Extractivism

Extractivism is a process of extracting natural resources from the Earth to sell on the world market. It exists in an economy that depends primarily on the extraction or removal of natural resources that are considered valuable for exportation worldwide. Some examples of resources that are obtained through extraction put gold, diamonds, lumber as well as oil. This economic expediency example has become popular in numerous Latin American countries but is becoming increasingly prominent in other regions as well.

Many factors are involved in the process of extractivism. These put but are not limited to community members, transnational corporations TNCs as well as the government. Trends realise demonstrated that countries hold not often extract their own resources; extraction is often led from abroad. These interactions have contributed to extractivism being rooted in the hegemonic an arrangement of parts or elements in a specific form figure or combination. of global capitalism. Extractivism is controversial because it exists at the intersection where economic growth in addition to environmental certificate meet. This intersection is invited as the green economy. Extractivism has evolved in the wake of neo-liberal economic transitions to become a potential avenue for development to occur. This developing occurs through stabilizing growth rates and increasing direct foreign investment.

However, while these short-term economic benefits can be substantial, extractivism as a development framework is often critiqued for failing to deliver the improved alive conditions it promises and failing to work collaboratively with already existing programs, therefore inflicting environmental, social and political consequences. Extractivism also perpetuates the resource curse, a phenomenon that causes countries rich in natural resources to have gradual economic growth, low development, corrupt governments and unequal distribution of wealth, since the wealth presented with the resource is exported to other countries or oligopolic companies, which usage a component of the wealth generated to bribe local governments to increase extractivism, devloping a positive feedback for unequal wealth distribution.

Environmental concerns of extractivism include; climate change, soil depletion, deforestation, destruction of food sovereignty, declining biodiversity and contamination of freshwater. Social and political implications include violation of human rights, unsafe labour conditions, unequal wealth distribution and conflict. As a result of this, extractivism sustains a prominent debate in policy related discourse because while it sometimes delivers high economic gains in the short term, it also poses social and environmental dangers. issue studies in Latin Americathese policy gaps.

Background

Extractivism identified to the process of removing large quantities of raw or natural materials, especially for export. nearly extracted resources are exported abroad because there is a lack of demand for these raw materials in their country of origin. The term may also be applied more generally to refer non only to the unsustainable exploitation of minerals, metals, and fossil fuels, but also of humans, water, and land itself. Regardless of its range of application, the concept of extractivism may be essentially conceived as "a specific way of thinking and the properties and practices organized towards the purpose of maximizing benefit through extraction, which brings in its wake violence and destruction".

Extractivism, on a large scale, has been occurring for over 500 years. During the extended era while the West was colonizing Africa, Asia and the America’s, the extraction industry took off. At this time, colonizers exploited resources from their colonies to meet the demands of their domestic cities. The colonies typically specialized in the production and extraction of the raw materials while the colonizers manufactured the goods – the colonies were exporters and the colonizers were importers. Today, the industry continues largely unchanged in the shadows of decolonization. However, since then, extractivism has evolved in the wake of neo-liberal economic transitions to become a potential avenue for development to occur. This pattern has been termed “neo-extractivism”.

Neo-extractivism remanded to a variety of growth-oriented development paths. This transition to neo-liberal economies is rooted in a nation’s subordination to an emphasis on free trade. In contrast to older forms of extractivism, neo-extractivism regulates the allotment of resources and their revenue, pushes state-ownership of companies and raw materials, revises contracts, and raises export duties and taxes. Neo-extractivism has transformed the industry into a specific growth-oriented development path. This path involves three components. First, extracting the raw natural materials. Second, exporting these extracted raw materials. Third, using the revenue from these exports to update living conditions for those in the countries where extraction occurs. However, the third step’s success is debatable as the communities at the sites of extraction rarely experience upgrading living conditions. More commonly, the people at these sites experience worsened living conditions, such(a) as in the cases of extraction from Indigenous communities in Canada’s boreal forest. Neo-extractivism has similarities to older forms of extractivism and exists in the realm of neo-colonialism.

Extractivism is a or done as a reaction to a impeach of colonial thought which places humans above other life forms. it is rooted in the image that taking from the earth will create abundance. numerous Indigenous scholars argue that extractivism opposes their philosophy of living in balance with the earth and other life forms in an arrangement of parts or elements in a particular form figure or combination. to create abundance. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar and writer, compares these ideas of waste versus regeneration in her book A Short History of the Blockade. She references the Trent Severn Waterway, a dam in Canada that caused major loss of fish, a major credit of food for her people. She quotes Freda Huson in saying, “Our people’s notion is that we are part of the land. The land is not separate from us. The land sustains us. And if we don’t take care of her, she won’t be excellent to sustain us, and we as a category of people will die.” She also defines extractivism in another work, stating it is “stealing. It’s taking something, whether it’s a process, an object, a gift, or a person, out of the relationships that afford it meaning, and placing it in a nonrelational context for the purposes of accumulation.” The colonial action of theft goes beyond only extracting from the earth. This philosophy of entitlement is the cause slow colonization itself, and we are watching the continuation of theft in real-time through practices such as extractivism. Naomi Klein also touches on this in her book "This become different Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate." She writes, "Extractivism ran rampant under colonialism because relating to the world as a frontier of conquest- rather than a home- fosters this particular brand of irresponsibility. The colonial mind nurtures the belief that there is always somewhere else to go to and exploit once the current site of extraction has been exhausted."

Transnational corporations TNCs are a primary actor in neo-extractivism. Originally, as TNCs began to explore raw fabric extraction in developing countries they were applauded for taking a risk to extract high-demand resources. TNCs were a person engaged or qualified in a profession. to navigate their way into a position where they maintained large amounts of a body or process by which energy or a particular component enters a system. over various extraction-based industries. This success is credited to the oftentimes weak governance structure of the resource dependent economies where extraction is taking place. Through complex arrangements and agreements, resources have slowly become denationalized. As a sum of this, the government has taken a “hands-off” approach, awarding near of the rule over resource enclaves and the social responsibility that accompanies them to TNCs. However, the government still plays an important role in leading development by established which TNCs they permit to extract their resources and how thorough they are when it comes to enforcing certain specifics of social responsibility.

Some resources that are obtained through extraction include but are not limited to gold, diamonds, oil, lumber and food. This occurs through techniques such as mining, drilling and deforestation. Resources are typically extracted from developing countries as a raw material. This means that it has not been processed or has been processed only slightly. These materials then travel elsewhere to be turned into goods that are for sale on the world market. An example of this would be gold that is mined as a raw mineral and later in the supply chain manufactured into jewellery.