the green economy within a broader historical context and suggests some ways the strategic economic and ideological interests of the global North remain key drivers of green-economy thinking. The analysis is substantiated through two illustrative Latin American examples: the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor and green economy initiatives in Brazil. These suggest that, if the green economy is to address global challenges effectively, it must be conceptualized as more than a bolt-on to existing globalizing capitalism and encompass more critical understandings of the complex socio-economic processes through which poverty is produced and reproduced and through which the global environment is being transformed, a critique which also applies to mainstream discourses of sustainable development.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-R62HFJPW-5
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ArticleID:GEOB12049
Chloe Hill developed the analysis around the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. That section of the paper draws heavily on her doctoral work and subsequent consultancy on the project.
Our friend and colleague Paul Johnson tragically died in April 2012 when we were doing the initial groundwork on this paper. He was a much valued colleague and made a major contribution to the UK Low Carbon Energy for Development Network which we draw upon in the paper. We dedicate this paper to his memory. For more information visit CIRHEP (2012).
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ISSN:0435-3684
1468-0467
DOI:10.1111/geob.12049