235
10
developments also to some extent represent challenges to and potential critiques of
political ecology.
We highlight these three directions in particular because they are relatively new
developments and because we personally find them to be promising trends in the
field. These are (1) the return to discussions about limits through links to the
degrowth movement, (2) the interaction between political ecology and environmental justice, and (3) decolonization, and what this debate means for political
ecology.
10.2.1 Degrowth
One of the first contributions to political ecology and therefore one of the longest
traditions in the, after all, relatively short history of this field has been the critique
of Malthusianism and deconstructions of notions of scarcity, limits and carrying
capacity. A number of political ecology studies, including some presented in this
book, have shown how such ideas tend to serve elites and powerful actors, in addition to often being based on poor science. Political ecology studies have documented how narratives about degradation and scarcity have served to justify elite
capture, marginalization and dispossession including forms of accumulation by
dispossession, and to further contribute to exacerbate land-use conflicts.
The imminent climate crisis with its potential planetary boundaries and tipping points and the logical contradiction between continued economic growth
and a confined atmosphere, may however, increasingly represent a challenge to
this traditional political ecology position. Some may argue that there is no contradiction here and that this apparent conflict is more a question of scale. But still
the debate should be taken and this question needs to be confronted head on in a
traditional political ecology way. The debate between Robbins (2020) and GómezBaggethun (2020) and the book by Kallis (2019) were kick-off contributions (see
7 Chap. 2) to what we expect will be a wide and perhaps intense debate in the
years to come.
10.2.2 Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice and political ecology are related fields with many parallels
in their common focus on justice and environmental sustainability (7 Chap. 2).
But surprisingly, there have until recently been few interactions and direct engagements between these two approaches to critical environmental studies.
Environmental Justice has developed in different directions with a wide range of
contributions. In terms of number of publications, this is also a much larger literature than the one in political ecology, and it represents a literature that political
ecology scholars would benefit from engaging more with. There is potentially a lot
to learn from Environmental Justice and its systematic treatment of notions of
justice (see Svarstad and Benjaminsen 2020).
10.2 · Where Do We Go from Here?
10
developments also to some extent represent challenges to and potential critiques of
political ecology.
We highlight these three directions in particular because they are relatively new
developments and because we personally find them to be promising trends in the
field. These are (1) the return to discussions about limits through links to the
degrowth movement, (2) the interaction between political ecology and environmental justice, and (3) decolonization, and what this debate means for political
ecology.
10.2.1 Degrowth
One of the first contributions to political ecology and therefore one of the longest
traditions in the, after all, relatively short history of this field has been the critique
of Malthusianism and deconstructions of notions of scarcity, limits and carrying
capacity. A number of political ecology studies, including some presented in this
book, have shown how such ideas tend to serve elites and powerful actors, in addition to often being based on poor science. Political ecology studies have documented how narratives about degradation and scarcity have served to justify elite
capture, marginalization and dispossession including forms of accumulation by
dispossession, and to further contribute to exacerbate land-use conflicts.
The imminent climate crisis with its potential planetary boundaries and tipping points and the logical contradiction between continued economic growth
and a confined atmosphere, may however, increasingly represent a challenge to
this traditional political ecology position. Some may argue that there is no contradiction here and that this apparent conflict is more a question of scale. But still
the debate should be taken and this question needs to be confronted head on in a
traditional political ecology way. The debate between Robbins (2020) and GómezBaggethun (2020) and the book by Kallis (2019) were kick-off contributions (see
7 Chap. 2) to what we expect will be a wide and perhaps intense debate in the
years to come.
10.2.2 Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice and political ecology are related fields with many parallels
in their common focus on justice and environmental sustainability (7 Chap. 2).
But surprisingly, there have until recently been few interactions and direct engagements between these two approaches to critical environmental studies.
Environmental Justice has developed in different directions with a wide range of
contributions. In terms of number of publications, this is also a much larger literature than the one in political ecology, and it represents a literature that political
ecology scholars would benefit from engaging more with. There is potentially a lot
to learn from Environmental Justice and its systematic treatment of notions of
justice (see Svarstad and Benjaminsen 2020).
10.2 · Where Do We Go from Here?