1.3 The Political Ecology of the Bioeconomy
11
1. The benefits and burdens associated with environmental change tend to be
distributed unequally among actors;
2. Such an unequal distribution generally alters existing social and economic
inequalities, reducing or reinforcing them;
3. That has political implications to the extent that it affects the relative power of
different actors and, thus, their capacity to pursue agendas and control or resist
others’ actions.
Such inequalities have both material and immaterial dimensions. They may relate,
for instance, to wealth creation or impoverishment due to improved or reduced access
to natural resources, but they may also relate to whose norms and discourses become
dominant (Peet and Watts 2004; Mann 2009).
This volume is among the first efforts to utilize such a political ecology approach
to examine not a case of environmental degradation but an emerging ecological
modernization strategy now being promoted under the bioeconomy paradigm. Its
research analyzes and draws lessons from over 15 years of biofuel promotion policies to explore the overlooked socio-political and governance dimensions of the
expanding bioeconomy. This examination is relevant not only because of the biofuel
sector itself, which continues to grow, but also because biofuel policies and production strategies may be setting the pace and potentially creating path-dependencies for
all further bioeconomy development. Therefore, this examination may help clarify
the social needs and the political challenges of aligning governance to sustainability
in these new sectors. It may help understand the determinants of international regime
formation on the bioeconomy. It may also help unravel social equity’s relevance to
other governance issues such as vulnerability and agency.
1.3.3 Objectives & Scope
This study draws from an in-depth assessment of over a decade of biofuel production
and governance strategies as a case to unravel the socio-political dimensions of the
bioeconomy. In particular, it analyzes how biofuels have been produced and governed
internationally, as well as in selected case study countries, to shed light on why
specific production patterns have prevailed.
The objectives of this book are to: (1) map out ecological, socio-economic, and
political issues related to biofuels and bioeconomy to understand what is at stake;
(2) describe how selected case study countries have consolidated certain production patterns; (3) assess how biofuel governance institutions at international and
domestic levels steer biofuel production, as a case within the broader bioeconomy;
(4) investigate the distributive outcomes and social impacts of such prevailing biofuel
production patterns; (5) analyze who the key agents are and how agency has been
exercised in biofuel governance at national and international levels; (6) examine the
relationships between institutions, distributive outcomes, and agency; and (7) offer
recommendations for institutional (re)design.
11
1. The benefits and burdens associated with environmental change tend to be
distributed unequally among actors;
2. Such an unequal distribution generally alters existing social and economic
inequalities, reducing or reinforcing them;
3. That has political implications to the extent that it affects the relative power of
different actors and, thus, their capacity to pursue agendas and control or resist
others’ actions.
Such inequalities have both material and immaterial dimensions. They may relate,
for instance, to wealth creation or impoverishment due to improved or reduced access
to natural resources, but they may also relate to whose norms and discourses become
dominant (Peet and Watts 2004; Mann 2009).
This volume is among the first efforts to utilize such a political ecology approach
to examine not a case of environmental degradation but an emerging ecological
modernization strategy now being promoted under the bioeconomy paradigm. Its
research analyzes and draws lessons from over 15 years of biofuel promotion policies to explore the overlooked socio-political and governance dimensions of the
expanding bioeconomy. This examination is relevant not only because of the biofuel
sector itself, which continues to grow, but also because biofuel policies and production strategies may be setting the pace and potentially creating path-dependencies for
all further bioeconomy development. Therefore, this examination may help clarify
the social needs and the political challenges of aligning governance to sustainability
in these new sectors. It may help understand the determinants of international regime
formation on the bioeconomy. It may also help unravel social equity’s relevance to
other governance issues such as vulnerability and agency.
1.3.3 Objectives & Scope
This study draws from an in-depth assessment of over a decade of biofuel production
and governance strategies as a case to unravel the socio-political dimensions of the
bioeconomy. In particular, it analyzes how biofuels have been produced and governed
internationally, as well as in selected case study countries, to shed light on why
specific production patterns have prevailed.
The objectives of this book are to: (1) map out ecological, socio-economic, and
political issues related to biofuels and bioeconomy to understand what is at stake;
(2) describe how selected case study countries have consolidated certain production patterns; (3) assess how biofuel governance institutions at international and
domestic levels steer biofuel production, as a case within the broader bioeconomy;
(4) investigate the distributive outcomes and social impacts of such prevailing biofuel
production patterns; (5) analyze who the key agents are and how agency has been
exercised in biofuel governance at national and international levels; (6) examine the
relationships between institutions, distributive outcomes, and agency; and (7) offer
recommendations for institutional (re)design.