scholarly journals Two sides of the same coin: increasing material extraction rates and social environmental conflicts in Mexico

Author(s):  
Darcy Tetreault

AbstractThis article seeks to explain the multiplication of social environmental conflicts in Mexico as a consequence of expanding and intensifying extractive activities. It examines how the Mexican state has provided private and foreign capital greater access to the country’s natural resources in the transition from state-led import-substituting industrialization to export-oriented market-led development. This, it argues, has led to accelerating material extraction rates in the context of rising global demand for primary commodities; while the negative environmental and social impacts have in turn led to a growing number of conflicts involving the inhabitants of directly affected rural communities, who organize to resist. Based on standardized procedures for material flow analysis, it presents the results of an investigation into the domestic extraction rates of minerals, metal ores, biomass, and fossil fuels from Mexico, between 1990 and 2018. It finds that domestic extraction rates increased significantly during this period, with the exception of fossil fuels, which peaked in 2006, declining thereafter due to the exhaustion of the country’s most important oil reserves. The evolution of domestic extraction rates is juxtaposed with the emergence of related social environmental conflicts by drawing on multiple databases of conflicts around extractive activities in Mexico.

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng Wang ◽  
Jing Dai ◽  
Meirong Su

Since the relationship between the supply and demand of fossil fuels is on edge in the long run, the contradiction between the economic growth and limited resources will hinder the sustainable development of the Chinese society. This paper aims to analyze the input of fossil fuels in China during 2000–2010 via the material flow analysis (MFA) that takes hidden flows into account. With coal, oil, and natural gas quantified by MFA, three indexes, consumption and supply ratio (C/S ratio), resource consumption intensity (RCI), and fossil fuels productivity (FFP), are proposed to reflect the interactions between population, GDP, and fossil fuels. The results indicated that in the past 11 years, China’s requirement for fossil fuels has been increasing continuously because of the growing mine productivity in domestic areas, which also leads to a single energy consumption structure as well as excessive dependence on the domestic exploitation. It is advisable to control the fossil fuels consumption by energy recycling and new energy facilities’ popularization in order to lead a sustainable access to nonrenewable resources and decrease the soaring carbon emissions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 6545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Ruiz Rincón ◽  
Joan Martínez-Alier ◽  
Sara Mingorria

Rural territories and cultures have been increasingly sacrificed through depopulation, invasion by infrastructure, and the presence of industries which are incompatible with agriculture. Meanwhile, the expansion of urban space through demographic agglomeration and the concentration of activities in cities is leading to a progressively urbanised world. This article sheds light on the particularities of the relationship between urban expansion and the assault on agrarian modes of existence that survive at the diffuse urban frontiers in Central Mexico. A multiple case study was carried out; nine social-environmental conflicts where an agrarian community resisted the installation of urban infrastructure or city enterprises were analysed through the perspective of Political Ecology and environmental justice. Peasant communities question the political, economic, environmental, and cultural factors of the hegemonic social configuration as urban megaprojects menace their territory. In their struggles, they highlight that urban development undermines the very conditions necessary for the existence of the city, as its social metabolism depends in part on the resources these rural communities are defending.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7939
Author(s):  
Sohani Vihanga Withanage ◽  
Komal Habib

The unprecedented technological development and economic growth over the past two decades has resulted in streams of rapidly growing electronic waste (e-waste) around the world. As the potential source of secondary raw materials including precious and critical materials, e-waste has recently gained significant attention across the board, ranging from governments and industry, to academia and civil society organizations. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the last decade of e-waste literature followed by an in-depth analysis of the application of material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), i.e., two less commonly used strategic tools to guide the relevant stakeholders in efficient management of e-waste. Through a keyword search on two main online search databases, Scopus and Web of Science, 1835 peer-reviewed publications were selected and subjected to a bibliographic network analysis to identify and visualize major research themes across the selected literature. The selected 1835 studies were classified into ten different categories based on research area, such as environmental and human health impacts, recycling and recovery technologies, associated social aspects, etc. With this selected literature in mind, the review process revealed the two least explored research areas over the past decade: MFA and LCA with 33 and 31 studies, respectively. A further in-depth analysis was conducted for these two areas regarding their application to various systems with numerous scopes and different stages of e-waste life cycle. The study provides a detailed discussion regarding their applicability, and highlights challenges and opportunities for further research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 105732
Author(s):  
Xue Rui ◽  
Yong Geng ◽  
Xin Sun ◽  
Han Hao ◽  
Shijiang Xiao

2011 ◽  
Vol 347-353 ◽  
pp. 2961-2966
Author(s):  
Dian Ming Geng ◽  
Jia Xiang Liu

In order to study the development of regional recycling economy, the material inputs and outputs of the eco-economic system in Shandong Province during the period from 1996 to 2009 were systematically analyzed by the material flow analysis(MFA). The results show that, (1)excluding water, material inputs and outputs rose persistently, but both were lower than the rate of GDP growth. (2)Water supply had a turning point in 2003, from 25.239 billion tons down to 21.934 billion tons, followed by the total annual water supply has been maintained at 220 million tons. At the same time the amount of wastewater emissions is increasing, especially domestic wastewater emissions had faster growth and that increased pressure on the regional water environment;(3) Steady increase in material input intensity, material output intensity presented a first increased and then decreased trend, that showed since Shandong Province proposed the strategic planning to develop circular economy, the development of regional circular economy have improved the material utilization efficiency and made a material reduction in output in the case of material input growth achieved. The rapid increase of material input and output efficiency further illustrated the efficiency of resource comprehensive utilization and waste output have been significantly improved.


2015 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
pp. 2335-2348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Milanez

ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that attempting to solve real problems is a possible approach to bring social and natural sciences together, and suggest that - as Environmental Impact Assessment necessarily brings together social and environmental issues - this debate is a strong candidate for such a task. The argument is based on a general discussion about the possibilities and limitations of Environmental Impact Assessments, the social-environmental impacts of mining activities and three case studies. The analysis of the cases indicates possibilities and limitations of the dialogue between scientists from various areas - and of the collaboration with social movements and affected communities - in avoiding negative impacts of mining projects and, eventually, increasing their sustainability.


2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 792-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Takiguchi ◽  
Kazuhiko Takemoto

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1237-1249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Hoekman ◽  
Harro von Blottnitz

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