Greening extractivism

Environmental discourses and resource governance in the 'Lithium Triangle

Bibliographic Data

ID4464822
AuthorsDaniel Macmillen Voskoboynik (Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona, corresponding author), Diego Andreucci (0000-0002-5411-4578, Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Year2022
Volume5
Issue2
Pages787-809
Publication date2022-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning E Nature and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2514-8486 • E-ISSN: 2514-8494
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/25148486211006345
OpenAlexW3153604668
LanguageEN
Citations received117
References cited54

The lithium extractive industry is expanding, as technological and economic shifts associated with climate change mitigation goals drive global demand for lithium-ion batteries. This article explores the case of the 'Lithium Triangle', a region of Latin America (spanning Bolivia, Chile and Argentina) that contains the world's largest reserves, and where environmental conflicts associated with lithium mining have proliferated. Emphasising the centrality of discourse in resource governance, we analyse the discursive strategies employed by institutional actors seeking to promote and render acceptable lithium extraction in the region. We argue that such strategies reproduce imaginaries of prosperity and modernisation long attached to oil and mineral wealth, while at the same time introducing a novel association of mining with high-tech industries, 'green jobs' and 'climate-friendly' extraction, seeking to obscure the social and ecological costs of lithium production. This inaugurates an era of 'green extractivism', whereby intensive resource exploitation is framed not only as compatible with climate change, but indeed as necessary to its mitigation. Our findings contribute to ongoing conversations regarding post-fossil fuel 'transitions', by highlighting the contradictory character of mitigation strategies that rely on mineral-intensive development

Business · Centrality · Corporate governance · Ecological modernization · Economics · Economy · Green Economy · Natural resource economics · Political science · Prosperity · Resource (disambiguation · Sustainable development · Extraction and Separation Processes · Mining and Resource Management · Water Governance and Infrastructure

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Open DOIOpen Access